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Summertime has begun! If you are like me, you like summer because the kids are home. Likewise you hate summer because the kids are home.
So why not kill some of that summertime boredom with the
Summertime Boredom Buster Box?
Today on
Studio 5, I used Karen Foster product to make a box similar to an advent calendar to create a way for the kids to have separate activities to do during the summer. I also talked about various products that are excellent for the summer.
Supplies:
Note: All supplies are from Karen Foster unless specified
Peek A Box
Game Pieces 12 x 12 paper
Family Game Night 12 x 12 paper
Movie Night Stripe 12 x 12 paper
Family Night Collage 12 x 12 paper
Swirl Burst Brads sunset
Family Fun Night cardstock stickers
Family Fun stacked sentiment
Crazy Coil Brads in apricot & saffron
1”, 5/8”, 1 ¼” circle punches
1 ¼” scalloped punch
Instructions:
For all 24 of the boxes you will do the exact same thing just change the paper on the front of the box.
On the package of the box there is a template for the front of the boxes. You can either cut the template out to use or you can cut out the paper without the template. The dimensions for the box is 2”x 2”.
When you are cutting out the 2” x 2” squares for the front of the boxes, you will also need to cut a 1/2 circle at the top center of the squares. I have found that a 1” circle punch works perfect for this.
Once the paper is cut to size, and the half circles are cut out from the top of the squares, use double stick tape to attach each piece of paper to the box.
Once all the boxes have been covered, cut out 24 circles from the patterned paper. I find the 1” circle punch is the perfect size for this.
Apply the number stickers that came with the package to the 24 paper circles. For some variety, I like to randomly put the circles on the boxes. Not necessary put the numbers in numerical order.
Glue the circle punches onto each of the boxes. Trim the edges if necessary.
Embellish the boxes using the stickers, stacked sentiments and whatever else you want.
For the cover, cut 2 strips of paper 1x12”. Also cut out 2 strips of paper 1” x 8 ½”.
Glue the two longer side strips of paper first, then glue the top and the bottom strips on the cover.
In the corners, use the 1 ¼” circle and the 1 ¼” scalloped circle punch. Embellish the center with the coil brads.
Embellish the cover with stickers.
Fill with your ideas for activities for the summer.
For the ideas, here are the ideas.
Here is also a link to print off the ideas already ready to cut out and put into your boxes. There are many ideas so you could almost go through each one of them every day of the summer. Woo Hoo! Take care of that boredom!
The following ideas of summer activities were taken from the following web address:
http://www.squidoo.com/kidssummeractivities
Visit a food factory or fast food restaurant
Get in touch with a local food factory or fast food restaurant and ask if they have family tours. McDonalds regularly takes visitors on a store tour inside their kitchen and working areas to show visitors how they work. Very educational and eye opener for kids to see how their burgers are cooked.
Visit your local fire station
Fire Stations often have visitor programs to teach kids and visitors how fire fighters live and work, and during those visits, sometimes they let you try sliding down the fire-fighters pole and even test a hose!
Picnic in the park
Actually you don't need a park. A nice big old' shady tree (even in your backyard) will make a really nice place for a picnic. Have a hearty meal, lie down and watch the clouds go by as you make out imaginary animals with your kids.
Turn your garage into a cinema
Rent a projector and turn an old bed sheet or white linen into a screen. Invite the neighbors. Throw some carpets or rugs on the floor so everyone can just laze around if they want. Be sure to pass around plenty of popcorn!
See a "one dollar" movie at the theater.
Lots of cinemas have one-dollar days where they screen movies and the tickets cost $1. Take the whole family for one of these movies.
Go to a drive-in movie.
A must for those lazy long summer nights!
Attend "story time" at your local library.
Most libraries have reading times or story times where either a staff or authors are invited to read a story. Kids have a chance to interact with the storyteller and answer questions about the book.
