Summer

Summertime is a great time of the year. No school, no responsibilities or homework and children look forward to their summer vacation. The first few weeks may be great with your children finding activities to keep them amused and occupied. Friends, little league sports, and the joys of summer will keep them happy. What can you plan to help keep your children happy and occupied throughout the summer? Below you will find some useful and innovative hints on doing just that!

One hint that is a great and different idea is for bubble blowing. You can blow bubbles and have fun with your children but there is a unique way of blowing bubbles. You can buy large pads of drawing paper, newsprint rolls, or brown paper bags and use them while blowing bubbles. Put your bubbles into several different containers and put tempera paint to each container of bubbles. Supply your children with different bubble blowing tools and let them blow bubbles on to the paper. You will be surprised to see the delightful designs that you will make with your colored bubble bursts.

A scavenger hunt may be a new adventure to today’s children. Make each of your children a list of items they might find outside. Take a walk around the area your children are allowed to in and make a list of items they will find in that area. You do not want to make the articles so simple to find that your children become bored, but don’t make them too hard or they may lose interest before the hunt is finished. Some suggestions are: leaves, flowers (make sure they know to not pick them from someone else’s yard) and sticks that are a certain size or shape.

Encourage them to make a scrapbook about their summer vacation. Buy each child their own notebook and other art supplies. Glue sticks, construction paper, colored markers, and crayons will help them make a record of their summer adventures. This is something they will be able to treasure and give them something tangible to hold on to forever.

If your children are older you can give them each a piece of paper and a specific color. Ask them to walk around the yard or their neighborhood and write down everything they find that is the color that was assigned to them. If you have more than one child, you can make it a competition with the winner winning a small prize.

Send your children on a treasure hunt. Hide some prizes, or special treats and write clues that will lead them from one place to another until they find the prize. A variation of this game would be making a treasure map and giving a different one to each child. Once they find the treasure they can exchange their map with another child and the hunt remains active!

These are all good ideas for summer fun. Maybe you can think of more or something that is unique to your family.

Recommended Reading

1. Coping With The Stress Of Parenting
If you have raised or are raising children you are already aware of the stress parenting places on you as...
2. Birth Defects Present Summer Vacation Challenges
Living with a birth defect is hard for a family, but even harder on the child. Systemic abnormalities are a...
3. Are You Helping Your Child With Stress Management
We live in a stressful world, and many adults have a tough time relieving stress but how much harder it...
4. Helpful Hints That Can Help Ms Sufferers Beat The Heat Of Summer
If you are an MS sufferer, it is the summertime blues you have to beat rather than those that usually...
5. Parenting Tips With A Little Touch Of Magic
Every parent will face a time when parenting is a challenge. You may have a long wait at a restaurant,...