Remember the sound of the school bell on the last day of class before summer vacation? That bell combined the thrill of freedom with a sense of accomplishment and spiced with the excitement of summer vacation plans.
Things have changed and summer might look more like catching up on research, teaching a summer section or digging into that long list of overdue household chores. But while you are busy adulting this summer, remember to take some time to find that summer joy you had when you were a kid.
Here’s a list of 10 ideas to turn your professorial summer into a Playcation!
- Dream up 10 playful activities you can implement this fall in your classes, but all of them have to include ping pong balls.
- Eat at a restaurant serving a cuisine you have never tried before. If you don’t live close enough to a good option, look up a recipe online and order the ingredients from Amazon.
- Take $20 to your nearest dollar store. Buy 20 things and then figure out how to integrate them into a class this fall.
- Call an old friend you haven’t talked to in at least a year and see how they are doing. And tell them the dumbest joke you can think of.
- Pull out lecture slides for a class you will teach in the coming year. Randomly select 12 slides and no matter what is on the slide, make it more fun. If you get stuck, ask AI for help.
- Learn 12 words in a language you don’t know. Then, try and drop them into conversation for the rest of the summer. Vivo ludere!
- Make a Spotify playlist for a class. Give it a title like: Songs to Study Chemistry By or Term Paper Blues. Save it and share it with your students next time you teach.
- Go to a garage sale, antique store or museum and find something you remember having or enjoying as a kid. Spend a minute remembering everything about that time in your life. Remember being a kid.
- Head out your front door with your phone. Keep walking until you have found at least one fun thing and take its picture. It could be a funny sign, an eccentric mailbox or a bunch of people playing basketball. Don’t give up until you find some fun. For a bigger challenge, stay out until you have 10 things, and then post them all on social media!4axx
- Come up with a list of silly, wacky, goofy and playful activities you can offer your students for extra credit. Feel free to use this list as a starting point!