Summer activities to beat the boredom!

Every year when summer rolls around I always get so excited to start prepping and preparing fun activities for my kids to do! Preparing them in advance helps me to follow through with actually doing them! As we roll into warmer weather and you start thinking about your summer plans, I hope this list is able to help you with some quick and easy ideas!

• Each year we make our “Activity Jar”! This jar is easily my kids’ favorite part of spring and summer! Some years we start earlier in Spring and some years we wait until the official start of summer, but regardless of when we pull out the activity jar here is how to make and use it! Start by finding any empty jar around your house, canning jars work super well for this because they have a lid to keep the popsicle sticks contained! You’ll also need a good portion of popsicle sticks. Next sit down with the pinterest board you pin everything to and never touch again! All those fun activities you think you may want to do with your kids and saved for later, now’s the time to do them! Each activity that you think would be fun I encourage you to write the name of it (and what website you found it on) on the popsicle stick! Once you have a bunch written out you close the jar, shake it, and whichever activity you pull out is what you get to do! Decorate your jar with stickers and you’re done! After we do an activity I pull it out of the jar, write the date on it, and then I have a really cool collection of things to look back on at the end of the summer. Some fun ideas to put in your activity jar include messy science experiments, board game time, kids pick what is for dinner, or even a park day! Arts and crafts are always welcome here as well!

• Absolutely nothing beats popsicles and a sprinkler in the yard! If you really want to change it up, make a game of jumping through the sprinkler! Every time the kids jump through the sprinkler they have to name one of the planets, or a color of the rainbow! However you choose to play outdoors, enjoy your time!

• Movie Night! Whether you go to the theaters, or pop some popcorn and pull up Disney, movie night will always be a hit! Stringing up a strand of your Christmas lights in the living room makes the night even more special!

• When was the last time you made shadow puppets? If you attach a sheet to two dining room chairs, turn off the lights, and give your kids flashlights I promise they will have fun! A game we have played in the past is taking turns going around the house and collecting random objects. We don’t show the objects to the other players, but instead bring them behind the sheet, hold up the flashlight behind the object, and try to have your family guess what the object is just based on the shadow!
  

• Have you seen the activity where you “paint” sunscreen onto a sheet of construction paper, and then lay it out in the sun for a while? This would be a super fun activity, and you could even incorporate the scientific method while doing it. Ask your kids to make a guess on what will happen when you leave the paper outside in the sun. Write down your hypothesis, and come back to check a couple of hours later! Was your guess right, or did something totally different happen? 

However you and your family enjoy the summer, I hope you stay safe, healthy, happy, and never forget these moments! Even the really hard ones. 

How do you sign off on a blog post? Haha

-A-

P.S.- Keep an eye on our blog, because coming soon we are posting a list of educational TV shows, movies, and documentaries for when you just need a break! 

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