Hey Y’all, How’s everyone’s Summer going? We’re halfway through Summer 2014 and if your like me your counting down the days till school starts. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kids being here but I have found my work to be piling up and I am constantly choosing to hang with the kids instead of work. I can’t help it they are so much fun! I noticed the other day the kids have been using the word “bored” lately, almost constantly. In their whiny voice; I’m bored, Can we do this, I don’t want to do that, we did that last week, this isn’t the movie I want to see, etc. So I needed some new activities, activities that we’re new to them, and fun.
When I was growing up it seemed that Summertime fun was simple and wasn’t always go go go, spend money, spend money, spend money.It seems that the simpleness of life has gone and everything is all about what you can go do and/ or buy to have fun. I think in the busyness of our lives we forget that even though everything we need we can pretty much go buy or go somewhere and do. So I decided to help my kids get rid of their summertime boredom blues by doing some things here at the house that I use to do when I was a kid.
I found it so much fun to watch my kids have fun doing these activities and I just knew this is what I had to share with y’all this month. Here are 6 Fun DIY cures for the Summer Boredom Blues.
1. Break the Ice: This is great for children of all ages. My son is 10 & daughter 7 and they both had a blast with this. I took some of their favorite things that can get wet of course, coins, and cool action figures/ponies, placed them in a pot (you can use a bowl if you choose), add water, and freeze till completely frozen. Once frozen run warm water around the outside of the pot or bowl and the ice block will slide out and be full of their favorite toys. You could even add food coloring to the water to add color to it (I didn’t have anymore)
2. DIY Slip-n-Slide: All you need for this is a tarp, liquid soap, and water, and you have your very own slip-n-slide. If you have a playground set with a slide then it’s even better. I took our tarp and put it right at the bottom of the slide and the kids had an amazing time!
3. Water Balloon Fights: Who doesn’t love throwing water balloons at someone, and especially when it’s your brother or sister. All kids love a good Water Balloon fight! You can get water balloons very cheap at a Family Dollar or Dollar Tree and have a great time with the entire family!
4. Homemade Popsicles: These are childhood favorite of mine. I use to not be able to wait for them when my granny made them and my kids act the same way. You can buy a fun Popsicle mold or you can use a small glass or Dixie cups if you have those, even yogurt containers work. I have some sippy straw Popsicle Molds that the kids love. You can use anything for homemade Popsicles. This time we used Kool-Aid because it’s not something the kids get often. You can also use juice or a layer of juice and a layer of yogurt. You could even use pudding and make Fudgesicles.
5. Sidewalk Chalk: This is the perfect box to last you all Summer long, but you can get this too for a pretty cheap price. The kids love drawing all over the road and leaving their mark on the world. Its because it something they aren’t normally allowed to do, like draw on things other then paper. We also let the kids draw on any of our tree stumps and trunks all around the yard and beach. This is really fun for adults too, spend some time drawing with your kids.
6. Bubbles: This is probably not the activity for your bigger kid, unless you make it a challenge. Older kids can still have fun with bubbles. See who can blow the biggest bubble, or who can find the most objects that will blow bubbles. It is a perfect activity to keep your little one busy while the older siblings do all the other activities!
These are all great ideas, but I’m a bit personally biased toward blowing bubbles. 😉 I guess I was an easily amused child, because that could keep me entertained for quite a while!