Summer Kick-off Party!

This post is part of an ongoing Summer Reading for Kids series. Click HERE to find ideas for reading activities, reading lists, and reading incentives…and keep checking back for more!

Our last day of school was last Thursday. So, naturally, Friday morning we had a little Summer Kick-off Party.

My husband made a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, and gluten-free waffles (that our dog really thought she might get to eat if she sat at the table with us).

After we ate, we talked with the girls about what our expectations, plans, and goals were for the summer. We reintroduced our 2013-2014 Family Theme and talked about ways we could better incorporate it into our lives this summer.

Since the theme is “My Body is a Temple: Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Healthy Spirit” I thought we would make physical, mental, and spiritual goals for the summer.

I made some goal sheets that match the theme that is still framed in the dining room, and we used them to record our goals. The girls have hung their goal sheets up by their beds, and we will do check-ins every so often to help with accountability. (Mine is hanging next to my computer.)

You can download this printable at the bottom of the page

We also talked about all the FUN things we each wanted to do this summer. We compiled a big list together, and I am planning on cute-ifying it and hanging it up in the kitchen so we can cross things off as we do them.

Finally, I gave them their reading bins. (For more info on our reading bins, click here: Choosing Summer Reading for Your Children)

The girls can read whatever they want during the summer, and they do. We go to the library often and many books are chosen and read. But at the beginning of the summer, I put together these bins of books that they might not have chosen for themselves and I think of it as a gift to them at the beginning of the summer. And the girls LOVE it.

We gave them their bins and reading journals….

…and they couldn’t wait to get started. They pretty much read all day, and have been reading quite a bit this week, too.

Nothing makes this mama happier than to see my children like this:

And this:

And this:

<So far, after exactly one week of summer, daughter #2 has read three books, daughter #1 has read one and is well into a second, and daughter #3 has finished two. Hooray for summer reading!

More Summer Reading ideas:

Summer Reading Incentives

Summer Reading Journals

Our 2014 Summer Reading Lists

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