Summer Ideas For The Kids

Here are a few summer ideas for children of all ages:

1. Have your kids keep a summer journal. Fill it with words, drawings, or even photos.

2. Get some plants and flowers and have your kids help grow them, from picking out the seeds/plants, soil and flower pots to planting, watering, and keeping track of their growth.

3. Have your school kids keep in touch with the teacher whose class they just graduated from. Maybe they can write a letter or send a postcard, or just email. Same goes for classmates that your kids may not get to see over the summer.

4. Collect seashells, rocks, or pick flowers.

5. Visit the library or book store on rainy days. Aim to have your child read a book a day or a chapter a day. Go back through all the children's books you've collected through the years and let them re-read some of their favorites. Or, start a series that you can read to them each night.

6. Make meals together and teach your kids how to grocery shop and follow a recipe to cook a meal.

7. Take walks and bike rides.

8. Try some arts and crafts (like Point Arts 'n Crafts Night every Wednesday night @ Jenkinsons) models, or projects that you don't have time for during the school year.

9. Visit water often - any and all water - ponds, creeks, lakes, the ocean, and pools. Let your kids experience the difference between salt water and waves and chlorine, let them explore with sticks in a stream and fishing in a river.

10. Bring your kids out early to watch a sunrise, and stay up late one night to stargaze....maybe even camp out in your own backyard.

11. Play board and card games and laugh together.

12. Find some small jobs that allow children the chance to make some of their own money.

13. Help children help someone else: the elderly, smaller children, or anyone who needs it.

14. Have a cookout or picnic.

15. Playdates, playdates, and more playdates!