Summertime!!!

So summer is officially here and I am trying to prevent boredom - which always leads to whining and fighting. My kids know better than to tell me they are bored, cause then they get a spray bottle and a rag and get to clean baseboards. Don't remember who gave me this idea, but I LOVE it! Anyway, I'm trying to plan and think of fun activities and I found this book my mom gave me:

I'm sure there's a million books that are similar. But I was just looking thru it and it has so many great, simple ideas. Here's some of my favorites and some ideas of my own:

Indoor Treasure Hunt (this was in the rainy day section. but summer in arizona is pretty much the same thing - your stuck inside!)

Animal Charades - fill a bag of stuffed animals. Someone picks one and acts it out.

Tell Me a Story - fill a bag with random items and have your kids tell/write a story including all the items.

Indoor Camping

Night at the Movies

Hotter/Colder - you know, the old game of hiding something. One person looks and you tell them hotter or colder. Another version I did as primary chorister - sing louder as they get closer and quieter as they are further.

Brown paper bag puppets

Weight - use a bathroom scale and let kids weigh different objects and write down how much they weigh.

Lacing Cards - or make your own with cardboard - make holes and let them lace with yarn.

Memory - make your own, can match uppercase to lower case letters or a numeral with how many dots, etc

Who loves you? - make a list /draw a pic of everyone who loves your child

Paperclip Jewelry

Indoor tent - make a fort

I Spy

Food Count - write #'s 1 -12 on the sections of an old egg carton. Have child put correct number in each using raisins, cheerios, choc chips, etc

Cut out pics from old magazine and make a collage

Water Painting - give children a bucket of water and a paintbrush and let them "paint" the sidewalk

Hopscotch

Paper Doll Chain

Bird Feeder

Musical Instruments - use stuff around the house to see what instruments you can come up with.

Necklace - noodles, cheerios, etc.

Pasta picture

Pinwheels - make your own pinwheels

Toothpick snack - cut foods into small pieces and eat with toothpicks.

Make an obstacle course

Taste Testing - blindfold and various foods

Cooking - make popcorn balls, jello, rice krispie pops, etc

Apple Shapes - peel apple and cut into thin slices. let kids use small cookie cutter to cut out shapes.

And finally - something I haven't made since I was a kid:

Peanut Butter Playdough

18 oz. peanut butter, 6 Tbsp honey, dry milk or milk plus flour

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix, adding enough dry milk or milk plus flour to reach the consistency of bread dough. Add cocoa, if desired. Shape, decorate with edible treats, and eat!

Thanks mom, for the book! Lots of great ideas. Here's hoping we can keep our kiddos busy this summer!!!