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60 Awesome Fun in the Sun Ideas for Kids

June 25, 2018 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Head outside with the kids with this list of awesome fun in the sun ideas for summer!

Summer. It’s the most wonderful time of the year for playing outside.

We live in the South and it. gets. hot. But that’s never stopped our kids from wanting to be outside playing every game imaginable.

After a while, though, the same old games just don’t do it for them anymore. And that’s why I wanted to find some awesome fun in the sun ideas for outdoor play in summer.

Summer Outdoor Play Ideas for Kids and Parents

Below, you’ll find 60, count’em, SIXTY different summer outdoor play ideas for kids. And they are awesome! They can make their own bubble wands, create slime that fizzes, build mud kitchens, and much more!

If you try one of these, come back and tell me how the kids liked it! And if you need more ways to make summer fun, check out our list of 40 simple summer crafts kids can make!

Share these summer outdoor play ideas with the kids while the weather is warm!

60 Awesome Outdoor Play Ideas for Summer

1. DIY Fizzy Slime – Look! We’re Learning!

2. How to Make a Kite – Red Ted Art

3. Driveway Shape Maze – Creative Family Fun

4. Backyard Olympics – Kid World Citizen

5. DIY Rockets for Kids – Frogmom

6. Wet Chalk Color Mixing – School Time Snippets

7. Catapult Splat Painting – There’s Just One Mommy

8. Squirt Gun Painting – Fireflies and Mudpies

9. DIY Mud Kitchen – Megan Zeni

10. Sidewalk Paint Rockets – Gluesticks

11. Recycled Chalk Paint – Rhythms of Play

12. Splash the Alphabet – Days with Grey

13. Ocean Sensory Bin – Frogs and Fairies

14. DIY Obstacle Course for Kids – Buggy and Buddy

15. Outdoor Rainbow Weaving – Where Imagination Grows

16. Summer Paint Sensory Play – Mama Smiles

17. How to Make DIY Bubble Wands and Homemade Bubbles – Natural Beach Living

18. Rainbow Windsock Craft – Kids Craft Room

19. Pool Noodle Boat Racing Game – See Vanessa Craft

20. Bouncy Ball Process Art Painting – School Time Snippets

See more fun in the sun ideas on page 2!

Pages: 1 2 3

Filed Under: Fun Activities for Kids, Outdoor Play Tagged With: outdoor play, summer, summer activities, summer activities for kids

40 Fun Learning Activities for Summer

June 21, 2018 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

These 40 learning activities for summer are a great way to keep the learning going all during summer break!

I just love summer. It’s basically what makes life worth living. To me, anyway.

The sun is out, you can walk around in flip-flops all day, no one cares if you eat ice cream for breakfast – it’s a good time of year.

The kids and I tend to take a more relaxed approach to learning over the summer, but I still like to keep them learning as much as possible. So we found a bunch of learning activities for summer that are super fun and great for helping them explore science, math, STEM, literacy, and more!

40 Fun Learning Activities for Summer

There are 40 different summer learning ideas below, so you can try as many as you like during summer break! If you decide to do some of these, be sure to come back and tell us how you liked them!

Want to spend summer boosting your children’s literacy skills? Take a look at this list of 50 summer books you can share with them!

Try some of these learning activities for summer to keep kids learning all year long!

40 Learning Activities for Summer

1. Beach Number Playdough Mats – Look! We’re Learning!

2. Exploring Solar Heat – STEAM Powered Family

3. Summer Reading Challenge Log – KC Edventures

4. Exploring Ramps and Friction on a Slide – Buggy and Buddy

5. Human Sundial Shadow Science Experiment – Rhythms of Play

6. Paint Gun Parts of Speech Game – 123 Homeschool 4 Me

7. Ice-Pop Match Game – Dabbling Momma

8. Ocean Letter Tracing Sheets – Red Ted Art

9. Graphing Ocean Animals With LEGO – J Daniel 4’s Mom

10. Build a Nerf War Battlefield – STEAM Powered Family

11. Summer Number Names Match Printable – Wise Owl Factory

12. Tide Pool Science Experiment for Kids – Buggy and Buddy

13. Watermelon Seed Matching Game – The Mama Workshop

14. Build a Solar Oven – Mosswood Connections

15. DIY Heat Wave Crayons – Mama Smiles

16. Ice Cream Shape Sorting Activity – Look! We’re Learning!

17. How to Compost Kitchen Scraps – Kid World Citizen

18. Learn About Forces at the Water Park – From Engineer to SAHM

19. Pedal to the Numbers – Dabbling Momma

20. How to Make Ice Cream in a Bag With Recording Sheet – Buggy and Buddy

See more fun learning activities for summer on page 2!

