Things to Do With Your Kids In the Qatar Summer Holidays

Kids in Qatar have longer holidays than some of their peers and also have to contend with it being the hottest time of the year. Here we take a look at some great to do with your kids over the summer to keep them happy and entertained (and yourself sane!)

Camps

There are lots and lots of organized activities that you can send your child to in Qatar- there seems to be camps for everything including football, languages, ballet, dance, maths, brain training, swimming and lots of mixed activity camps run at schools or nurseries offering multi- discipline activities.

What’s great about the camps is that most of them are flexible so you can book one week or even just one day a week and see which your child enjoys and gets the most out of.

Here's a page with a big list of summer camps>>

Check out our Events section to see what else is going on. Take Me There>>

Projects

You could do your own projects with your kids at home. Look into growing vegetables,baking projects, craft and art projects as well as language projects. You could create your own theme of the week and plan lots of activities around that. This will stop you all getting bored. There are so many websites with the resources and ideas you will need. We recommend:

Martha Stewart>>
Kaboose>>
Activity Village>>
Disney Family Fun>>
Kids Spot>>

Learn A New Life Skill

The summer hols are a great time to relax from studies but also to learn a whole new skill. All kids should be able to swim so it might be time to book in the swimming lessons, or how about a first aid course?

There are all sorts of things to consider learn more Arabic, learn sign language- anything you can think of that will benefit the future life of your child.

Charity Work

Look at taking part in some of the many charity initiatives in Qatar- from helping out with special needs kids to taking abandoned dogs for walks- there is so much you can volunteer for.

Contact the charities direct to see how you and your family could help. This one will give such a great sense of satisfaction and will really make use of your free days over the summer.

Local Activities

Keep an eye on what is going on locally- there’s always lots going on in the malls that will be great fun for your kids and have the benefit of being inside.

Travel Local & Learn

Even if you’re not going home for the summer you could still plan a small local trip away. Over the summer and during Ramadan hotels across the GCC  have great rates for residents to encourage occupancy. You could plan a trip to Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Oman… they are all within a short flight. You could make a quiz about the places or check out the local history and musuems- making it a fun but also educational trip with lots of discoveries.

Get Some Exercise
Don’t let the heat be an excuse to miss out on exercise- it’s so important for you and your child to still keep active during this time and not spend the summer vegging in front of the TV. Before 8am and after 6pm the temps are slightly cooler so plan any outdoor exercise during this time.

You can also buy exercise games for your games console or buy some DVDs that have exercise activities on for indoor use. Build this into your daily routing during the summer hols.

You could try these DVDs- you can order them from Amazon and they cost between 60 and 100 AED

Care Bears Fitness Fun
Teletubbies: Go! Exercise with the Teletubbies
Yoga Kids
Get Fit America For Kids Workout
Bend & Stretch With Stick Kids

Games wise you could look at:

Nickleodeon Fit- for the Wii
Just Dance Kids- for the Wii
Junior Fitness Trainer- for the Wii
Big Brain Academy- this will exercise their brain

Have Friends Over
Your kids are used to seeing their classmates every day and they may get lonely during the holidays. Plan to have some of their friends round to play or to meet them on one of your outings.

This will encourage social interaction and give you all something new to talk about. You could get their friends involved in one of your activities or do something simple like go to the cinema.

It will provide a nice break and a change of scenery too. Plus you may get some other adult company too and be able to swap time busting ideas with other mums.

So really it’s all about a combination of activities that will keep your kids interested and active whilst spending the summer in Qatar. They are used to a schedule with school so if you have a plan, albeit a flexible one, this will make your summer holiday much more enjoyable for the whole family. Don't forget to have some down time too!

Have a really great summer!