The sun is out, the grass is turning green, and parks are bustling with people. Summer is a great time of the year and it’s time to take the children out to play. There are many great projects you can do with your kids to help bring the family closer together. While some of them don’t have to wait until summer to do, they may be easier that trying to do while fighting the snow or cooler temperatures.
1. Sidewalk Art – Sidewalk chalk is a fun way to spend an afternoon. As this material is water-soluble, you can buy a variety of colors and help create a great mural of virtually anything you want without staining the cement. The child’s canvas can be the porch, sidewalk, or driveway safely allowing the child to draw various shapes and figures without permanent damage. Using the hose as an eraser, the art can be easily removed and the project started again. Show pride in your child’s summer art work and take pictures of each one. Upload them to Pinterest and show friends and family your kid’s artistic ability.
2. Decorative Rock Gardens – Dedicate an area of your yard to a kid’s “rock garden.” Allowing children to paint various rocks is not only fun for the child, but can make for a bright and colorful aspect to your property. Allow your child to exercise his or her imagination as they create some of the most interesting pieces you’ll ever see. A child’s imagination is unique and each rock will be different than the one before.
3. Renewable Energy Fun – It’s never too early to demonstrate the fruits of renewable energy such as wind and air. Manufacturers have been developing “do-it-yourself” kits for children in order to help them learn how these devices work and why they’re important to the future of humanity. Most of these kits are fairly cheap to buy online and they can easily be tied together for kids who have great ambitions about generating power for the home. In fact, these panels can power his or her own nightlights or lamps.
4. Tie-Dyed T-Shirts – Although these pieces of clothing can be quite messy to create, they can be a great amount of fun and are cheap to assemble. Each shirt is unique and can be a fun item to wear for the summer. You child could start his or her own clothing line and wear his or her creation with pride.
5. Dioramas – Using old shoe boxes or other smaller four-sided container without a top, you and your kids can put together a diorama that is decorated in any way everyone sees fit. By visiting your local dollar store, you can buy cheap figures as your medium to place inside the decorated box letting the imagination work its own magic to bring the scene to life. You can even go so far as to letting the child write a story to go with the diorama and tape it to the box itself.
Although it’s easier to kick the kids out of the house to get some fresh air in the summer, you should join them. Children aren’t the only ones who need to get out of the house and get some exercise. In fact; the older we get, the greater is the need for exercise ourselves. Engage your children this summer with fun projects and feel the difference within yourself and your family.
Author Bio:
Rachel is an ex-babysitting pro as well as a professional writer and blogger. She is a graduate from Iowa State University and currently writes for www.babysitting.net. She welcomes questions/comments which can be sent to rachelthomas.author @ gmail.com.
Kids in Cowtown 