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If you are trying to find something to do for the entire summer vacation, you need to be imaginative and creative to keep your kids engaged and entertained. Kids mostly feel bored sitting idle at home when there is not a plan in place. They might even want to create their own diversion, which might in turn wreak havoc.
The following tips will help you plan fun and entertaining daily activities for your kids so that you can keep them out of boredom and give them something to enjoy. 🙂
Make a homemade phone
Show a child how to put his fingertips lightly on his neck and feel the vibrations when he hums. This is the basis for a homemade phone. You will need two metal cans with the tops safely removed and a hole made in the center of the bottom. (Make sure the edges are not sharp). Next cut a piece of string that will reach the length of the hall or other long area. Then draw the string through the can holes and knot it, connecting the two cans with their open ends towards the string ends.
Let each child take one can and move apart until the string is taut and not touching anything. One child speaks into his metal can while the other puts the metal can to his/her ear to listen, experimenting with how softly they can talk and still be heard. Point out how different the sound is from normal conversation.
Supplies needed: 2 metal cans; 1 long piece of string
Create a living TV
Take a clue from TV and come up with a fantastic set of characters. Help your child assign parts of TV characters to siblings, dolls, animals, etc. All these can be from any show the family knows or likes: Big Bird, Superman, What’s up Charlie – any character he/she knows can be a part of the show. Then make up a simple situation such as “Superman lost his flying power and needs to get it back.” Then let the TV show develop from imagination.
Do some gardening
Kids are never too young to learn about gardening. As they get older, they will be able to help out more. Gardening is a great way to educate kids how to support themselves by growing their own foods. If you live in an apartment you will find special containers that you can use to develop plants successfully. For added fun have kids paint clay pots to add some color to the garden and to stimulate creativity.
Explore a New Playground
No doubt, you have a favorite playground that you visit frequently. When summer boredom hits, a trip to a different playground may be all that’s needed to put some spark back into their play. Many schools and recreation centers have large modern playgrounds that are free to the public.
Zoo
A trip to the zoo usually means driving some distance, so this is an activity to be planned in advance. You can add an educational element to the trip by researching some of the animals you’ll be seeing beforehand.
Farmers Market
If there is a farmers market in a nearby town, be sure to take the kids at least once. For some families, it is actually a weekly event where you can buy specialty foods and enjoy various demonstrations or entertainment. There is almost always a vendor who creates their product right on the spot. Kids delight in watching items like donuts, candy floss, or funnel cakes being made.
Petting Zoo
A day at the petting zoo can be a lot of fun. In some communities you can find small petting zoos offered by garden centers, parks, and farms. The animals usually consist of goats, deer, rabbits, and other tame animals. Feed is usually provided by the owner or by vending machine, and the kids are encouraged to feed the animals which eat right out of their hand!
Be just a little wild
Let your children (and yourself) remember their summers as a time when their parents went a little wild.
Wake them up in the middle of the night to watch a lunar eclipse or just a beautiful clear night of star watching. Take sleeping bags outside, sky-watch for an hour or until they fall asleep.
Have a food or pillow fight; Have them be the boss for a day; Let them put makeup on you and each other; Jump in the pool with your clothes on.
Some other activities to try include Color Ice and Gooey Color Painting. Also make some yummy watermelon pops!
It is always good to have a break, but a completely brainless summer is not ideal. Decide how much spelling, math or other skills your child needs during the holiday, to keep his mind in shape for the next school year.
Also check out Amazon for some awesome deals on summer gear!
Other awesome resources to keep little ones busy
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Carrie says
Oh, some great and fun ideas!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!
Vanessa says
What fun! Playgrounds were and still one of the favorites from our son. He’s 5 now, but still enjoys majority of the ideas on your list.
Jill says
Great ideas for summer fun!
Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!
Sondra @ Savers4Life says
Coming over from Saturday Sharefest! Following you now. Love the ideas on kid’s activities. We love the local farmer’s market here.
Aubrey says
Great ideas! I keep meaning to visit our local Farmer’s Market, but weekends get so busy. I hope to get out there this summer! (Stopping by from Rock-a-bye Parents link-up.)
Kids Gardening says
Lovely ideas, thanks to share this creative ideas for kids. Gardening is also good activity for kids, it create more fun for children and make them active and creative.
Nicole Martin
Ashley says
What fun activities! Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library!
Mum of One says
I LOVE these ideas. especially the star watching! Thanks so much for linking it up to the pin it party. I have pinned to our main board and to my kids summer fun board. I am http://pinterest.com/jbmumofone/boards/ on pinterest.
Heather Who Needs a Cape? says
Great ideas! Always looking for things to do with my kiddo’s ;)Saw you over at Pin it Tuesday!
Would like to invite you over to Super Sunday at Who Needs a Cape – we are live right now! http://whoneedsacape.com/2013/07/super-sunday-party-5/
andrea says
Going to the Farmer’s Market is on my 3 year-old daughter’s bucket list. Yes. She has a summer bucket list. LOL. #sitssharefest
Sarah | LeftBrainBuddha says
Great ideas! My kids love helping in the garden, and the zoo is always a favorite outing. And they are content with me making them “cell phones” out of paper. Thanks for the great suggestions. {visiting from SITS – and now following!}
Steve Rodgers says
Once a week at our house is family movie night. Im always trying to upgrade our home entertainment system to make this experience a little better. I recetly bought ahd projector, which works great for movies. It’s just one way we spend time together as a family. Thanks for the post.
Nicolette Roux says
That’s awesome Steve! You will surely LOVE our giveaway that went up this morning. Check the link just below this comment 🙂
Monika {Life With Lovebugs} says
Great list! Finding new parks in always on our list, every city around us has a few hidden gems. We also started involved the kids gardening recently, they get so excited when the plants start growing! Thanks for sharing, Monika
Shannon says
Such lovely ideas. We usually do the playgrounds and the farmers market. But I love the idea to be a little wild. Sometimes I just get so caught up in what needs to be done. I think my kids would remember it forever if I surprised them with something fun like star gazing. Thanks.
Pary Moppins says
Great suggestions! We always love the library’s summer reading program since they bring in puppeteers, storytellers, folk singers, authors, and even The Creature Teacher (a lady who brings various animals in and talks about them) to perform for the kids.
Nicolette Roux says
That sounds fantastic! Time to visit 🙂
Nicole says
I love the Living TV Show idea, that sounds like a lot of fun! Great summer activities list!
Marie says
Love these ideas! I really want to start a garden with the kids. Have you tried the phones with paper cups? I wonder if that would work also.
Pam says
You have some fun ideas. Now that mine are teens the battle is getting them to want go do something instead of playing video games all day.
Dawn ~ Spatulas On Parade says
There are so many things kids can do besides watch tv and play video games. great list
Dawn
Tara says
These are such great ideas, thank you! My son is 5 and it is hard to keep him entertained. Thanks for the tips & glad to see you in the hop too 🙂
Jutta@HungryLittleGirl says
First of all: What a cutie that is in the picture 🙂
I love the idea of gardening with your kids, they can learn something and get their hands dirty!
Nicolette Roux says
Thank you! She is my little girl. Her and her brother LOVE water.. AND getting dirty too 😀