By Julie Diamond, OCT

*For additional tips to help your child with their time management and organizational skills, check out our blog What Practical Tips Can I Offer My Child to Help Them With Time Management and Organizational Skills?

At Diamond Teachers Group, we believe learning goes far beyond academics. Executive functioning skills, which include planning, organization, time management, emotional regulation, and flexible thinking, are the hidden superpowers that help kids learn effectively, manage daily tasks, and grow into confident, independent learners.

Summer is the perfect time to strengthen these skills in fun, practical, and low-pressure ways.

What Are Executive Functioning Skills?

Think of executive functioning skills as helping kids:

Start and complete tasks
Stay organized
Manage time effectively
Remember instructions
Cope with frustration and problem-solve

Kids don’t just “pick up” these skills automatically. They develop gradually with practice, guidance, and real-life opportunities to use them.

Why is Summer the Ideal Time to Build These Skills?

During the school year, busy schedules often leave little room for your child to practice planning or self-management independently.

Summer’s slower pace allows you to set up small challenges for your child to build their independence and encourage them to take ownership of their day.

By weaving executive functioning practice into daily summer activities, you empower your child with lifelong skills in a joyful, pressure-free environment.

Practical & Creative Activities to Strengthen Executive Functioning Skills This Summer

🌱 Gardening Together

Gardening is a surprisingly powerful activity for building executive functioning skills in a calm, hands-on, and rewarding way.

Whether it’s a small container garden on a balcony, a raised bed in the backyard, or even herbs on a windowsill, gardening offers opportunities for children to develop:

Planning & Organization: Choosing what to plant, deciding where and when, and tracking watering schedules help children practice planning and managing steps in a process.
Time Management: Plants require consistent care over days and weeks, helping kids learn to prioritize tasks and manage time to keep their garden healthy.
Working Memory: Remembering which plants need sun, shade, or water helps strengthen working memory in a real-life context.
Flexibility & Problem-Solving: If a plant isn’t growing well, children learn to pivot by moving the plant to a sunnier spot, or adjusting watering strategies.
Mindfulness & Patience: Gardening invites children to slow down, notice small changes, and appreciate the gradual nature of growth, which supports emotional regulation.

Ideas to try:
🌼 Let your child choose one vegetable, herb, or flower to research and grow.
🌼 Create a simple garden journal to record daily observations and tasks.
🌼 Build a watering schedule and use a calendar or phone reminders.
🌼 Encourage reflection by asking, “What do you notice about how your plant is changing?” or “What will you try differently tomorrow?”

By nurturing a garden, children learn that growth takes consistent effort, flexibility, and align perfectly with strengthening executive functioning skills in a gentle, joyful way.

A Black child is holding a plant in front of their face over a table with dirt on it.

🏖️ Build, Design, Construct

Projects like sandcastles, stick forts, or garden layouts involve problem-solving, planning, perseverance, and adaptation.

🖍️ Chalk Affirmations & Rock Painting

Encourage self-expression and persistence through writing motivational messages with sidewalk chalk or paint rocks, then hide them for others.

These creative tasks build self-control and confidence.

A white palette with different colours of paints (clockwise from top: green, blue, yellow and red) and a clean paintbrush with a red handle laying on it.

🛠️ Run a Lemonade Stand or Yard Sale Checklist

Give them real-life responsibilities like organizing (or helping for younger kiddos!) a lemonade stand or yard sale.

They’ll practice self-initiation, goal-setting, flexibility, and math skills in a tangible and motivating context.

🗓️ Plan a Family Outing

Let your child (help) plan a picnic, library trip, or bike adventure.
Have them make a checklist: What do we need to pack? What time should we leave?
Let them fail! If they forgot something (like utensils for the picnic), make it an opportunity to think on the fly and adapt. We have soup but no spoons - what can we do? Failure in an inconsequential situation can help build grit and learn from their mistakes.

These activities build planning, organization, adaptability, and time management.

🍳 Cook a Meal or Snack Together

Have your child read the recipe and make a list of ingredients.
Challenge them to shop for the ingredients with a set budget.
Have them follow the directions step-by-step. Let them fail (within reason)! Make sure they are being safe in the kitchen but if they forget to add an ingredient, don’t intervene. This is another example of failure in an inconsequential situation that can help them learn.
This teaches them about sequencing, builds grit, and following instructions.

📚 Start a Summer Reading Challenge

Have your child set a goal (for example, read 3 books this summer).
Create a simple tracking chart for them to monitor progress.
This builds goal setting, perseverance, and tracking progress.

🗂️ Organize a Space Together

Tackle a toy shelf, art supply bin, or bedroom drawer. In my house it’s going to be the kitchen pantry!
Have your child help sort items, decide what to keep, and label containers.
This builds organization and categorization.

To learn more about how to set up the perfect study space, check out one of our recent blog posts.

⏰ Practice Time Estimation Games

Before starting an activity (like cleaning up or building LEGO), have your child guess how long it will take, then use a timer to compare.
Builds time awareness and flexible thinking.

✈️ Encourage Independent Packing

For day trips, let your child pack their own bag (if needed, do this with your guidance).
Create a checklist if needed, then let them check off each item. I find tremendous satisfaction in crossing off something on my To Do list!
This builds responsibility, planning and confidence.

🧘 Practice Mindfulness

Try doing “mindful minutes” before bed or after lunch using deep breathing, stretching, or listening to calming music.
This supports emotional regulation and focus.

For specific mindfulness activities you can implement at home, check out our blogs What are Mindfulness Activities That I Can Do with Kids? and learn more about How Simple Mindfulness Exercises Helps Raise Confident, Resilient, and Empathetic Kids.

🎯 Create a Visual Routine

Post a simple daily schedule with pictures or words.
Involve your child in adding or adjusting activities.
This builds predictability, self-regulation, accountability and independence.

Executive functioning skills are imperative to your child’s learning and confidence, and they can grow with intentional, small steps this summer.

These moments, whether your child is helping plan a picnic, packing for camp, or tracking books they’ve read, empower them to:

Build independence and confidence
Strengthen their ability to focus and learn
Feel capable and confident heading into the school year

At Diamond Teachers Group, we integrate executive functioning skill-building into all our tutoring and enrichment programs, helping each learner shine bright in their own way.

If you’d like personalized support to help your child strengthen these skills this summer, we’re here to help! Our Shine Bright Summer Tutoring and enrichment programs can integrate executive functioning goals seamlessly.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can empower your child to build these lifelong skills this summer and beyond.

How Can Executive Functioning Skills Be Strengthened Over the Summer?