Saturday, June 30, 2018

Into Summer

Summer is a favorite season for many people. It stays lighter out longer, the weather is gorgeous, it is swimming season, there are cookouts, and of course there is no school. Our oldest got out of school for the summer on June 4. Our preschoolers got out on June 21. We are definitely into summer.I love having this time with our kids, especially our three kids that have been in school all year. I have a lot of things planned so they have a fun summer, but also so they still learn even though they aren't in school. For our family of 7, we need structure and a schedule to keep our house running smoothly.I made a summer schedule with some times in the day where there will be fun and learning going on. I think our kids are just as excited as I am.

If you are a parent and at a loss on ideas of things to do for the summer with your kids, I hope this helps. I used to work at the YMCA during summer breaks and the YMCA plans theme based weeks for each week of the summer. My idea for what I'm doing with our kids this summer, came from that. This week was Beach Week. Some of the other weeks I have planned are Patriotic Week (everything will be based around July 4th), Nature and Science Week, Outer Space Week, and Animal Week. I know it probably seems like a lot for me to do with 5 kids. I want to make sure our older three kids who are in school continue to learn so they are ready and possibly ahead for next school year.

This past week as I mentioned was Beach Week. I taught our kids things about the beach, the ocean, ocean animals, and things about summer in general. Our kids definitely had fun learning about all of those things. I squeezed in time to go outside and a trip to our local park. This week was the first week that we did a theme week because my preschoolers only got out of school last week and my oldest had a few days where he went to an art camp.

The crafts we did this week to go with our theme were an ocean scene with fish, and a painted beach ball. What I liked about these crafts was that they were age appropriate from our two year old to our seven year old. It gave our older 2 kids a chance to practice their hand writing and to learn how to spell new words. It helped our younger 2 boys to learn colors, numbers, and shapes.

For the ocean scene you will need:
-Blue construction paper
-Blue crayons
-White paper
-Any color paint
-Fish shape template
-Scissors
-Glue
-Black marker

How we created the ocean scene:
I had our kids paint the white paper any color and all colors that they wanted to. While the paint dried, they colored the blue construction paper with a blue crayon to really give it an ocean look. Once the paint dried on the white paper, I assisted our kids in cutting out fish shapes. We glued the fish to the colored construction paper. I let our older 2 kids write fish and ocean on their papers.

 For the beach ball craft you will need:
-A beach ball template
-Yellow construction paper
-Paint
-Scissors
-Glue
-Marker

How we made the beach ball:
The kids painted their beach ball with their finger tips and did any color they wanted to. Once the paint dried, I assisted in cutting the beach ball out and we glued it to the yellow construction. Our older 2 kids wrote beach ball on their paper.




Here are some more pictures of this past week.

My oldest after art camp.
Painting their paper which we cut fish shapes from.
Water gun fighting.

Fun at the park.
 

Conversation for my readers, how is your summer going? If you have kids, do you plan to try these crafts? What fun things do you have planned for your summer? 

I hope everyone is having a great summer so far! Stay tuned for more posts about our summer and other things going on in our family. As always, keep up the faith, hope, and love. Thank you for reading! Please share my post if you like these crafts!   



37 comments:

  1. Love these ideas. I must remember these when summer comes around, we're in winter here (down under)... I always enjoy taking my little one out so will be exciting with more fun ideas up my sleeve.

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  2. What a great idea! I can't wait to do this with the kids I nanny for. What a good way to get them off electronics.

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  3. What a fun project!!! I love summer time to and while it may be hot, I really like being out doors!!!

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  4. These are great ways to keep your kids occupied throughout the summer. Anything to express creativity is better than having them just sit inside all day.

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  5. This make us want to be a child again! Loved the ideas! Will implement them at our NGO's

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  6. Nice. These look like some fun activities to do with kids during summer! I love Summer too!! RAD.

