Can it be Monday again already? Summer is flying by! I’m not in a hurry for September and autumn to come so this week’s list will be heavy on the summer activities! Hopefully there will be enough for those of you who are just finishing up with winter too.
Enough yapping! Here’s a few ways to make a little magic this week….
1. Freeze some giant tubs of colored water and then drop them all in the kiddie pool for some magical, icy cold fun. If you like, freeze toys in the ice and the kids can see how quickly they can break and melt them out. Or if you want to make it fancy, freeze flowers and leaves to make a floating, freezing fairy pool.
2. Hang up a light colored sheet or tablecloth and do some sheet paintingin the back yard. Remember you can just toss it in the wash when you’re done. Some of the designs will stain and others will come out. We always had fun seeing what remained and it makes a wonderful art tablecloth for craft days come wintertime.
3. Make greeting cards with flowers and other natural bits from the yard. Give each child a basket to gather some pretties — leaves, small flowers (especially flat ones), clovers, small leaves, etc. Then come inside and fold colored paper into squares for cards. Cut out a square or circle of clear contact paper for the front and have the kids arrange their pretties on the sticky side. Press the front of the card onto the finished design to seal. This will keep them relatively fresh and lovely indefinitely since it seals out the air.
4. Wash the dog, the car, the windows or the outdoor toys together. Be sure to spray, splash and get silly. Reward your hard work at the end with popsicles.
5. Make boats out of paper, stuff from the recycling bin or bark and find a place to float them. Stage some little races. Send tiny wishes on them off downstream. See if you can design the perfect natural boat to leave for fairies or stranded beetles to make use of after you’ve left.
6. Make a web page together on whatever subject your child desires.
7. Get all decked out in winter wear, make a fake snowy background and pose for holiday pictures.
8. Make a chalk art gallery on the driveway and have the kids fill it with masterpieces. Make up funny awards to assign too– wackiest hair, best use of the color orange, happiest looking, etc.
9. Camp out together in a nearby campground, a state park or the back yard. No way to camp out for real? Pitch a tent with a sheet and some carefully strung rope, get a flashlight and some sleeping bags and make your own camp-out. (To make your own avant-garde campfire, gather up all the glow in the dark items you can find, put them in a pile and shine the light on them. When the lights go off you’ll have a lovely pile of glowing embers!)
10. Take mud baths! Find a dirty spot in the yard and take the hose to it. Put on bathing suits and slather yourselves up from the neck down in ooey, gooey mud. Dry a bit in the sun and then hose off. Yes, you too! At least from the knees down. It’s good for the skin and even better for the soul. 🙂