It can sometimes be a challenge to find excuses to go out and do things together.

Here’s one solution: pick something everyone in your family enjoys, and then make a summer project of determining the best one of whatever it is, in Winnipeg. Or wherever your family will be!

For example, where would we find Winnipeg’s best chocolate sundae? Or place to fly a kite? Or play structure in a public park? Or splash pad? Or most colourful flower garden?

Let your family be the judge! Here’s how:

  1. Download our “Summer’s best 2022” scoring sheet.
  2. Call a family meeting, and choose the topic to be judged together. Everyone should have a say, and if you can’t all agree on one thing… do contests for as many categories as you want!
  3. Fill out the top of the form together, so everyone understands what you’ll be doing. “Crowdsource” some judging criteria from among the group, and write them down, too.
  4. Assign “judge numbers” to each member of the family, and write them down on the top of the sheet, too, so everyone has their scoring column on the form.
  5. If necessary, explain how to assign a score out of 10. If any of your participants are too little for this, no worries! Ask them to tell you how they feel about that week’s contestant, and then you can translate that into a score on their behalf. If there are older siblings who understand, they can help!

Then, every week throughout the summer, make a date to “judge” another “contestant” in your Summer’s best 2022 competition together. Fill in everyone’s scores for each contestant on the form, and calculate the average (this last part is a parent job, likely). Please check out our sample sheet, completed for the first week.

Not only will you have a regular activity that gets you out together, you’ll have opportunities to share ideas and opinions, and to work together toward a common goal.

Have fun!

(And if you do find Winnipeg’s best chocolate sundae, please let us know where!)