International (MNN) — For kids, summer means camp, trips to the beach, and grabbing ice cream with friends. What it doesn’t usually mean is doing it all in facemasks – or in many cases, not doing it at all. But like it or not, that’s what 2020’s summer brought.
Games, camps, and other summer activities have seen cancellation around the world. So as stir-crazy kids started to run out of things to do, Keys for Kids stepped up with the Summer of Fun.
“We wanted to provide families with activities and things they could do at home with their own families or with a limited group of people: something to keep the summer still being fun for the kids, especially since they were home an extra couple of months, and still make this a good summer for them,” says Dylan Raayenbrink.
From bug-collecting and water pistol fights to neighborhood photo safaris and beanstalk tepees, the Summer of Fun calendar is filled with suggestions to keep kids busy during the summer. And these activities are more than just entertainment; Keys for Kids wants people to “think about how does God fit into our summer? How does God fit into these activities? How can we bring this together with not just entertainment and keeping kids busy, but also teaching them something about God?”
Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids
The activities bring families together, give kids a list of things to do, and emphasize God’s roll in the world. And although the summer is coming to a close, it’s not too late to get involved.
First, if you want to join the actual Summer of Fun event, you can still sign up for the event calendar – the Summer of Fun runs through the end of August.
Second, this project served as a test for the future. At the end of October, a similar activities calendar will be released for Harvest Week. In November, there will be a similar Thanksgiving week calendar, followed by Christmas programming in December.
Admittedly, this program was only designed to be a temporary fix to 2020’s unique problems. However, that doesn’t mean concepts from this new program won’t carry over into future Keys for Kids projects.
Whatever the means, the goal for Keys for Kids has always been the same; show kids and families how to live like a Christian in the world we’ve been given.
“I would ask for prayer for our listeners, that they can be listening to Keys for Kids radio, be taking in other Christian resources and devotionals, paying attention in Sunday school – just taking in all of these resources to build their faith and to understand where culture is coming from and how that’s different from how a Christian should approach life.”
