Five Fun Fairly Free Things For Teachers To Do In the Summer

My fellow teachers, you have a few months “off”. Yes, I know that you still work. We do…we just do…because we’re teachers and we’re addicted to our craft. But this is also an important time for you. It can’t be all work – or even thinking about work. You’ve got to find time for you so that you can be your best for the students when school starts again. Take time to rejuvenate, refresh, and have fun!

I’ve asked other teachers for ideas that are relatively cheap and enjoyable to almost anyone, anytime. They shared their all-time favorite ideas, and here are five of the best:

1) Nap. For the love of all that is good and healthy, take some dang naps! Lots of them. Every day, if you can! I know that the title of this post mentioned the word “fun”, and believe me, naps are fun. YOU will be more fun if you take naps.

2) Read: Read fun stuff, read sleazy stuff, read fiction and science fiction and gossip magazines and classic novels if you want. “Binge read” an author that you love or go through every “beach read” that’s recommended this year. Don’t bulk up your summer with gobs of professional reading. There is a time, there is a place – it’s NOT the summer.

3) Scavenger Hunts: Don’t wonder why that’s included. Trust me. They are fun to make and fun to play. Get your girlfriends or the neighborhood couples together and do a few of these this summer. Put ridiculous items on there, or have a photo scavenger hunt. Pinterest is your friend, by the way, because there are gazillions of cool ideas to make fun scavenger hunts.

4) Make: This is purposely generic. The idea is to tap into your creative spirit and make something that you’ve never made before. Do NOT make classroom things. Make things for your home, Christmas gifts, art, food items, or lovely knick-knacks for your yard. Get out some power tools, paints, hot glue guns, scrapbook supplies, knitting needles, a soldering iron, a pottery wheel – and don’t hide behind the excuse that you’re not creative. Everyone can make SOMETHING! Be determined that before summer ends, you will have created at least one neat, new thing that brings joy to you or somebody else.

If you need ideas, walk around a craft store or check out this cool little website: Instructables.

5) Photo Fun: Whatever you are doing, capture it in photos. Even if you don’t have a big vacation planned, you can purposely go on photo walks to relax and find joy in things around you. Take a nature walk and only take pictures of things that are NOT green. Try to photograph the alphabet in everyday objects! Have alliterative photo days: capture sunrises, smiles, snowcones, swimming pools, spaghetti, slugs, sycamore trees and anything else that starts with the same letter! Get zoomy- take really, really close up pictures of everyday items (or in nature) and marvel at the details!

When you have good photo collections and are feeling inspired, play with a few apps like Aviary, Prisma, or PicCollage that allow you to edit photos or turn them into works of art. Print them out or just share them on social media! You’ll feel a good sense of pride, and probably a sense of zen with your new artistic photographic talents. Plus, when school starts back in the fall, you’ll have a whole collection that proves just how much fun you had in the summer!