This guest post is by Janette Dolores of www.janettedolores.com.
The lazy days of summer aren’t lazy at all when you have young children at home. A heart-warming time of life, your young child may view you not only as his caregiver and source of goldfish-shaped cheese snacks, but as his agenda planner and playmate.
Most parents often travel to parks, playgrounds or pools during the summer, but let’s face it: sometimes you just want to hang out at home for the day. For those days, I entertain my little ones with creative and inexpensive activities in the yard.
Photo Attribution: Clare Bloomfield
- A limbo contest. A mop handle works well for this activity. Play some fun limbo music—my kids like “Wipe Out” by the Beach Boys—and place the handle at age-appropriate heights. Ducking with the chin down to get under the bar is perfectly acceptable for younger contestants! Run a search for “limbo music” on YouTube for further musical selections.
- A yard egg hunt. Egg hunts are not just for Easter. Take plastic toy eggs, fill them with finger snacks, candy or coins for the piggy bank, and hide the eggs around the yard. Give the kids colorful wicker baskets with which to collect the eggs. You can hide the eggs several times in different locations and sit back as your children relish in finding each new hiding spot.
- A yard picnic. Throw an outdoor blanket on the ground–preferably under a shady tree—and have lunch or an early dinner outdoors with finger food and juice boxes. It’s a perfect opportunity to bond as a family, chitchat and discuss the sights and sounds just outside your door.
- A yard luau. Enjoy lunch or an early dinner outdoors with a luau theme that will be sure to keep your kids giggling and engaged. A luau can be as inexpensive as you want, depending on how intricate you make it. I go to our local party supply store and buy leis and floral headbands for under a dollar each, child mini hula skirts for around five dollars each and hibiscus-themed tableware for about $20. The musical entertainment comes free, courtesy of searching “luau music” or “Hawaiian music” on YouTube. Again, a Beach Boys tune—“Kokomo”—is a luau favorite in my household. Or, you can buy a luau music CD at your local party store.
- Gardening. Kids do not see gardening as a chore at all. You can find sturdy kiddie gardening sets for under $15. Plant flowers for instant beauty or vegetables and herbs for a fall harvest, all with thrilled children in tow.
- A portable sprinkler to run through. My kids enjoy the kiddie pool, but beam when I set up the portable sprinkler for them to run through. To make a game out of oscillating sprinklers, place several toys close to the sprinkler base and have each child take a turn collecting the toys before the sprinkler nozzles swing back in that child’s direction.
- Exploring nature. With a compass, pair of child binoculars and a kiddie magnifying glass in hand, you can chart a course into the “wilderness” of your yard to study birds in flight or analyze leaf patterns and bugs. Have a basket handy to store your children’s finds. If your child is old enough, you may want to take along a dirt sifter to collect rocks of different shapes and colors.
- Yard camping. Set up a play tent and pretend you’ve gone camping. We like to play tea time in ours. For added effect, I make S’mores indoors in the microwave for the kids to munch on outdoors in the tent. You can find outdoor play tents for under $30.
- Watercolors. Large coloring books work best for outdoor watercolor painting. With pages measuring up to a foot and a half long, large coloring books give your little one plenty of room to paint with the thicker brushes young children use while developing their fine motor skills. Don’t forget the smocks and plastic cups filled with water to clean brushes during color changes!
- Oldies but goodies. Some oldie but goodie outdoor fun may be familiar games to us parents, but completely new to our children depending on their ages. Games like hide-and-seek, I spy, hopscotch and tag are always a hit, with the added bonus of being free.
What warm weather activities do you enjoy in the outdoors of your home with your young children?
Janette Dolores is an at-home mom, wife and blogger. She is passionate about family, spirituality and writing, and draws inspiration for her writing from everyday experiences. Read more of her posts at www.janettedolores.com.
About Guest Contributor
Gardening is the best one for us!
We love connecting our children with nature as much as possible as opposed to fake toys which have no life.
We love watching them interact with things which are living such as taking care of the plants, watering them, playing with the dogs, etc.
This makes me want to go camping haha, great post! 🙂
Hi, Sean:
My kids love gardening, too. They help pick vegetables from our small garden, and could spend the day examining leaves and bugs around the garden with their kiddie magnifying glass. For my part, I enjoy watching my children marvel at how a seed sprouts a bud which then transforms into something we can harvest and eat.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post! Thank you for your input.
Janette,
What a wonderful, creative piece! Sounds like your place is the spot to be in the summertime! Good job.
Hi, Jennifer:
Indeed, we have many mommies visit us in the summertime, with kiddies in tow. I enjoy the visits not only because it helps to socialize my children, but because I appreciate the adult interaction during the day, too!
And I appreciate your thoughtful words and encouragement!
Great post! I know my kids enjoy many of those activities.
I’m glad to hear it, Eric. Nothing like cultivating a child’s love for nature and outdoor activities.
Thanks for joining the discussion!
Janette:
What wonderful suggestions! Always look for interesting things to do with the kiddies at home!!!
Very insightful 🙂
Sharon:
Thank you for the compliment!
It isn’t always easy coming up with new activities to do at home with the kiddies. I got the idea for this article from a running list I keep of activities my kids enjoy. Keeping these types of lists means less time spent in the morning figuring out what to do that day, and more time outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather.
I appreciate your time and comment.
Love these creative ideas and exciting new takes on some old ideas, too! Which activity is your kids’ favorite? Our daughter is all grown up now, but I had fun remembering the things that made summer days special: trips to the park, walks through the neighborhood, the kiddie pool, and games of chase! Enjoy it all! And be sure to take LOTS of pictures! God bless!
Hi, Maria:
My kids’ favorite activities of the moment are the limbo contest and the egg hunt. They’re still too little to play at limbo properly, but they have fun crouching and crawling under the bar, giggling as they do so. And the egg hunt never gets old for them. Even when we run out of treats to put in the plastic eggs, my kids enjoy searching for them empty.
I appreciate you stopping by, and will be sure to take plenty of pictures. Thanks for joining the discussion. Have a lovely rest of the week!
That kind of thikinng shows you’re on top of your game
Such good memories! My kids are past these now, but we did all these!
~Debbie
Debbie:
I try to capture as many of these memories-in-the-making as I can with my camera and camcorder. Sometimes people get a little irked when I have them pose for a picture or two with the kids, but they sure do appreciate it when I give them framed copies of those pictures on holidays and birthdays!
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a note. 🙂
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