Update
This summer has been very different for us. With my daughter having a broken leg we are very limited with what we can do outside because we don’t want her to get all hot and sweaty in her cast.
We’ve been doing a ton of inside activities this summer and one of them is movie night (or afternoon). One of my girls’ favorite movies on DVD this summer is Paddington. They’ve watched a few times with their friends. Paddington is a small bear who comes to London to explore and find a loving family.
Paddington is accident prone which makes for some very humorous scenes my children love. Paddington is a great family movie that is perfect for a family movie night or a rainy afternoon.
We have an awesome summer giveaway for you this week!
We’re giving away a cute Paddington plush, Paddington water bottle and Paddington Blu-ray Combo Pack.
To enter the Paddington giveaway leave a comment sharing how you are beating the summer heat. Giveaway ends June 29, 2015.
With the heat of summer and the searing July sun, we’re dragging. We are doing less, lounging more, and just kind of… blah. Along with the rising temperatures, we find the whines rising too.
“I’m bored.”
“There’s nothing to do.”
Do you, like us, need fun activities to get you through these “I’m bored” days?
Try some of these fun ideas that just might encourage your kids to award you “Mom of the Year” and help you put a stop to the whines once and for all.
Summer Fun for Kids
Have a Bike Wash
Invite your kids and the neighbors to bring their bikes to the driveway and set out buckets of soapy water and sponges. Let them wash their bikes and trikes in their bathing suits.
photo credit: Paul Mayne via photopin cc
Let them Get Muddy
I hate muddy kids. Unfortunately for me, my kids love mud. Since I’m trying to be more intentional about saying yes to messes, I decided to embrace their love of mud and set up some mud play this summer.
We have an old baker’s rack in the backyard that I set up as a “mud pie bakery.” I put out little pie pans, bowls, measuring spoons, and other kitchen supplies from the dollar store. The girls love it.
Go to a Parade
My kids love parades. It doesn’t really matter to them what the parade is for – they just love seeing people march by them and scramble to pick up the candy that’s thrown at them. With a little bit of research, I was able to find three local parades within the next few weeks. They’re all associated with city “Home Days” celebrations and kick of festivals and carnivals. We’ll hit at least one of those before riding some of the rides and eating carnival food for lunch.
Have a Parade
My five-year old was in a parade that was just made up of the baseball league her T-ball team is a part of. A fire truck led the parade, and a police car ended it, and in between were hundreds of T-ball and baseball players of all ages and their coaches. Regardless of the simplicity, people young and old lined the 2-mile path while kids of all ages flung candy (and pocketed some for later). The parade ended at the ball fields where everyone enjoyed ice pops, chips, hot dogs, and bottled water.
Can you do something like that in your neighborhood? Call the police or fire station and ask if they’re available to lead your kiddos down the street with their lights. End it in a cul de sac or blocked off area and have a little potluck block party with snacks and sprinklers. Neighborhood relations and family fun all rolled into one!
Learn Something New
My daughter keeps playing with an old Hula Hoop we picked up at a garage sale last year. She thinks she’s getting it, but it keeps falling around her ankles, and I can’t help her. So, we plan on getting the family involved, making some bigger hula hoops for my husband and me, and learning as a family. There are great video tutorials (Google it) and it can double as homeschool P.E.!
photo credit: Close to Home via photopin cc
Imagine It
Studies show that kids that who use their imaginations are happier, healthier, and more successful as adults. Encourage your kids to imagine. You don’t need money to do this. Hand over a cardboard box, some old scarves or blankets, and let them go create caves, tunnels, houses, stuffed animal dens, and more. Praise them for their creativity and ingenuity, and they’ll want to do more.
Beating summer boredom doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. Be intentional about how you play with your kids or how you encourage them to play with others. And if these ideas fail, there’s always the old standby, “You’re bored? Okay…I have some chores that need done. You can clean the kitchen so you’re not bored anymore.”
It’s a surefire way to cure boredom.
What are some of your creative and inexpensive ideas for summer fun? Share in the comments – I’m always searching for more ideas!
Betsy says
Great ideas, Colleen! Love your bike wash idea, as well as the organized mud pies and creating your own parade! Awesome! =) As a non-hula hooper myself, I look forward to you documenting your experience! 😉 As for our own cheap fun, (provided it’s not 90* outside!) we have an ancient family croquet set that has provided hours of after dinner entertainment (especially because we make our own rules), as well cheapo garage sale badminton (we don’t use the net) and ladder golf sets. As a gift, Madame received an enormous, hollow, heavy-duty inflatable ball, well big enough for her 10 yo self fit in with room to spare, having the capability of being rolled, kicked, crawling inside it to use like a hamster wheel, or taking across the street to the park, climbing into and rolling pellmell down the hill! It’s been very popular with her friends as well! (Thank you, Grandma!) To cool off afterwards they run through the sprinkler and/or use their squirt guns aka Super Soakers (also gifts, purchased 60% off during an end of season sale). Madame loves every aspect of gardening, except for eating vegetables. Bird watching/identification and insect collecting/studying are popular forms of entertainment here as well, though the number one favorite outdoor activity remains a red rubber kickball…
Colleen Kessler says
Great ideas, Betsy! {And I’ll let you know about that hula hooping…} 😉
It’s funny you mentioned croquet. I just found our ancient set in the garage, too. We’ll be adding that to our backyard misadventures in gardening and *constant* squirt gun battles. 🙂
Sue D says
So far it hasn’t been too hot this summer. When it does we retreat to the basement to watch movies, or to work on craft projects. Playing with water balloons outside is another fun activity.
Melanie says
We are in a ‘heatwave’ for Oregon. Its in the 90s. We are having lots of sprinkler time, ‘play baths’ and making popsicles. We also washed the cars yesterday!
Claudine Bond says
We love the Paddington movie. At this moment my boys are watching the Paddington Bear cartoons on Hulu.
To beat the I’m Bored Blues, we have Lego nights, where as a family we build with Legos at the dining table. We even have a coloring/drawing night. We play kick ball or badminton outside. We live near a lake so we also kayak and swim.
Stacy Greenlee says
We are in California so our drought restrictions are making it very difficult for any outside water activities. Last year we would use our 5 minutes of having the sprinklers on the law to let the kids play. But, to conserve we’ve stopped watering since December and no longer can do that sprinkler fun. Today is supposed to reach 106 degrees so we are inside. On some of the days, when the sun goes down, we take turns (2 by 2) getting into our small spa which we’ve turned the heat down on to cool us off. It was free, fits 2 people, and to fill it up earlier this year we switched to paper products for 2 weeks so that we weren’t using any extra water. We do lots of netflix and game days 🙂 I look forward to seeing what others are doing to beat the heat, and, just possibly get an idea or two of things I can do that don’t use much water 🙂 Good luck everyone! Thanks for the giveaway!!!
JS Hess says
If we’re stuck inside the house, we like to have the kids work on coloring or art and then pick someone to mail the art to. Looking forward to reading everyone else’s ideas! Thanks for the chance!
Angel Gomez says
My daughters have also rediscovered the fun of a hoolahoop.
Vanessa C says
We are beating the heat by swimming in the late afternoon, and hanging out in our cooler basement or indoors during the worst the of the day.
Thanks for a chance at your Paddington giveaway!
Kathy H says
It’s HOT in Florida this summer, so I enjoy “low key” activities (coloring, eating ice cream, crafts, games, telling stories, movies & popcorn) with my grand-kids. Paddington Bear is a favorite!
Deb Moretti says
We are beating the heat by going to the movies and the beach