Pages: 1 2

Filed Under: Fun Activities for Kids, Homeschooling Tagged With: homeschooling, summer, summer activities, summer activities for kids

35 Easy PreK Beach Crafts for Kids

June 18, 2018 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Share some of these easy PreK beach crafts with little ones this summer!

I love preschool crafts. There’s just something about getting tiny hands involved in making art that is too adorable for words. Plus, PreK crafts give preschoolers a chance to work on fine motor skills, color recognition, shapes, themes, and more!

And that’s why I thought it would be cool to find some easy PreK beach crafts for kids that would be perfect for summer arts and crafts. After all, you only get a couple of summers to enjoy with your preschoolers before they become…gasp…kindergartners.

35 Easy PreK Beach Crafts for Kids to Make

There are 35 different preschool beach crafts below, so you’ll have to plenty to choose from this summer. If you make a few, let me know which ones your kids loved the most!

By the way, if you’d like to share even more beachy preschool fun with the kids, be sure to check out our Beach Number Playdough Mats to help little ones practice forming the numbers 0 to 9 with playdough!

These easy PreK beach crafts are perfect for summer art fun!

35 Easy PreK Beach Crafts for Kids

1. Beach Shoebox Diorama – Look! We’re Learning!

2. Shell Critters Art Projects for Kids – Mosswood Connections

3. 3-D Sandcastle Craft for Kids – Buggy and Buddy

4. Beach Drift Wood and Broken Shell Rattles – Red Ted Art

5. Invitation to Play: A Beach Themed Mud Kitchen – The Gingerbread House

6. DIY Sea Shells Sensory Bottle Calm Down Jar – Rhythms of Play

7. Easy Sea Shell Crafts – Teach Me Mommy

8. Clay Boat and Underwater Craft – Messy Little Monster

9. Beach-In-A-Jar Keepsake – Moms and Crafters

10. Shell Sunflower Craft – Rhythms of Play

11. Beach Holiday Keepsake – Teach Me Mommy

12. Seashell Memory Game for Kids – Growing Up Gabel

13. Summer Beach Themed Sand and Shell Art – Happiness is Homemade

14. Sea Glass Sun Catcher Jar – The Gingerbread House

15. Easy Salt Dough Keepsakes – Red Ted Art

16. Shell Daisy Nature Craft – Rhythms of Play

17. How to Make Adorable Jellyfish Crafts Preschool Activity – Natural Beach Living

18. Shell Frames With Handprint Keepsake Gift – Rhythms of Play

See more simple PreK beach crafts on the next page!

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Filed Under: Crafts, PreK Homeschooling Tagged With: beach crafts, crafts, prek crafts, preschool crafts, summer, summer activities for kids

How to Prevent the Summer Slide

June 11, 2018 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

When I started to write this post about how to prevent the summer slide, I realized that this may not be an issue that affects homeschoolers as much as public schoolers. If you’ve ever had a child in public school, you might have heard of the “summer slide”. Basically, it’s the brain drain that occurs when kids follow a traditional school year and take summers off from structured learning.

I don’t necessarily follow a traditional school year, because we have school lessons during the summer, but we do take breaks from our homeschool during the year. And, trust me, that’s enough time for my kids to start forgetting things.

If you’re nervous about how to prevent the summer slide, don’t worry! There are plenty of things that your kids can be doing to continue their education while also having fun.

10 Easy Ways to Avoid the Summer Slide

If you take an actual summer break, you don’t want to make these activities too “schooly”. You can keep them fun and engaging, while using them to help kids remember some of their skills. If you homeschool year-round, these are nice, low-pressure ways to keep them learning.

Need more ways to make summer educational? Don’t miss our list of 50 summer books you can share with the kids!

Avoid the summer slide by keeping the kids learning all summer. Here are 10 ways to learn over summer break!

10 Ways to Keep Kids Learning During Summer Break

Images c/o: StockUnlimited & konradbak / depositphotos

Garden.

Gardening is a great way to teach your kids responsibility. Not only will they learn about how to grow foods and plants, but you may also get some free fruits, vegetables, and flowers in the process!

Go theatrical.

Have your kids write a short play to put on for the neighborhood. Or, if they are shy, they can just perform it for the family. Tell them to get their friends involved. The other parents will love that you’re providing something fun for their children to take part in.

