Summer’s usually the greatest time to be a kid — no school, no homework, games every day, and, of course, the usual getaway. But the recent spike in COVID-19 cases has once again postponed the once glorious summer days.
Still, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your summer break in the safety of your home. Here some meaningful ways you can enjoy the summer holidays.
Go on a virtual road trip
Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated (or dreaded) events during summer vacation is the family road trip. Nothing beats driving down the expressway with your family, listening and singing along to the tunes from the radio, playing games in the car, or just enjoying the sights along the way.
The pandemic’s roadblock can’t hold back your family getaway if you do it virtually. Some tourist destinations, as well as museums, have started offering virtual tours so you can experience all the things they offer in your living/ bedrooms. Hey, you can even visit famous world landmarks at home minus the dreaded jet lag and airport rush. All you need is to hook up the computer to the TV and, viola, it’s almost as if you were there. If you’re a bit fancy and have a VR headset you can use those as well for a truly immersive feeling.
Miss the car tunes? You can always open the dusty old radio for that bit of nostalgia. If you don’t have one lying around at home, there are a few alternatives you can try. First, your smartphone, most of which have a radio app. If there’s none, you can always download an app from the app store. There are also online radios that you can access on the family computer. A notable one is Radio Garden, which has an interactive globe where you can look around and listen to online (or on-air) radio stations from around the world.
Have an online party
One of the biggest downsides of staying indoors is not seeing our friends. Thanks to the powers of the internet, now we can meet up with our friends anytime. We can even have a party online with everyone eating the same food.
Having an online party is easy. You just need a computer or a smartphone with a camera, an internet connection or mobile data, and meeting apps like Zoom or Google Meet and you can have an online gathering with your friends.
For the food part, restaurants have started offering “online conference” meals, wherein they’ll deliver orders directly to participants wherever they may be. These restaurants take note of the location of each participant and direct the orders to the nearest branches so all the party-goers receive their party meal freshly cooked and on time.
Take online classes/workshops
A lot of parents use the summer break as a chance to “encourage” kids to learn something new whether by teaching them themselves or enrolling them in summer camps, workshops, or classes. With face-to-face learning suspended due to the pandemic, kids are missing out on their regular summer activities.
But since learning never stops, a lot of educational outfits have moved their traditional summer camps and workshops online, similar to online classes utilizing apps such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Google Classroom.
If you feel that your kid won’t absorb much attending online classes, you can always teach them yourselves. There are online resources available to parents on how to teach children new things such as coding, cooking, and many others.
Take up a new hobby
Of course, summertime is the perfect season to take up new hobbies. With the pandemic preventing us from going out, maybe it’s time for self-discovery, to find something you never knew you were good at.
As more and more resources are uploaded online you’ll realize that you can start doing something you have never done before like coding a game, cooking, and even simple content production.
For parents of younger children, you can start encouraging their creativity by downloading and printing simple arts and crafts activities you and your child can enjoy.
Read an entire library
For the bookworms who spend their summers with a book near their nose, the pandemic has given them one of the greatest opportunities out there. Libraries, publishers, and even some authors have made their collections available online.
Children’s books, as well as young adult novels, are now offered as ebooks and are free to access from certain online libraries so you don’t have to go to the nearest bookstore to get your fix.
As for children who still want the feel of the hardbound book, certain libraries have allowed online borrowing of their collections, while collectors can shop for new series via the different online shops and various e-commerce platforms.
Words by Gabriel Pe
Also published in Gadgets Magazine April 2021 Issue