Headed to the beach this summer? You may want to bring back something to remember the trip without it getting in your carpet. While you’re at the beach, your children can have fun with sand pictures they create with found items on the shore. Read the rest of this entry

Children love to spend time with their friends, and as summer approaches, they may ask if they can go to the same camp their friends will attend. You may ask yourself, “How old should my child be before they go to summer camp?” The answers will vary, depending upon the parents and the child, but here are some guidelines. Read the rest of this entry

Have you ever been walking in the snow, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you feel pain?  You’ve been hit in the back of the head by a snowball?  You know snowballs hurt, but snowball fights are part of the fun of having snow.  Along with building snowmen, snowball fights are a common childhood activity.  To avoid being hurt, however, you may want to suggest your children have snowball fights with cotton balls. Read the rest of this entry

Although you may not be able to afford a summer vacation this year, there are fun summer activities for you and your kids. Here are a few Fun ideas.

Pick a tree in your back yard and lay down a blanket. Have some lemonade and cookies, and read the books you’ve checked out from the library. Take turns reading. Invite friends and their kids to join you. Make it a weekly event.

If your kids love pirates, make a treasure box with your kids. Have them scout around the back yard or beach for rocks or sea shells or any item they think would be cool to include. Have the kids make a treasure map and include some information on pirates found on the internet. Add some coins, and make a pirate’s flag with black fabric. Have the kids add their own symbols to it. Then the kids can bury it in the back yard or keep it on hand and add to it each year.

Gardening is another fun summer activity for kids. Have your kids plant their own flower garden. Talk about each flower; how it grows, how much room it needs, and then give the kids a title, such as Director of Water Resource (this would be for one kid to oversee the watering of the plants); or Director of Roots and Shoots (this would be for another kid to oversee the weeding), etc. Also, give your kids some watermelon seeds to plant. You never know what may crop up.

With baseball season just starting, why not have your Family start a scrapbook on a favorite sports team or even choose a rookie and follow his career. The scrapbook could contain photos with captions, newspaper clippings, and sports items you may already own. Make it a family tradition. Each member can contribute to the scrapbook. Perhaps mom and dad have some stories that they may want to include in the scrapbook as well.

Fun summer activities for you and your kids can be achieved with a little imagination and a lot of creativity.