summer activities

Summer Fun

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The great thing about most of these activities is that even though they may seem too young for you elementary age child (or even middle school), when you couple the activity with a younger child, your older one will have just as much fun.

Find activities that are active, outdoors, and hands-on, not to mention creative.

1. Water Play

Even without a pool, you can still have water fun on those really, really hot days. Use a sprinkler. Use water sprayers or water guns. Use small bowls or containers of water. If you do use containers, some very important CAUTIONS to keep in mind:

Do NOT leave children unsupervised no matter how small the container is. Children can drown in as little as two inches of water.

Do not leave your containers standing out when they’re not in use. The standing water breeds mosquitos and other icky things. Pour out the containers. If you must leave them outside, store them upside down. Rinse them out before and after each use.

2. Movies

Grab some movies ahead of time from the library for that inevitable rainy day.

3. Craft Projects

Visit the Nifty (for crafts) and the Tasty (for recipes) Facebook pages for fun activities.

4. Pinterest

Visit the Summer with Bubba board for some great activities, both fun and educational.

5. Barnes & Noble

B&N has a summer reading program that will give your child a free book after they read for so many hours. It is a limited selection but they are all age appropriate and free books are fabulous!

Put any other suggestions/links in the comments below.

Have a great summer!

Tote Bag Activites

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I finally found a way to put my bag obsession to good use. Kids are always bored; at least they think so. One way to combat this life fatigue over the summer is to have a few tote bags ready to go. Just add items to the bag, keep it in the closet until needed.

1. Library Tote

New books to read. Reading lists to bring to the library. Mini-journals (can be homemade) to record books read, minutes spent reading, book summaries and reviews. Bookmarks. Materials to make bookmarks as an additional activity.

Don’t forget to check out your local library for their summer reading program. There is always a theme, prizes, and an end of program event. We’ve done several and they are great fun!

2. Food

This can include new snacks that the family hasn’t tried yet (non-perishable of course). Recipe cards. Aprons for your kids. Potholders. Cookie cutters. These can be used on bread, cheese, etc. If you know you’ll be using this bag you can add in the ingredients for something specific for that rainy day. Grocery list for food tasting.

3. Surprise Movie Tote

Choose a popular movie that your kids haven’t seen or have only seen once in the movie theatre. Include microwave popcorn and individual boxes or baggies of candy. The movie theatre boxes are sold at Target and Wal-Mart for $1. You don’t have to buy the movies either. Check out the DVD section of your library or Redbox. Netflix also has a DVD subscription service, but that is slightly more expensive (although still quite reasonable).

4. Summer Cleaning

Cleaning is always more fun when, well, it’s not really, but some kids really do like to clean. Have a list of chores in the bag with points assigned to it, like a scavenger hunt. In place of a list, you can use (or make) a six-sided die so the choices are truly random. Set the table for dinner, fold the laundry, fold someone else’s laundry in the house, put the sneakers away, make your bed, etc.

5. Pinterest

Pinterest has some really great boards for kids’ activities. You can get started on making some Christmas gifts as well as gifts for your upcoming teachers. By this time, your kids should know who next year’s teacher is and could make a little welcome packet for back to school.

I’ll have some recommendations tomorrow for you to check out. School is almost out; what are you waiting for?

What are some of the things you can think of mjaking a tote bag activity for? Answer in the comments.