Welcome Summer Time
Here's to lazy summer days...
So i've decided to do some blog posts on summer fun for kids, mostly free things to do with your children. I came up with this idea because every summer I have my nephew who happens to be a very busy young man. I haven't had younger kids around my house in a very long time, and i haven't had to plan sumemr time fun for kids in years. Except of course when I have Ethan., I've been busy planning my week with him and would like to have some good ol'fashion fun with him because to me that's what summer's all about. You don't need to spend lots of money..use your creative minds!
Here are some idea's that I found on a Canadian Living website..
Creative minds
1. Think outside the cardboard box. Your child will love making a fort, car or spaceship in your living room or backyard.
2. Make musical instruments and have your kids put on a summer evening concert. An empty water bottle and some dried beans makes a great shaker; a plastic container and spoons become a drum; and pot covers can be cymbals.
3. Help your child make a card -- from scratch -- for someone she loves. Use materials from around your home and garden. Pieces of grass, leaves and flower petals can punch up the design. I LOVE this one...i spent many sunny,hot humid afternoons inside doing crafts with my kids..especially when it was just to hot outside.
4. Together with your kids, go through old magazines, wrapping paper and gift bags. Cut out different pictures and make a collage on an old clay pot for the garden. If you have more pots, make a few your kids can sell at yard sales. I have also used black chalkboard paint on vases...they have fun with that too..
5. Organize a weekly neighbourhood talent night, where kids and their parents can show off their singing, dancing and drama talents.
You can have theme nights and include story and poetry readings. This is something my kids did on their own, then they set up an audience section and we'd have to go outside and sit down to watch thier performance. Usually it was an airband of some sort.
6. Make and decorate papier-mache face masks with your kids.
They can reflect your child's personality or be completely whimsical.
7. Set your kids up with a bucket of water and paintbrushes and let them "paint" the fence, an outside wall of your house or the garden furniture. I'd just give them chalk and let them go crazy on the fence.
Green pursuits
8. Build and decorate a birdhouse together, and learn about the
birds that will use it in your backyard.
9. Set your tot outside with some large pieces of white paper and crayons and have her draw all the nature she sees, such as birds, butterflies, gardens and trees.
10. Encourage your child to create his own illustrated
nature journal, keeping track of all the things he hears, sees, touches and smells outside over the summer months. They would enjoy taking pictures as well and pasting them into a nature journal.
11. With an insect book in hand, discover the creatures living in your garden, and learn about their benefits together. You can buy bug containers at the dollarstore for a dollar..hours of fun for kids, i did this every summer..countless bugs crawling in my garage, usually found dead in a day or two.
12. Plant veggies (cucumbers, peas, tomatoes) or herbs in your garden or a large pot. Your kids can help tend to them, water them, watch them grow and then eat them when they're ripe. Indoor plants and garden's as well..balcony garden's for those in apartments.
13. Go for a walk and
collect leaves and flowers as you go. Back at home, use a field guide to help you find out what the plants are called.
14. Take a trip to your local farmer's market and teach your children about local fruit and vegetables. Don't forget to try new fare.
15. Designate one day out of each week in July and August as Earth Day and help your kids with cleanups in your local park and community. Trade this day off with other mothers where you can take turns and have a mental health day while someone else takes your kids out. After this...go to a free water splash park.
If you don't have a pool in your yard but a close friend or relative does...ask if you can come over one afternoon and treat your host to freezes, juice boxes and a veggie tray. From experience..its not usually the fact that company would come over for an afternoon..its the countless entertaining that can be tiring for those with pools. If YOU bring the snacks and drinks..then your host can just sit and enjoy an afternoon with you! Keep that in mind with neighbours who have pools, don't over stay your visit 3-4hour afternoon swim is usually sufficient for friends..especially those who have maybe entertained already the day before..its exhausting!
I plan on making homemade lemonade with Ethan one day while he's here..I have some masonary jars that I want to use up, this way he can take some home too.
Well friends..there it is, good luck to those of you have young ones home still..and better luck to those of you with teenagers home this summer~
For more fun ideas..check out this website below..
30 fun things to do with your kids this summer - Canadian Living
