The kids are out of school and are whining “Maaa, I’m bored.” Never fear, these easy summer activities will keep the kids busy and take almost no time to set up.
Have a themed picnic!
This is not just any picnic…make it special for your children. If you have boys, make “Space lunches”. If you have girls, make them “Fairy food” or “Princess packs”.
For Space Lunches you will prepare the food like normal, except wrap everything in aluminum foil. Write your child’s name on the lunch as
“Captain Chris” or “Commander Chris.” Make up a story and even draw out a map of your backyard. In no time your child will be busy in another galaxy.
For fairy food or princess packs you will prepare a lunch, but wrap it in colored plastic wrap. Again, write your child’s name along with the theme – “Princess Jennifer” or “Jenella”. You can treat your yard as the castle lawn and even draw out a colorful map of the kingdom.
These lunches are always hits and will keep your children occupied for a good hour or two and will normally send them off into some intergalactic or magical adventure for hours!
Scavenger hunts.
No matter if you have a small yard or a large yard or no yard at all, you can quickly plan a scavenger hunt for your kids.
Gather a bunch of random items for your house - clothespins, plastic spoons, small toy figurines. Make a master list of all the items you’ve collected and then hide the items. Give each child a basket and a list of items they need to find. This is a great activity to get your children up and moving while stimulating their brains.
When the children return with the items, have small candies as a reward (make sure you don’t just give one to the winner).
Plant seeds or flowers with your children.
This is best done in the morning when the sun isn’t beating on your back.
Buy a few packs of seeds and have an old spoon or spade for each child. Let each child have a small spot in the garden that they can call their own. Show your children how to plant the first one, and then let them go crazy. Children love to see something they made grow. This also teaches your child responsibility (as you can have them water the garden too).
Create “Custom Kool-Aid”
This is a simple twist on an easy summer activity. Buy a few different flavors of Kool-Aid and have your children mix and match the flavors. You can have fun assigning a creative name to each unique recipe too.
You can make variations on any of these ideas to fit you or your children’s tastes. These are all fun, easy things that you can do with your children that they will enjoy as well. Happy playing!
