50 Things to Do Over the Summer 1. Attend a summer program or competition in your area of interest (This could be as small as a local camp at the

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Scot Blankenship
5 years ago
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1 50 Things to Do Over the Summer 1. Attend a summer program or competition in your area of interest (This could be as small as a local camp at the college or high school, or it could be as big as a national science/dance/writing/filmmaking competition. There are programs, conventions, workshops, and competitions EVERYWHERE, so start looking for them.) 2. Start a blog (Find something you want to say, some solution you want to offer people, and then go to wordpress.com and write about it.) 3. Start a charity (This could be as small as walking around with a shoebox with a hole in the top at church or at school or at gymnastics and sending the money to a cause you support. Or you could actually start your own by making contacts with someone whose organization or cause needs the money. Same methods apply.) 4. Start a magazine (This could maybe be a creative publication or factual or a combination of both. Sell it at school. Get your classmates on board. Get submissions of pictures and articles from your friends. Sell it for five cents to see who bites.) 5. Make a short film (All this needs is any sort of camera and a really basic film editing software imovie (for mac) and windows (for pc) movie maker automatically come on most computers, depending on which sort you have. Tell a story about high school.) 6. Write a book (It doesn t have to be very long. Just write a few pages every day, and see what happens. Have a few people do the editing for you, and at the end use a self- publishing company to get a few printed. You could even do a signing/reading at your local bookstore.) 7. Write a screenplay (It s basically like writing a play, but you also give filming directions and setting directions and actor directions. Look up the format online and try it out. Write a short film, and then try filming it!) 8. Write a play (These are pretty easy. Write it out, have your friends act it out and see what happens.)

2 9. Choreograph a dance (Teach a dance class, choreograph a flash mob for your class at school, or a homecoming float dance, or a dance for your dance friends. It can be as simple or as technical as you like.) 10. Volunteer at a hospital (The volunteers used to be called candystripers, but I don t know if that s a thing anymore. Regardless, every hospital needs help, even if it s just talking to patients, moving supplies, making copies, or cleaning. Find out what you can do for your community.) 11. Tutor elementary school kids (They re a handful, but their parents and teachers will love you forever if you offer to help them with their homework. It won t be any difficulty for you, content- wise, and you might even have fun. Tell a few teachers or principles that you re offering your services, so they can refer parents to you.) 12. Make your own smoothie line (All it takes is some juice, yogurt, and frozen fruit. Buy the ingredients and try making your own combinations. Bring them to school, and, when people ask to try them, say you ll make some for them for a dollar each. If you re any good, they ll be excited.) 13. Design your own clothes (All you need initially is a pencil and paper. Take the clothes you already own and study how they were put together.) 14. Learn to sew and sew those clothes you designed (Maybe make some alterations on some old clothes first. Then buy some patterns and fabric and start from scratch.) 15. Learn to make paper (It s actually pretty simple if you have access to a press. Find out where the closest paper press or paper making plant is and see if you can try it for yourself.) 16. Learn origami (Anyone with paper and a computer can learn this. Sometimes the patterns can be hard to read, so do this with a friend or someone with more experience.) 17. Learn how to write computer code (There s probably a class with Google or some other company that could teach you basic code.)

3 18. Build a robot (It could just be out of legos or it could be a real, functioning robot with electrical wiring and metal skin. Combine your engineering mind with your designer mind and see what happens.) 19. Submit your art, animation, music, or film to HitRecord (This is Joseph Gordon- Levitt s TV show that incorporates the talents of everyone around the world to create cool art and film. Try creating and submitting something over the summer!) 20. Build a racecar (It could be a tiny, remote- controlled one, a wooden one, a racing cart that you can fit in, or a full on car that you converted into a race car. The options are endless.) 21. Build a dog house (Get your hands dirty, buy some wood, and get sawing and nailing. See if you can build one that s actually functional!) 22. Learn to drive stick shift (If you ever want to go to another country, or if you ever want to impress a date, this will be a useful skill to have. Plus it makes you feel so powerful.) 23. Participate in scientific research at a local college (You may not get to do the interesting stuff, but lots of psychology, biology, and economics PhD students are always looking for people to test or students willing to do their busy work. It could be anything from taking a test, to inputting information in Microsoft Excel, to testing the PH levels of peppers.) 24. Job shadow (Already know what job you want to do? Or just want to learn more about an industry you don t really understand? Ask one of your friend s parents, a family contact, or just someone in the field you re interested in pursuing if you can follow them around for a day.) 25. Travel to a foreign country and do something interesting (not just touristy stuff interact with the locals in a meaningful way) 26. Learn a new skill and then teach it to your friends (It could be anything on this list, or something else that you ve always wanted to learn. But the teaching is the important part; it helps you learn the skill better.)

