Thursday, June 07, 2007

What to Do this Summer? Fun No-Cost Ideas...

Although you may not be able to afford a summer vacation this year, there are no-cost, fun summer activities for the whole family. Check these out and feel free to leave me some other fun ideas in the comments!

  • Go to the library! What is more fun for a kid than to go on down to the public library and check out a couple of books and maybe a fun DVD to view? It's absolutely free and most libraries have summer reading activities that reward your child when they reach certain goals. This will help keep up their reading skills for school in the fall :)
  • Have some outside quiet time. Pick a tree in your back yard and lay down a blanket. Have some lemonade and cookies, and read the books you’ve checked out from the library. Take turns reading. Invite friends and their kids to join you. Make it a weekly event.
  • Make a treasure box with your kids (this follows the popular Pirates of the Caribbean theme this summer). Have them scout around the back yard or beach for rocks or sea shells or any item they think would be cool to include. Have the kids make a treasure map and include some information on pirates found on the internet. Add some coins, and make a pirate’s flag with black fabric. Have the kids add their own symbols to it. Then the kids can bury it in the back yard or keep it on hand and add to it each year.
  • Garden with the kids. Have your kids plant their own flower garden. Talk about each flower; how it grows, how much room it needs, and then give the kids a title, such as Director of Water Resource (this would be for one kid to oversee the watering of the plants); or Director of Roots and Shoots (this would be for another kid to oversee the weeding), etc. Also, give your kids some watermelon seeds to plant. You never know what may crop up.
  • Take a bike ride. This is such a great activity for the entire family. You can even pack a picnic lunch and stop midway for a great time together! It's wonderful exercise and will really bring the family together.
No-cost, fun summer activities for the whole family can be achieved with just a little imagination and a LOT of creativity.

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