Each year summer vacation seems to shrink. Between a family getaway—if we are lucky— summer camps, and ballgames, it can be hard to have time for uncomplicated home grown fun. Here are a few old fashioned ideas for those precious days when the children are home.
Get Creative
Keep a stockpile of paper, crayons, and coloring books and make art! For the younger ones, give them a subject or a focus item each day. Show them a flower, a picture of a dog, or something as simple as a shoe. Tell them to draw the object and make up a story about it. Create a temporary display wall and update it daily with new art.
Inspire older children to explore their feelings and passions through design. Allow them to rearrange their bedroom or make simple changes that spark their imaginations. A new layout, fresh color, or a couple of new accessories can ignite a new attitude! If there is not a cozy place to read or write in their space, encourage them to fashion one. And if they do not have a library card yet, that is priority number one!
Lend a Helping Hand
Inspiring your children to help others is a great idea year-round, but during the summer they have much more time to think about how they can engage the family, a neighbor, or someone in need. Let kids plan summer meals, make grocery lists, and do some of the shopping and cooking themselves. Cooking for the family may lead to baking cookies for a neighbor or a meal for someone who needs the support.
Food banks often run on empty during the summer, experiencing the “summer hunger gap” when school is out, and many children go without hot, healthy meals every day. Help your child organize a neighborhood food drive. Non-profit pet organizations always need food too.
Breathe Some Fresh Air
Shoo the kids outside when the weather permits. Suggest they build a fort, drag out the garden hose and a piece of plastic for a slip-and-slide, or just take a blanket outside to read or play card games under a tree. Build a bird house or a new doghouse. Buy inexpensive wildflower seeds and let your children plant their own garden. A simple container or a small plot in the yard will be their pride and joy when colors began popping up through the soil. Tune up the bicycles and add color and noise to the spokes with plastic straws or playing cards clipped on with clothespins! Does anyone remember those days?
Go Green
Suggest your children host a swap party. Teach them to reduce, reuse, and recycle by sharing clothes, games, puzzles, and more with their friends. Just make sure they give away more than they keep! Make it a sleepover and visit a charitable thrift store the next day to donate leftovers.
Do a home energy assessment. It can be simple and great for your children to research. Ask them to make a checklist of items and actions that will make your home more energy efficient and more comfortable with minimal effort. For instance, check light bulbs to see if they are LED, unplug chargers when not in use, and set up a thermostat routine that saves energy when the family is not active. Consider timing family chores to use less energy during peak usage times when everyone else in your community is doing laundry or cooking. Energy can cost more during peak hours and certainly increases demand on our energy system. Learning how to make your home more efficient is valuable now and a useful tool for your children to have after they leave home.
There are so many ways to keep children active, thinking, and learning during summer vacation without leaving home. Giving them age-appropriate activities that allow them to explore their own talents and interests is a worthwhile way to spend a day. There are also unexpected benefits to just being bored. Scientific evidence shows there is a spot in the brain that triggers imagination and creativity when we are bored.
Remember being bored as a child? We all figured out how to become un-bored and make fun happen. We made up games with friends, we listened to music while daydreaming about places we had never seen, and we pretended to be trapeze artists on the swing set. Do not deprive your children the same opportunities to grow up and say, “One summer, I was so bored I created a…”
Holly Harrison has been a licensed interior designer for over 35 years. Shannon Stage has spent nearly 20 years in the giftware industry. Together they own Sassy Bird Interiors in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
Sassy Bird Interiors
211 Main St.
Bay St. Louis
228.344.3181
www.sassybirdinteriors.com