Set up lemonade or snow-cone stand
Help your kids learn to earn a little extra cash by selling lemonade or snow cones. Teach them the basics of running a small business. A great opportunity for your kids to experience life as a little entrepreneur. You never know when you might light the business flame in one of them and they go on to make a cool million as a businessman or businesswoman
Make homemade play doh.
Have a squishy fun time making art out of your homemade play doh.
Make your own t-shirts
Grab that old t-shirt and get some fabric crayons and you're set for at least an hour's worth of fun. Anything and everything goes. Just let your creativity run wild!
Turn your driveway into an art canvas.
Get your kids to draw a big "I Love You Daddy" or "I Love You Mommy" so that's the first thing they see when they drive home!
Make Origami art
This should provide hours of fun, but you will need an adult to explain some of the folding techniques. If you make enough colorful origami pieces, you can string them together and make a hanging mobile or paste them on your bedroom wall.
Make Pop-up Cards
Make a pop-up card for Grandpa and Grandma and post it to them. Make one and post it to yourself.
Make sock puppets
Simple enough. All you need is an old pair of socks (preferably single color), glue and stuff to stick on the sock for eyes, nose and mouth. You can get plastic googly eyes from your local handicraft stores.
Make your own pet rock family
Go hunting for smooth hand sized rocks, take them home, give them a good clean scrub, dry them and then paint them any way you like. A quick spray of clear lacquer/paint keeps the paint in. Mom or Dad needs to do this because the spray can get into the eyes.
Make Paper Airplanes
Make your own paper airplanes and then have a contest to see who can make their airplane to fly the furthest.
Finger painting
Get the kids to wear their old t-shirts and shorts and let loose creating masterpieces with watercolors or poster paint and fingers!
Make your own instrument
Once you've got your instruments done, form a band and videotape your performance.
Make costumes with newspaper.
Low-cost and lots of fun. You'll need lots of newspaper and lots of sticky tape. Avoid using staples and items that could potentially poke the skin like paper clips (unless your kids are big enough to be careful)
Make a daisy chain or flower garland.
Use the wildflowers you collected in your wildflower hunt and make this fun wearable! Make a couple more for Mom and Dad and garland them when they come home from work.
Make cut out moustaches, beards and eyebrows.
Stick double-sided tape on the back and try out each moustache or beard. Take photos of yourself.
Shoot your own short movie
Make up an adventure story and shoot your own short film. If you have an old camcorder or if your kids are responsible enough to handle one, get them to plan the script for their movie, create the costumes and then shoot the movie. These kinds of video footage are precious keepsakes and if you submit them to YouTube or America's Funniest Videos, you might just make a bundle!
Summer Video Log
If you have one, give your kids a camcorder (they should be old enough to know how to use and care for one) and get them to videotape their summer. Make a home video and transfer it to CD for keepsake at the end of summer.
Veggie Stamping
Get different types of veggie from your fridge or look for interesting objects that can be dipped in paint and stamped onto paper. Make interesting blends of color for a striking effect. You can also stamp onto t-shirts using fabric paints.
Make Balloon Sculptures
All you need is a packets of sausage balloons - those long thin balloons that blow up to 3 feet long and about 1 1/4 inch in diameter - and start twisting. You can make simple animals like dogs, birds and flowers using one, two or more balloons. I love the squeaky sounds the balloons make when you twist them. The animals we make hardly look like animals, but it's more about the fun.
Word Hunt
Go round the house and list down all the things that start with a specific letter, for example, Toaster, torchlight, tools, tape etc. Score one point for each word.
Torch Light Party
Have a party in the dark. Use only torchlights. Invite your neighbors. Make colored filters out of plastic or glass paper and add color to the party!
Face painting
Go wild painting wacky designs on your face! You can also paint hands and legs! But make sure you take precautions - parental supervision required especially if you have smaller kids who could get paint splatters in their eyes.
