How to Keep Your Boarding School Kids Active This Summer

As summer approaches, many parents of boarding school students find themselves wondering: How to keep kids active in summer? What will my child do during the long break? Will they stay active, or spend their days glued to screens?

At Modern School, Kundli Boarding, Delhi’s top boarding school,  we understand how crucial it is to keep young minds and bodies engaged during the summer months. After months of structured academic routines, students need a break—but not a break from learning, moving, or growing. Instead, summer is the perfect opportunity to explore new interests, deepen social connections, and develop life skills outside the classroom.

If you’re wondering how to plan summer break activities for your children, here are a few tried-and-tested strategies we recommend to families of our boarding students.

1. Infuse Structure into Their Summer Routine
One of the biggest changes when school ends is the loss of a daily routine. While it’s tempting to let children wake up late and take each day as it comes, a lack of structure can quickly lead to boredom or inactivity. Instead, help your child create a flexible daily schedule that includes time for physical activity like basketball, running or cricket.

Include creative hobbies like painting, poetry writing, or reading in their routine. Hold your child responsible for some household chores, encourage them to engage in social interaction, and allow them to relax!

Structuring a productive summer for kids provides a sense of purpose and rhythm to their days. It also helps teens feel more productive and accomplished.

2. Find a Summer Buddy
Summer can feel long and lonely for children, especially those used to the constant buzz of a boarding school environment. One way to keep things lively is to find a “summer buddy.”

This could be a school friend who lives nearby, a cousin of a similar age, a neighbour’s child with shared interests

Organise weekly meet-ups, co-working sessions for summer assignments, or even joint projects like baking or building something together. Having a peer to collaborate with boosts motivation and helps maintain social skills.

3. Travel with Purpose

Travel is a great way to make memories, but it doesn’t have to mean luxury or expensive vacations. Even short trips to new places can be deeply enriching.

Consider visiting historical towns or heritage sites, exploring nature trails and national parks, staying at a relative’s place in a different city or village, enrolling in cultural exchange or youth immersion programs

When travel has a purpose, such as learning, observing, or contributing, it becomes more than a break; it becomes a source of inspiration and growth.

4. Enroll in Sports or Activity Camps

As one of the Top Boarding schools in India, we’re proud of the athletic discipline we instil in our students. Summer is a great time to build on that foundation.

Sports camps offer both physical activity and character development. Whether it’s cricket, swimming, football, or tennis, camps help improve stamina and fitness, teach teamwork and discipline, and offer opportunities for new friendships

Many cities also offer camps for creative arts, drama, music, or coding. So if your child leans toward the artistic or analytical, these are excellent options for some summer learning outside the classroom.

5. Set Limits on Screen Time

Screens are often the biggest temptation during the summer holidays, especially for boarders. While some screen time is okay, especially if it’s educational or involves creative expression, it’s important to place reasonable limits.

We suggest having no screens before breakfast, limited recreational screen time, designated "tech-free" times, especially during meals or family time, and encouraging tech-free hobbies like sketching, journaling, or gardening.

Not only do these activities save their sleep cycle from getting disturbed, but they also help your child get in touch with their creative side.