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  7. Looks like your kids are having a great time! I don’t have kids myself but I do love getting out and about in the summer, I think once the warmer weather comes out to play you can’t help but push yourself to get out and about and get involved in more fun activities as your mood is up

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  8. Summer can be so much fun! I love places like The Y and community centers that offer summer activities!

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  9. So wish we had a Y close. Loved it as a kid. Great ideas.

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  10. Summer is almost over here and so I let my kids enjoy playing under the sun, as long as they are having fun. But when it's raining, they get bored staying at home. This could be a great activity for them to do.

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  11. Summer holiday is just round the corner and as usual I already had plans to keep my kids happy and busy. I quite like a couple of your activities and I'm sure it would blend in well with mine.

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  12. My kids are much older now but I miss the summer activities we used to do when they were young. Time goes by so fast that you must enjoy these moments to the fullest!

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  13. These are some really great ideas of how to keep the kiddos busy this summer. As a parent of three, this is greatly appreciated!

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  14. Great idea! What a fun way to spend the summer than creative projects such as these.

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  15. What great ideas! We are always outdoors in the summer, we spent all of our time having fun and enjoying the warmer weather!

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  16. Love the Beach a lot with so many lovely scenes and sea animals to behold.. They certainly had a lot of fun no doubt.

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  17. My sister is loving this,it s really a good idea and children are enjoing this.

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  18. Great ideas! My son is still too young to do crafts but I am looking forward to the days when we can sit at the kitchen table together with our paints!

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  19. These look like some fun activities to do with kids during summer!What great ideas!Thanks for sharing.

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  20. That's a great collection of activities, i bet it'll help lots of people on slow days! I remember artwork as we call it, was a great life saver when my kids were young. And decorating cookies!

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  21. Plan to do many craft activities with my kids this summer. Just one condition cut the papers not bed sheets😂 summer is just a long break for kids. We need to find some creative activities to make them busy.

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  22. Summer is definitely a great time to spend with your kids. We just took our kids to the beach yesterday and they just don't want to leave. There are just too much fun playing in the sand. I would love to do some crafts them when we stay in.

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  23. Aaaw!One way to get kids busy during long summers is by getting them down with fun crafts and outdoor activities just like you did. Perfect choice for such cute kids!

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  24. This is what needed by every single parent to make kid spend time in fresh air without gadgets with nature. Informative post. Definitely I am going to practice it with my boys.

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  25. Summer is my favorite time of year! It's going to be a mix of work and fun with my friends and boyfriend. Happy summer to you 🙋

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  26. Summer is my favorite season too! And these are some wonderful ideas to keep kids engaged during Summer holidays!

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  27. Summers here are unbearably hot and we have to wait for Winter to enjoy the beach and other outdoor activities. You have so many great ideas for kids to keep them engaged and entertained.

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  28. What a nice post! I had a smile of my face the whole read. My kids cant get enough of summer. Thanks for sharing! :)

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  29. Summeris a lovely time to stay with your kids and the real struggle comes when you run out of ideas to keep them busy. The ideas you shared here are great. :)

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  30. I really love summer. So many interesting and fun things to do. My daughter really loves crafts. I know she would love doing the beach balls.

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  31. Summer can be so much fun especially for kids. and these are some great activities for kids. For them to enjoy their summer.

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  32. what a great idea to organise different themed activities for your children during the summer months. I can see by your post and photographs that your children did indeed learn from the activities that they took part in. Loved the beach themed one.

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  33. I have a pre schooler at home who is full of energy and loves to spend her days surrounded with art and crafts. These are indeed some great ideas to enjoy with kids and to help them stay engaged while on vacation.

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  34. So many wonderful ideas in this post! I love crafts obviously and I will try to teach them to my kid!

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  35. The kids will be back from church camp tomorrow and I'm on a hunt for crafts. I think they're going to love the ocean scene and beach ball.

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  36. Love these I just did a post on activities to do in winter as its winter here ! .... but boy do I wish it was summer I miss it so much . You look like your having fun :)

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