Ideally having the plan in place of what's expected will keep their little bodies active and their little minds growing!
Each day we will do: Physical Activities, Acts of Kindness, Crafts/Experiments, Housework and An Extra Fun Activity!
Below are some more detailed choices for the little ones...
Physical Activities - 2 hours (preferably outside)
- Riding trikes/bikes/scooters
- Climbing trees
- Running (Check out Active.com to find your local family fun run events.)
- T-ball
- Swimming
- Play in the sprinklers
- Basketball
- Playing at the park
- Indoor "volleyball" (using a balloon) for rainy days.
- Indoor putt putt (make an obstacle course around your home!)
- Basically anything that keeps us moving!
Acts of Kindness -
- Clean out the closets & donate shoes -- http://www.
shoesfororphansouls.org/ - Buy and donate items to the local food pantry
- Pack a bag for kids going into foster system. (Contact your local Department of Social Service to identify their needs.)
- Make "Get Well" Cards for Family/Friends that may be sick
- Make "Have a happy day" cards for family/friends
- Make "Thank You" cards for our Preacher, Sunday School Teachers, Pediatrician & Dentist
- Make Blessing Bags - http://kwavs.blogspot.com/
2011/05/blessing-bags-how-to. html - Hide a dollar at the store for someone to find and use
- Leave a gift in the mailbox for the mail lady
- Make cookies & share with neighbors or friends
- Thank a police officer
- Thank a fireman
- Thank a veteran
- Take flowers to senior center
- Leave change at a vending machine
- Leave change at a laundromat
- Feed an expired parking meter
- Tape Redbox coupon codes to the Redbox
- Let the older kids come up with ideas on their own of how to show kindness to others
Crafts / Experiments - I could get a little crazy with listing these ideas because there are a million on Pinterest but I have saved many that I like to the following board, so feel free to click, follow or click through to find the ones you like! http://pinterest.com/arnoldlora/for-the-kids/ Below are my favorite sites!
- Anything by the Artful Parent.com or on her Pinterest Board!
- 24 Fun science experiments.
- 100 Things you can purchase at the DollarTree and the fun things you can do with them. This site is crammed full of ideas of activities for little ones!
- Summer "snowball" fight.
- 200 activities for 1-5 year olds. This site is especially great for the little ones!
Housework - (Recognizing that I'm essentially asking a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old to help in these chores, my expectations is that they will help to the best of their ability, not necessarily to perfection. :-) )
- Picking up toys
- Putting away laundry
- Wiping off dining room table and chairs
- Dusting (feather dusters are great for little ones to help with)
- Vacuuming
- Bathrooms (I let the little ones wear disposable latex gloves and wipe down the sink and countertops with lysol wipes. And after I've scrubbed the bathtub I have let them spray off the suds with water guns.)
- Help gather dirty laundry & sort it
- Rotate laundry
- Help with flower beds and garden
- Help prepare meals (and meal plans! ... They're more likely to eat it if they choose it! Less fighting + more eating = happier meal time!)
- Help change the sheets on the beds
- Load dishwasher
- Clean windows (I spray Windex on paper towels and let them clean the windows, or at least the areas of the windows they can reach!)
Extra Fun Activity -
- Educational computer games (starfall.com, pbskids.org, http://www.uen.org/k-2interactives/)
- Digital camera scavenger hunts which I've created and have posted here.
- Board games
- "Around The World In 60 Days" from Thriving Family. (I just had a friend share this with me yesterday 5/26/13 and I'm LOVING this idea! It has great free printables, etc!)
- Puzzles
- Lego time: build something new!
- Find a toy or game that you haven't played with in a while and remember why you liked it in the first place!
- "Field Trip" to:
- local park
- free kids movie day at the local theater
- wiggles and giggles at the local library
- botanical gardens to feed the ducks and fish
- art museum
- festivals (if you live in SC like us, check out this website to find your local festivals http://www.sciway.net/calendar/june.html)
- visit local farm to see the animals
- Petsmart (or your local pet store) to see animals
- zoo
- picnics at the lake/river
- work on goals for the summer (for the older one, things like: riding bike without training wheels, tying shoestrings, learn to fish, improving swimming skills. For the little one, things like: letter recognition, identifying animals and parts of our bodies-eyes, ears, nose, etc.)
- For the older one, educational activities:
- Reading - at least 20 minutes of age-appropriate reading.
- Math/Spelling - at least 2 worksheet each day. (If you have a DollarTree store near you, stop in and check out their kids educational books, usually next to their coloring books.)
Below are some free printables (just added to the post on 6/20/13) to use over the summer to keep your little ones active! I have ours hanging on the fridge. We cover each category with a magnet once we've finished it. So far, so good!
Just click on each image, right click and save or download!
In the original post that inspired this conglomeration of thoughts/ideas, she rewarded her kids with a quarter per activity that they completed so that they could buy their own tickets into an amusement park at the end of the summer. I totally agree that a rewards system is certainly a good idea for the older kids, but since I'm focusing on Pre-school/Kindergarteners, I'm going to use a sticker sheet and once they have filled up their sticker sheet they can trade it in for a fun activity like going to the local arcade/putt-putt place or the children's museum.
I hope you and your kids have as many summer fun activities as we will!
Lora
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