In a previous post, I promised fun summer ideas to keep you busy making memories throughout the summer. My last post was on taking advantage of what the community had to offer. But, for those days when you're stuck home with a napping baby or just want to take it easy at home, consider these fun summer ideas.
1. Have a sprinkler day.
2. Paint the yard day. Give your kids an empty food can filled with water and a paintbrush. Then, send them out to the yard to paint anything and everything they can find.
3. Chalk village. Arm your kids with chalk and let them build an entire village on your driveway, with houses, roads, schools, etc. Then, arm them with bikes and scooters and let them "drive around town".
4. Play water sports. Using pools for bases and a slip and slide to slide into home, play water baseball. Or, slip the kids' arms into a t-shirt so their hands are holding their sleeves and the t-shirt lays across their forearms. Then, toss water balloons back and forth to play a great game of water volleyball.
5. Picnic in the backyard. Spice up lunchtime with a picnic in the backyard.
6. Do crafts. My favorite craft site is familyfun.com. Check it out for zillions of great craft ideas ranging from super easy to difficult.
7. Water fight. Arm your kids with spray bottles and squirt guns and have a real live water fight.
8. Camp outside. If you have a trampoline, a campout on the trampoline is a perfect summer holiday. Just take out the sleeping bags and sleep under the stars. Don't have a trampoline. Don't hesitate to pull out the tent and make it an adventure.
9. Drive-In Movies. Do you or a friend have a projector? If so, project a movie up on your garage and invite the neighbors to watch a movie under the stars. We did this several weekends last summer and really got a big turn out from the neighborhood. No projector? No problem. Many projectors can be rented from local libraries.
10. Plant a garden. Whether you're planting flowers or veggies, kids love to plant and play in the mud. Give them a shovel and let them join in the fun. Don't want a garden but have a patch of dirt? Put on some old clothes and let the kids dig all they want. They'll easily come up with their own ideas.
11. Take some white T-shirts and decorate them outside. Use fabric paint, sharpies, you name it! If you're adventurous, even buy some tye-dye kits.
12. Tint some shaving cream, spread it in a baking pan, and doodle or write words. Or do the same thing with pudding!
13. Water slide! Put the kiddy pool at the bottom of the slide and watch your kids laugh (and get soaked) for hours.
14. Host a popsicle stand. Popsicles can be far more popular on a hot day than lemonade. Host a stand and then take the kids to the dollar store later to spend their hard-earned cash.
15. Make a backyard fort. This summer, my kids found a secret corner of our backyard, hidden by trees and an overgrown lilac bush. They've set up chairs in their fort and have their own entrance way. It's their secret "hideout" where they seem to be spending countless hours of fun together.
16. Slip and Slide!! Don't have one? You can pick one up at Walmart for around $5. But if you don't have time to run out, grab a tarp, wet it down, and place the hose at the top of an incline. Voila! The kids will love it. Add bubbles for slippery fun.
17. Paper airplane Golf. Set up targets all over the yard using cones, balls, whatever you have on hand. Then, teach the kids to make and color paper airplanes. When they're all done, play golf. Starting at the start line, aim for the first target. Each child goes in turn. Start again from where each airplane landed. Count up how many throws it took each child to get to the target. When done with the first "hole", move to the nexthole and so forth until you've played 9 holes!
18. Or just make paper airplanes and take turns throwing them from a second story window. See whose can fly the furthest.
19. Get some canvases and paint and let your kids paint the next Rembrandt for their bedroom.
20. Make a backyard obstacle course. Let your kids take turns building obstacle courses for you and the gang to race through.
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