Summer of Storytime Fun

I bumped into my neighbor at the grocery store today.  We chatted about our summer plans.  Me: swimming lessons and speech class.  Her:  She is thrilled to be finished working away from home and she and her kids will be living up their time together.  She mentioned field-trip Fridays as one example. That got me thinking. Why don't we do something fun daily each week centered around a storybook.  (inspired by this post over at Oopsey-Daisey- she will be posting a new theme every Friday.)

School gets out this week, so next week the fun will begin.  We will pick one storybook a week, read it, and then each weekday we will do some activity that fits the theme of the story.  I am going to try to integrate a field trip of some sort every week, as well as a fun themed lunch.  The other days will have an art, math, or science learning activity.   I will try to post them as soon as they are planned.  If I wait till we do it all and take pictures, things could get pretty behind! Stay tuned to see how it all plays out!

Creative kid's lunches

Little Miss S was talking about getting to eat lunch at school next year.  She is under the impression she can try the hot lunch every day and bring a backup cold lunch in case she doesn't like it.  I am inspired to find some creative cold lunch options for her.

I love the ideas served up by Kristen over at Cookie Cutter Lunch. 

We'll have to give some of her ideas a try this summer.   Here are links from the store where she buys her containers.  There are tons of mommy bloggers making bento style lunches.


Check out cutefoodforkids for tons of cute ideas, including this one little Miss T just called "hungry birds."  Appropriate, no?

Check out these other fun ideas:
MuffinTinMom
 
AnotherLunch
 
What's for Lunch at our house
 
Kitchen fun with my 3 sons

School Lunch ideas .comFamily Fun has some great ideas, including this one for a sandwich on a stick.




I also remember the idea to collect cute and fun paper napkins to tuck into school lunches.  And with that writing notes on the napkin from time to time.

Our Favorite Online Kids Games

https://www.hasbro.com/en-us/games

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/play/

  

 

Play Makeup

I love this idea. The only problem is I don't go through enough makeup to make these right away. If you have any empties or old nail polish, please, send them my way! This would be PERFECT for my little gals for Christmas.

She takes empty make up trays, and fills them with nail polish. Once dry, they look pretty real, lots of fun, and mess free!

Ladder Golf Game

We play this every year at my Grandma's 4th of July BBQ. They sell them around town, but the prices and the quality differ.

Here are a few sites with tutorials on how to make your own.

• Ladder golf instructions with diagram
• How to video
• Instructables

*Update- Lowes has published instructions on making a wood frame version. I like it!

Backyard bowling

Or indoor bowling, whatever use you want it to serve! We were looking for something to do together for FHE tonight, and our 4 year old proclaimed that she had never been bowling. We looked up the costs, hours, and availability, and decided it would be best to have a bowling practice night at home.

I pulled out some items I already had on hand. Colorful plastic drinking cups, craft rice (regular rice that has been handled, crafted with, or is otherwise no longer sanitary for consumption), packing tape, and twist top plastic baggies.We measured 1/3 cup of rice into each baggie, tied the top, and put it into a plastic cup. Then we flipped another cup over, lined up the rims, and taped them together. After making 10 pins, we placed them at the end of our hall. (Who knew wood floors would be so handy.)

From there all we needed was a ball. We gave our little ones a basketball and the adults used an oversize tennis ball. A strip of blue painting tape served as the lane marker, and we had a great time.

Recycled Crayons

I have heard about these quite a bit, but I love the pic on these where they kept like colors together. Plus, it is always nice to have step by step instructions.