Birdwatch.

Put a bird feeder, bird bath, and a lot of strings and nest building products in your yard by a window. Hopefully, you will attract some different birds that your kids can study. You may even see the entire process from nesting to baby birds flying for the first time!

Create a summer reading list.

Take your kids to the local library and have them pick a book that interests them. After each book, have them give you a little presentation or just talk to you about the story. You can even let them dress up as one of the characters from the book.

Learn another language.

Summer is a wonderful time to explore a new language! Choose a few simple illustrated books from the local library that are written in Spanish, French, or another language and see how many vocabulary words you and the kids can learn together. Find some videos for learning American Sign Language and try to practice a full signed conversation with our ASL2U curriculum!

Try some educational apps.

Take a virtual spin through an app store and let the kids pick out an educational app they’d like to try. If you limit screen time (like we do), give them a set amount of time to play it each day. Try to choose one that works on a skill your child needs help with, such as reading fluency, multiplication tables, or history facts.

Create musical instruments.

Find items from around the house and see who can make the best musical instrument! Good materials include toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, oatmeal containers, cereal boxes, plastic spoons, and jars filled with water. This is especially fun for little ones!

Write and illustrate a book.

Your kids need an outlet for creativity. Have them work on a story all summer and let them draw all of the pictures. Older kids can try a photo editing program to design cover art on their own!

Start a rock collection.

There’s no better way to learn about Geology than to start a rock collection. Challenge your kids to see who can find the most unusual rock in the neighborhood, then do some research to find out what kind of rock it is and how it is formed.

Study the stars.

If you have a telescope, put it to good use! Learn about a few constellations, such as the Big Dipper or Orion the Hunter, and take the kids outside to see if they can spot them!

Wondering how to prevent the summer slide? There are plenty of things you can do for and with your kids this summer to help them continue learning. Which one of these seems like the most fun and helpful to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Need more fun summer ideas? Don’t miss these posts!

This fun summer bucket list for kids is full of hands-on activities your children will love!

Learn about the science of beaches, plus get fun math, language, and geography practice, in this printable beach unit study!

This fun ice cream themed shape sorting activity for kids is so cool for practicing shape recognition!

And for more summer activities, follow my Summer Activities for Kids board on Pinterest!

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Filed Under: Homeschooling Tagged With: kids, parenting, summer, summer activities, summer activities for kids

25 Beach Crafts for Kids

July 10, 2016 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Have you made it to the beach yet this year? We’re planning a quick trip to a local one in August, so I thought I’d look for some fun and adorable beach crafts for kids that we can make together before we leave!

What I love about studying the beach with kids is that the topic is so broad! You can learn about the sun, the ocean, ocean animals, beach sand, animals that live on the beach, seashells, ice cream, and so much more! So there are crafts for all these things below!

Read on to find some fun beach crafts you can try too!

25 Beach Crafts for Kids

25 Beach Crafts for Kids

1. Beach Diorama for Kids from Look! We’re Learning!

2. Puffy Paint Ocean Collage from ArtsyMomma

3. Seashell Keepsake Craft from Moms and Crafters

4. Beach-Themed Sand and Shell Art from Happiness is Homemade

5. Sand Footprint Craft from Paging Fun Mums

6. Newspaper Shark Craft from I Heart Crafty Things

7. Paper Plate Sun Craft from Buggy and Buddy

8. Starfish Ocean Button Craft from A Little Pinch of Perfect

9. Shell Sunflower Craft from Rhythms of Play

10. Sand Handprint Keepsakes from The Imagination Tree

11. DIY Beach Sand from Look! We’re Learning!

12. Cupcake Liner Sun Craft from I Heart Crafty Things

13. 3-Ingredient Ocean in a Bottle from Happy Hooligans

Fun Beach Crafts for Kids to Make

14. Paper Plate Seashell Craft from Artsy Crafty Mom

15. Sand in a Bottle Craft from Gift of Curiosity

16. Coffee Filter Beach Ball Craft from Look! We’re Learning!

17. Popsicle Stick Mosaic Sun Craft from Kids Activities Blog

18. Cupcake Liner Lighthouse Craft from Sugar Aunts

19. DIY Seashell Mobile from Nurture Store

20. Egg Carton Ocean Craft from The Imagination Tree

21. Bubbling Shell Painting from Mess for Less

22. DIY Moon Sand from Look! We’re Learning!

23. Paper Plate Beach Ball Craft from Glued to My Crafts

24. Sun Craft Scissor Skills Activity from A Little Pinch of Perfect

25. Beach Keepsake Craft from Fireflies and Mudpies

Fun Beach Crafts for Kids

Need more summer learning ideas? Try these with your kids!

