How We’re Doing Summer Learning With My Big Kids This Year

Looking for screen-free summer activities for big kids? Level Up Summer Adventure is a fun printable challenge system that helps kids ages 8–12 build life skills, stay creative, earn rewards, and reduce screen time all summer long.

We’re just about to the end of the school year. In fact, some of you might be counting down your last few hours right now!

Knowing that summer is coming, I’ve been getting all my ducks in a row to make sure I’m ready when my kids get out for summer break. I’ve printed my giant summer calendar, pulled out my summer planner, and started mapping out trips, camps, and all the fun things we want to do together. I feel so much better starting summer when I have a loose plan in place, and these resources have made a HUGE difference for my sanity during summer season the past several years.

But this year, I realized there was one big hole in my plan:

Summer learning.

I’ve talked for years about my favorite summer learning workbooks for kids. These Brain Quest books have been such an easy way to keep my boys practicing important skills over the summer without making it feel too overwhelming.

But now I have two middle schoolers…and suddenly I found myself stuck.

Most summer learning resources (including Brain Quest books) are made for little kids. And honestly? My older boys are at the age where they need something DIFFERENT anyway.

What I Want Summer Learning to Look Like

Continuing to learn in summertime is important, but summer learning should look different than learning at school. I didn’t just want more worksheets. I wanted a system that would help my kids:

• get curious about the world around them
• try new things
• develop real-life skills and independence
• spend less time on screens
• and actually take ownership of their summer

Am I searching for a unicorn? Maybe. But I like a challenge, so when I couldn’t find what I wanted, I made it myself!

Introducing: Level Up Summer Adventure

Level Up Summer Adventure is a game-style summer challenge system designed especially for “big kids” ages 8–12+.

Instead of assigning kids a pile of worksheets or constantly trying to entertain them all summer long, Level Up gives kids a fun and flexible structure for choosing meaningful activities, earning XP (experience points), leveling up, and unlocking rewards along the way.

Think of it like:

• part life-skills adventure
• part summer bucket list
• part reward system
• part learning challenge

What Kinds of Activities Does it Include?

In Level Up, kids earn XP by completing “adventures” in these categories:

• Writing & Storytelling
• Science & Discovery
• Math & Logic
• Art & Creativity
• Life Skills & Talents
• Research & Reading
• Exercise & Health
• Service & Gratitude

Best of all, Level Up is completely customizable! It encourages kids to think about what they want to learn and work toward their goals. The included “adventures” are a good source of inspiration to get started, but kids can use Level Up to track any goal they want to set for the summer.

Want kids practicing piano? Count it for XP.

Want more outdoor time? Add outdoor challenges.

Want your child to learn cooking skills, improve swimming, read more books, or spend less time on screens? All of that can become part of the game.

Why I Created Level Up

For the past several years, our summer learning goals have been pretty simple: complete a Brain Quest workbook and hit a reading goal. It worked really well for us for several years, but as my boys have gotten older, I’ve realized our summer learning needs to evolve, too.

My older kids are ready for more independence. They’re old enough to pursue their own interests, take on bigger responsibilities, and work toward personal goals. But like most kids, if they don’t have some structure and motivation, it’s easy for me to find them still in pajamas at noon flipping through Calvin and Hobbes or asking when they can do Minecraft.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with Calvin and Hobbes (love them!) or Minecraft in moderation, but I don’t want us to get to the end of summer and realize that we missed out on the opportunity to do something more fun and meaningful with our time.

I wanted to create a system that would:

• encourage independent learning
• make screen-free activities feel FUN
• motivate my boys without me constantly managing them
• and help them build real-life skills they don’t always get to practice during the school year

How Level Up Benefits Families

One of my favorite things about this system is that it helps solve several common summer problems at the same time.

Instead of kids wandering around bored all day asking for screens, they have a huge list of ideas and challenges to choose from independently.

Instead of parents feeling like they have to play cruise director 24/7, kids take ownership of choosing activities and tracking their own progress.

And instead of summer learning feeling like a chore, it becomes a game.

How Does Level Up Work?

The system itself is intentionally simple.

At the beginning of summer, kids set an XP goal for themselves. Then throughout the summer, they complete challenges to earn XP (experience points).

For example: My kids have 10 weeks of summer. If they do five adventures per week (10 XP for each adventure), that’s 500 XP for the summer, which feels doable for us. You can feel free to do more or less though (remember how it’s customizable?). Set whatever goal feels good to you!

As kids collect XP and level up, they unlock rewards that you can decide on as a family.

For example: For every 100 XP earned, my kids will earn a small reward such as a trip to the dollar store, a “get out of one chore” pass, or stay up 30 minutes late (they choose). Once they’ve earned 300 XP, they get a medium prize (around $5), and once they reach their summer XP goal of 500, they will earn their BIG prize. For us, this has always been a day at our local amusement park.

All the details on rewards are inside the Level Up system.

The printable pack includes:

• XP trackers
• goal sheets
• reward planners
• challenge pages
• mystery missions
• bonus XP cards
• streak bonuses
• and over 75 challenge ideas

There are even fun things like:

• Double XP Days
• surprise bonus cards
• and streak rewards for completing activities several days in a row

Basically, it turns personal growth and summer learning into something that feels exciting and motivating instead of forced.

Want to Try Level Up Summer Adventure?

If you’re looking for a way to encourage less screen time, more independence, and meaningful summer fun for your big kids this year, I think you’re going to LOVE this system.

You can check out the full Level Up Summer Adventure printable bundle here:

And if you end up using it with your family, I would LOVE to hear how it goes!