Paint Toenails
If you can, get Dad to lie down on a sofa and apply nail polish on his fingers and toes. If Dad chickens out, paint your own toenails. Don't believe any Dad would do this?
Makeup party
Ask Mom if she's got old makeup that she doesn't want anymore. Find a victim (err... volunteer also known as Dad) and apply make up on him!
Indoor treasure hunt
All you need is a couple of pieces of paper to scribble your clues and a nice treat for the successful treasure hunter. Start at one point somewhere in your house, think of the next point you want to hide a clue, then create a mysterious riddle or question about it. About ten riddles and clues should do. Celebrate the winner with fizzy drinks all round while they enjoy their treat.
Music hour
Have an hour where you must talk in melody. No plain talking allowed - you have to sing everything that you want to say for an hour. You can even have musical themes - rock, country...
Pillow fight
Clear the room and floor of any toys or sharp objects and let loose. Make it a family pillow fight. Use light, fluffy pillows - not the hard-stuffed kinds.
Rainy day jigsaws
Get that 1000 piece jigsaw out and do it. It's not about the jigsaw but about doing something together and bonding.
Disco Night
Get out those old 80's disco albums - oh come on... you know you still keep them. String some Christmas lights and if you have one, a boogie ball. Then dance the night away to your favorite disco songs. End the night watching "Saturday Night Fever"
Play charades
Watch each other go wacky trying to act out phrases or things. If you have small children playing, then simple to-do actions are needed.
Turn your living room into a movie theatre
Give you kids lots of newspaper, old bed sheets and sticky tape and let them turn your hall into a dark cinema in the daytime. Dad needs to be on-hand to help out while Mom makes the popcorn. Then watch a movie in your self-built movie cinema.
Pajama Day
Declare one day pajama day. Go about your daily chores in your pajamas. Dare your Dad to go to the supermarket in his pajamas.
Make a family scrapbook
Get those old photos out, organize them and make your own scrapbook. What's important here is sharing the memories with your kids so they know how very special each and every day with them is to you.
Feed the monster
This is a twist to the beanbag toss that we used to play as kids. Get a large cardboard box - about 2 feet wide and 2 feet tall - and on one side, paint a picture of a cuddly monster with big googly eyes and mouth. Then cut out the eyes and mouth. Make a simple beanbag, use tennis balls or small packets of chips to see who can toss them through the eyes and mouth. You can assign points to they eyes and mouth and keep score, but when we play this we always forget to keep score. It's all about the fun!
Make and fly your own kites.
Nothing more satisfying than making your own kite and being able to fly it
Kiddie Barbeque
If you have one, use a mini barbeque pit. If not, you can make one out of empty tins. Just place a couple of charcoal briquettes in the kiddie barbeque pits. All the food is pre-cooked. The idea is to let the kids have fun making believe they're really barbequing. The real fun is being together as a family.
Camp out under the stars in the backyard
If you have a tent, great, if not then use old bed sheets and build a makeshift shelter. Not for smaller children who need to go to the bathroom every hour.
Build a tire swing in your backyard.
Get an old tire from any auto shop or if you have one in your garage, make use of it. You'll need tough rope that you can get from the hardware store. Make sure the branch is sturdy. You'll need to get Dad in on this.
Scary Stories Night
If you have a backyard, start a campfire, toast some marshmallows and tell scary stories. Alternatively, clear some space in your garage and switch off the lights.
Picnic in the park
Actually you don't need a park. A nice big old' shady tree (even in your backyard) will make a really nice place for a picnic. Have a hearty meal, lie down and watch the clouds go by as you make out imaginary animals with your kids.
Make your own hopscotch pattern.
Hopscotch is really fun if you make your own patterns and rules. Look at this lens to see some sample hopscotch patterns that are really fun.
Torchlight Soccer
If you've never played this before, you are in for either a treat or one heck of an irritating time. It all depends on whom you play with. This is NOT encouraged, but when we played this during summer camp, we used a black ball. Imagine it - no lights except for your torches and a black ball. We spent half the time trying to find the ball! And imagine the poor goalkeeper!!!!
