By: Heidi Jo Falk
A summertime day can be filled up just running around the backyard, splashing in the pool, or laying in the grass gazing at some fluffy clouds. But even on sunny, summer days, we need a few good ideas for fun stuff to do. Here are a few to keep in your back pocket!
- Backyard Olympics—My kids were fascinated with the Olympics last summer, so we invited a few friends over one day for some Olympics of our own. Events included running, scooter, and bike races, tug of war with a jump rope, “kayak” races (ie. push your little brother down the sidewalk in a Rubbermaid tub), and even diving (jumping off a patio chair with a flourish…safely). We crafted medals from construction paper, stickers, foil tops of applesauce cups, and ribbon.
- Cleaning Party—OK, so this one may have some ulterior motives, but I promise my kids love it. For an outside cleaning party, fill up a baby pool or some Rubbermaid tubs (we do a lot with those things!) with water and a bit of mild soap—something safe for kids’ to get all over them. Grab some sponges or rags, towels, and a few watering cans, then dump in all your washable toys. If you’re cleaning “inside” toys, you could transport them in and out in a laundry basket. Kids can scrub, rinse with the watering cans, and lay the toys out on towels to dry. This is also fun on a rainy day in the bathtub!
- Sidewalk Chalk Masterpieces—Just coloring with sidewalk chalk is fun, but to spice it up a bit, draw some frames for your kids to fill in with their best drawings and then invite a neighbor or Daddy to walk through your museum of chalky art.
Another fun one…If you have several kiddos or some friends over, suggest some sort of big scene that each child can draw a part of—a farm, a neighborhood, a park. This is great to cover wide age ranges too. You could also design a greeting for guests coming over! Last summer my sister-in-law and her fiancée found the driveway of my parents-in-law’s house covered with wedding pictures and wishes from their nieces and nephews the day before their wedding.
- Picnic/Park Tour—Make your summer visits to the park a little more memorable! Try a new or different park once every week or so and take a simple picnic along. Take a few snapshots while you’re there. Then you could make a quick slideshow of the pics or print and paste them into a construction paper book of your adventures! Or if you have some artists, have them draw a picture of each picnic/park day.
- Summer Bible Theme—This is a one I stole from a wise mom friend. The best part about this one is you can do it as simply or as involved as you like. The point is to redeem those summer days for some God-sized purposes!
When I figured enough of my kids were old enough to “get it” (I decided this was 6, 4, 2 ½ , and 9 months), I picked a Bible theme for the summer. Our first one was “Fruits of the Spirit”. We memorized them with a fun poem, learned about each one over breakfasts or snacks, colored a lot of fruit pictures, and read books about the fruits—both biblical and edible
Do you have any go-to summertime favorites? Share ‘em here!
HEIDI JO FULK is passionate about encouraging woman and girls to love and live God’s word. She is wife to her high school sweetheart, Dan, and mom to their four young children — Emma Jo, Gretchen, Tucker and Brock. Heidi leads a women’s Bible study and an elementary girls’ ministry at her church.