Summer Books for Kids

50 Free Summer Printables for Kids @ Look! We're Learning!

Your preschooler will love working on fine motor skills and number sense with these beach number 0-9 playdough mats!

Plus, get even more ideas on my Summer Activities for Kids Pinterest Board!

And don’t miss my All About Beaches Printable Pack – perfect for keeping kids learning over the summer!

All About Beaches Printable Pack

This post is part of the Summer Activities for Kids Blog Hop! Check out more summer fun for kids below!

Flower Suncatcher Nature Craft – Messy Little Monster

Make a Bee Bath – Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Water Play Car Wash – Play and Learn Everyday

Tic Tac Toe Races – Royal Baloo

Finding Dory Wind Sock Craft – The Gingerbread House

Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: beach, beach crafts, beach crafts for kids, crafts, crafts for kids, fun crafts, kids craft ideas, kids crafts, summer, summer activities for kids, summer crafts, summer crafts for kids

Tips for Summer Travel with Kids

May 20, 2013 by Selena Robinson 7 Comments

It’s almost summertime and a lot of families are getting ready for their annual vacation. We’ve gotten a chance to go away for the last few summers and, along the way, I’ve picked up a few traveling tips for summer travel with kids that I thought I’d share with you all this morning.

Bear in mind – these are just based on our personal experiences. But I have a hunch that most of these will apply to all parents when traveling with kids.

Want some awesome summer crafts to try with the family? Don’t miss my list of 50 summer crafts for kids to make!

Tips for Summer Travel with Kids

Image c/o: belchonock / depositphotos

Tips for Summer Travel with Kids

Bring more of everything than you think you need. 

You will run out of something halfway through the trip and I promise it will be the thing you thought you’d need the least of. We pack twice the amount of kids’ clothes we think they’ll use. They always end up needing it all somehow.

Add an extra half hour of travel time for every two hours you spend on the road. 

Remember when you and your spouse could get to your destination with just one or two stops along the way? Those days are long gone. Whenever Google Maps tells us we can get to our destination in six hours, we add at least an hour and a half to that for stops.

Keep plastic shopping bags and wet wipes in your vehicle. 

You’ll be glad you did. Trust me.

Tell the hotel staff that you have more than two kids. 

One of the problems you run into when you have a large family is that most hotels only allow you to have two kids in the room. I know some families just book the room anyway and double up the kids in the bed, but I’ve found it best to just tell the staff that we have four children. They’ve often given us discounts on suites or larger rooms that had more space and better facilities.

Pack jackets for the kids, even when it’s blazingly hot outside.

They’ll end up feeling cold somewhere – in a store, in the car, in a movie theater, or a restaurant.

Pick a hotel room with a full kitchen and stop at the grocery store right after you check in. 

Occasionally, we’ve found that eating out ends up costing more than the hotel room, especially if we stay out of town for a week. We wised up a few years ago and started booking rooms that have full kitchens. Right after we get to the hotel, we head out to the nearest grocery store and stock up on meals that we can cook quickly.

No matter how fun the trip is, expect the children to complain at least once per day. 

This is something I didn’t pick up on until our second family vacation. We had taken the time to put together an itinerary that we were sure the kids would love. We even booked a room that had a themed kids’ suite with bunkbeds.

They still found a reason to be unhappy with it. (I think it was that the room wasn’t big enough to play in or something.) But that’s just kids being kids. The fun they have later usually makes up for the complaining early on.

Family Tips for Summer Travel

Do you have any tips for summer travel with kids you’d like to share? Let us hear them in the comments!

Want more ideas for summer fun with the family? Follow my Summer Activities for Kids board on Pinterest!

And if you need some learning activities to keep your kids happy on the road, check out some of our printables!

Free Bug Printables Pack

All About Beaches Printable Pack

Ice Cream Printable Pack - Look! We're Learning!

Filed Under: Family Life, Parenting Tagged With: family travel, family travel tips, summer, summer activities for kids, summer travel, summer travel tips, summer travel tips for families, travel tips

Hi! I'm Selena, an A.D.D. mom married to an A.D.D. husband. We're parenting two kids with A.D.D., one with A.D.H.D., and an energetic elementary learner.
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