need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

[markio26]

i know swimming, hiking, picnicing..... do you know of some kewl websites that has printables?????

[marjorie]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

I'd also suggest a dress up box. Many hours of pretending for the younger set!

[eisor]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

At the park, frisbee and catch are always fun. Plus, there are always other kids there to play with.

I don't know where you are located, but the movie theaters around here do free movies once a week during the summer. It's fun. Also, Jillians (which ours is actually being bought by Dave and Busters) does a $5 day every wednesday during the summer. The $5 gets you either a) a game of bowling, $5 game card, lunch OR b) $10 game card and lunch. We'd always bowl. But, not all Jillians have bowling alleys.

If anywhere near you has these things, they are always fun.

Ok, this post makes me sound like a big kid. Hehe...I guess that is what happens when you spend 9 years babysitting with your mom.

[SuzeOFan]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

Since we aren't going to be traveling much this summer, we decided to spend the money beefing up the kids swingset. We've just added a new slide ($65-100 at Lowes & Home Depot), trapese ($10 on sale).

But what I'd really like to add is another wooden tower connected by a ladder bridge! I bought this cool laundry pulley and neon rope for a bucket the kids can use to bring snacks and things up and down from the fort. ($6). And for an extra 80-100 you can buy an extension for the slide that makes for a cool water slide.

Found a little turtle sandbox with cover for the baby to put under the first tower and we'll build a little railing around it to keep her away from the swings.

Keeps the kids AND DAD out of trouble!

[PrincessPerky]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

Mine are rather young, but I have found the like to walk alot, walk and pick 'weeds' walk and watch construction if any is around..and of course we are lucky enough to have a community pool.....

For indoor activities, 'art' and building blocks keep them occupied for hours (but then so do books)

We homeschool so we have fun new things to learn all year (though it is more hands on frogs and flowers in the summer, but we still have some new things to read up on if it rains or something.

[Snoopy2645]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

How about visiting museums. I live in a small town but we do have some cool museums & most are children friendly or have a kids room & all are free. Find out about story time & things threw the librarys or pupet shows even mine does that & its aimed to the little kids. How about VBS mine went last year & had a blast we dont have a church so I took them to my grandmas but most churches will welcome anyone & they do really fun stuff. Other ideas are visit lakes or pond in your area & they can wade threw. And watch for free activities our town has free river days & street dances which I took my oldest to when she was 1 so they are kid friendly or bands outside. Some stuff our town has started charging for but not much & also we go to every parade threw the summer I love a good parade but we only go to 1 carnival cause of course every parade has a carnival I skip that they are a waste of money ya know.

[kealina]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

it all depends on the age and what's easily available.... don't forget to check out your local library for books and activities... you could even pick up some kids craft books and do activities with them from the books....
pools and beach trips are great... neighborhood parks or walks are cool.... blocks, legos, board games, puzzles, etc.... let them help you with things if they are old enough.... stuff like helping with homemade lemonade/fruit pops and stuff are great for summer....
kids can be simple to entertain or maybe it was just us as kids... i can definately remember "helping" with grocery shopping and cleaning the house as well as doing all the fun stuff....

[abowers]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

Anything outside -- taking walks, riding bikes.

With the kids I have babysat, we've walked to get ice cream, we've walked to go feed ducks, we've walked to go see the sheep at a nearby farm.

Make up some kind of scavenger hunt outside or something that will take lots of time, or hide little toys around the yard.

for some crafts try: www.creativekidsathome.com

www.kidprintables.com has a lot of coloring papers or writing paper you can print out.

At preschool we like to bring inside toys outside for something different (We need to always have an activity planned for outside) -- The kids love it when we bring Legos or the Animals or Magnifying glasses outside. Or we've done sidewalk chalk, floor puzzles, crayons & paper on the sidewalk.

Not sure what your house is like, but bring out water and have them "paint" with water on your house or garage, or on the driveway. If it's really hot outside turn it into a lesson about evaporating (if your kids are young).

Another thing we did -- we froze a whole bunch of small animals and toys in a bin of water, then gave the kids the block of ice with animals inside. We gave them little play tools and they hammered at the ice for a long time, trying to "rescue" the animals inside. You could do something like that outside, and the heat in the summer will help it go a little faster.

Make orange juice or other fruit juice popsicles/ice cubes.

That's it for now.

[Fern]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

All these are great ideas, but you know, there's nothing wrong with kids having a little 'down' time when they have absolutely nothing special scheduled or pre-arranged.

[sakigt]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

Personally, as a kid, I loved being handed a $5.00 bill (plus change for tax) and going to the dollar store to pick out 5 summer toys (usually beach related). They still have great stuff there like pool noodles and sand pails.

[Tree0164]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

I wrote about Ideas for frugal summertime fun last year.

[PrincessPerky]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

fudgie brownies, with syrup? that is a cool idea! (from your daily tip)

btw making icecream, is a fun family thing to do here. (usually summer, but anytime works!)

[contrary1]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

being an old activity director, I make up a calendar for the summer & start taking requests for activities around now. (current kids can't do this with me, but others over the years have come up with some great things)

We take suggestions .........(most have to be in the No Money Fun catagory, some can be Wishful thinking type activities too, as it is fun to include a surprise if the budget can accomodate it.) and then we scour the local papers for activity calendars. Combining them to come up with themes or focus activities for the different weeks/months.

A favorite for all of us was to pick a country to highlight each month. We actually did this year round for a long time........... The big event was a family meal (extended family too) for a potluck affair with food matching the country chosen. During the month the kids worked on some research first, then came up with decorations, music from the library and anything else we could dream up. We had some amazing events over the years. Kids learned something and were absolutely driven to top their last months efforts each time. Fun too, to see the rest of the families getting involved.

Gardening has always been on our list here too............our most successful has been giving each kid a "salad" garden.........actually a huge planter on the deck, with their names attached. Then, we had a salad, courtesy of Amy on Monday, Josh on Tuesday, etc.... They had fun with this idea.

[jw4848]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

try local stores that offer craft activities.. call: Homedepot, lowes, michaels, lakeshore, toysrus... these offer crafts at different days/times.

[Bluezy]

Re: need ideas to keep the kids happy this summer!

Swimming and hiking are the best bets for my CJ, and are good ideas to work off all that energy kids have. I organize play dates on weekends with his mates from his nursery school days, so that might be a good idea if your kids love get together for sport games, etc.