Play tic-tac-toe or hangman on your driveway using chalk.
There are lots of "boring" games that suddenly become exciting when you play it on the driveway! After they're done, get the kids to hose the driveway with water to wash away the chalk marks. Sneaky way to get them to wash your driveway too yes?
Make home made ice cream.
I've tried this myself and the best thing about it is that no matter how yucky the ice-cream turns out, it's still the best in the world because YOU MADE IT YOURSELF.
Make your own pizza
Get pizza base, let the kids decorate their own pizza - anything edible and safe goes.
Make snow cones
Hot summer days, snow cones. What would be a better combination than that?
Make fruit juice cubes
Juice fresh fruit or blend them and pour into ice-cube trays. Add bits of fruits in them if you want to. Nice to suck on, on those hot summer days.
Outdoor shower
Sprinkle, Squirt and Shower! Make an outdoor sprinkler with an empty tin or container by using a nail to make holes in the bottom. Hang the tin on a laundry line or tall pole and run water through it. Attach a sprinkler to the garden hose. If you have a kiddie pool, set it up under the shower. Cool wet fun on a hot summer's day!
Water war
Designate a big rectangle as your war zone. Divide yourselves into two teams (mom & son, dad and daughter work well). Place a bucket of water on diagonally opposite corners. Each player armed with a plastic cup. The object is to fill your cups with water and splash the other team. You can only fill up at your team bucket. The object is to get wet and have fun.
Play Car Wash
Toys, sprays, sprinklers and large sponges encouraged. Sneaky way to get a free car wash!
Play water balloon games
There are lots of games you can play with balloon filled with wet, sloshy water, and they're ALL fun. Your only problem is whether you'll run out of balloons before the fun ends.
Magnet mania
Give the kids a bunch of magnets, metal objects (paper clips are great) and string. Teach them about magnetism
Grow a miniature garden
Find an empty wooden box, glass bottle or plastic container; fill it with soil from the garden (ask Mom first) and plant flower or vegetable seeds. Watch them grow.
Build a recycled aquarium
Find an old aquarium, clear plastic container or large bottle and look for materials to make an aquarium. The idea is to use 100% recycled materials - that means absolutely NO buying anything (except maybe the fish).
Make a rainbow
There are many fun ways to make a rainbow. The best looking rainbows can be made if you have a glass prism. They can be bought from science supplies stores, hobby stores or hardware stores. Alternatively, you can use everyday household items to make your rainbow. Good way to add a bit of learning into a fun experiment
Make your own bubbles
Bubbles are super fun. You can get them really cheap anywhere, but they're more fun if you make your own and blow them on a windy day! If you have a bubble-blowing machine, make a million bubbles and see who can burst the most! You can try out different bubble recipes.
Magnifying hunt
Give the kids a magnifying glass each and let them loose around the yard. They'll learn a thing or two for sure.
Go bird watching.
Record or take photos of the birds you see and find out their names on the Internet.
Recycle Day
Go on a walkabout with your kids about the neighborhood and collect soda cans, old newspaper and other recyclable materials that can be sold to recycling centers.
Go on an animal hunt.
If you live near a green patch or near the woods, photograph or count how many types of animals you can spot.
Make a time capsule
Time capsules are a snapshot of stuff. Make a time capsule containing personal items and stuff like newspaper clippings and photos.
Familyfun.com also has TONS of fun ideas for kids and families.
AND We're doing a Karen Foster giveaway!
There is SOOOO much stuff in this bag, it's unbelievable. It's valued at over $150!
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(Total of 10 entries per person, please leave an separate comment for each entry.)
All entries that will be considered must be submitted by 8:00am (MST) on Friday June 17, 2011.
A random winner will be chosen on Friday June 17, 2011 by 2:00 pm (MST) and will be announced at the top of this blog post. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!