4 27. Learn how to make and follow a budget (There are apps online that connect to your bank account, or you can ask your parents how to budget and write everything out on pen and paper the old fashioned way.) 28. Get a job (Working at a frozen yogurt or sandwich shop may not seem very career- advancing, but it does help you build marketable skills and job experience for a resume. Besides, you get spending money out of it.) 29. Learn how to bind a book (All you need is paper glue and string, and one of your books. Maybe start off with an older one you don t care about as much. Then take a class or look it up online.) 30. Learn how to make prints (This one might be trickier if you don t have a computer connected to a textile printing machine, but if you do have access to such a machine, it could an amazing skill to have, especially if you re looking into the textile or design business.) 31. Learn how to do graphic design (If you can t print out the patterns, you can still learn how to make them on the computer. Use an internet design program, which may cost you a little money, and play around with what you can create.) 32. Design your own website (There are so many templates for building websites that you really don t need to know much about computers to make something cool. Start with a template on wordpress, add some of the designs you made for step 31, come up with some cool content, and you ll have one of the best websites on the block.) 33. Redesign your room (Interested in interior design? Or just craving fresh surroundings? Give yourself a budget, rearrange your furniture, and see what cool designs and makeshift objects you can come up with.) 34. Take a pottery class (Get your creative juices flowing. Make something useful, like a plate or a vase, and give it as a gift.) 35. Paint a mural or very large canvas (If you re really confident in your abilities, maybe volunteer to paint something on the wall of a daycare center or a Sunday school classroom. If you still aren t sure, buy a bigger canvas that you feel comfortable with and see if you can fill it.)

5 36. Start your own greeting card line (Remember those designs and prints we talked about earlier? Use those to make some greeting cards. Or, if you re better with a pen and paper, draw up your own and make copies. Don t forget to add a fun caption.) 37. Start a local Going Green initiative (Every city needs to be more globally conscious, so why can t you be the one who initiates that focus for your town? You could start with your school, and see where it goes.) 38. Write a guest article for your local newspaper or magazine or blog (If you want to make your talents more visible, or if your blog or website isn t getting enough traffic, or if you just want experience submitting for publishing, write or a local or online publication and try your luck.) 39. Learn how to take pictures like a photographer (Being a photographer is more than a fancy camera. Take a class, ask a professional, or look online to figure out what makes photography an art form, and then practice.) 40. Use your newfound photography skills to start your own photography business (Maybe take your friends prom pictures?) 41. Take on a leadership role at your church, if you have one (Leadership looks good to colleges and employers, no matter where it comes from. Volunteer to teach a Sunday school class once a month, lead a Bible study for the junior highers, or take on more responsibilities for the high schoolers.) 42. Learn a new instrument and actually practice it every day (It doesn t have to be anything challenging like the oboe. It could be the harmonica, the piano, or the ukulele. Look up some youtube videos and get to learning. Then set aside time to practice for half an hour every day and see how you improve.) 43. Start a journal, and write in it every day (Journals are awesome tools for reflection, remembering past experiences or dreams, and maintaining a positive perspective about your life. Set a time every day to talk about anything, from what you had for breakfast to the deep thought you had during history class. Write it all down. This is especially important if you have any ambition to become a writer.)

6 44. Make a list of books and actually read all of them, even if you don t like them all (If you want to get smarter, write better, learn better in school, or just enjoy yourself doing something other than staring at a screen, read a book! Then set goals for yourself, and soon you ll be reading at college level. Watch the reading assignments get easier and easier.) 45. Become a stagehand for a local theater (You don t have to know much about theater to move props around, and you don t have to be all that strong either. The stage manager will show you all the ropes (literally and metaphorically), and the experience could help you appreciate an art form you don t otherwise interact with.) 46. Act in a play (Even if you re a shopkeep with one line, acting can be an excellent activity to get you out of your comfort zone and interacting with a wide variety of people in a meaningful way. You ll be surprised how much fun you have.) 47. Write a song and sing it to someone (It doesn t have to be the most profound thing ever, but do your best. Every songwriter started not being all that good, so don t feel bad if you re not a genius right away. Keep practicing. It could help you express yourself in a new way.) 48. Take a huge social risk (Ask someone out on a date, become friends with someone you wouldn t normally hang out with, go to a meeting where you don t know anyone and talk to at least three people, listen to someone else for a whole hour without interrupting, or pay for someone else s meal or drink.) 49. Learn how to make coffee and tea and then design your own flavors (It could be as simple or as complex as you like anywhere from adding cinnamon to the coffee grounds to crushing your own leaves and flowers for tea.) 50. Write poetry and read it at a local poetry reading or spoken word night (Don t just keep your poems a secret in your desk. Test them out on real people and share them with the world. Poetry readings are always positive places to express yourself. Or put on your own poetry reading with your friends if there isn t one in town.)

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