Note: I used this list and your wonderful comments to compile a list of kids' activities. They can be found HERE, as well as by clicking on the link under Resources in my sidebar.
While sewing, I listen to the radio----usually not music but rather NPR, news, podcasts of some of my favorite programs, etc. Yesterday, after a very long stint of sewing and listening, I found myself contemplating flinging, or possibly flailing myself from the nearest high cliff. The news was full of escalating gas prices, increasing food costs, higher unemployment, personal strife, hunger, and generally bad news. This, on top of my own mounting economic problems led me to a very downward spiral... After a bit, I just couldn't take it anymore.
I thought about the upcoming summer for my smaller family of three.
One of the topics thrown around in the news was the gas price's effects on traveling. You've probably heard the newest vacation term: staycation.
All of the talk about gas prices led me to this: how to make staying at home fun for my kids & I. Basically, I don't want to hear "I'm BORED" all summer long. And though I plan on fully utilizing Crafty Crow as a resource for craft projects, I don't have the resources to purchase lots of craft supplies for the entire summer. I want to supplement my craft projects with activities such as back-yard games, make-believe, camping out, picnics, all without draining my limited resources.
And this is what I came up with...
OUR STAYCATION SUMMER of FUN!
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Picnic Around the World. Oh yeah, having picnics in the backyard could quickly become routine but what if you aren't just picnicing in your own yard? What if you are a family of world travelers (give your family a world traveler name) that just happened to find yourself in another location for the day? For example, your world traveling family is currently visiting the Pyramids in Egypt... What are you eating for lunch? And while sitting out on your picnic blanket, what do you see? What do you smell? What kind of language are those around you speaking? What else do you hear? Write it all down and afterwards have your children go look your location up on the computer. Ask them to compare their assumptions to what they learn.
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Spoil your pets. There they are, your pets, craving your attention. My kids love our pets but sometimes they don't always pay enough attention to them. No more! We'll spend a whole day lavishing ONE of our pets with attention: What do they do all day? Where do they go? What do they eat? It will be each pet's DAY complete with homemade treats.
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Thoreau's thorough Study. My kids don't have the patience to spend a whole day watching a square grid on the ground like Henry David Thoreau, but we will spend 15 minutes per day for a week, noticing a piece of square earth. We'll measure it, we'll come home and sketch it from memory, we'll make notes at the location. Some of our questions will be: who walked across our square? Have the plants changed? Is the ground temperature different? Are the shadows changing as the days pass?
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Do You Hear What I Hear? My kids & I spend time each summer laying on our backs and watching the clouds----that's always fun---- but what if we closed our eyes. What would we hear? In a typical day, we so seldom take the time to actually listen...
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Digging for worms. Need I say more? And no, I won't be touching any worms, but my kids will. ;-)
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Way Out Back in the Outback: No cheating. Camping in the backyard. But be prepared, once you're out camping in the Outback you can no longer return to the house!
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Stars' Stories. We have yet to fully experience the stars-----to understand the constellations, etc. This summer we will. We will each adopt a constellation and study both the astronomical information about the constellation as well as any mythological information about it.
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Spelling Etymology. "What?" I can hear my kids already. No, not just spelling but etymology: the study of words and their explanations. We'll choose some unusual words each week and ask these questions: How did these words come to be? Where do they fall in our current language as compared to their origins? After we learn about some old/weird words, we'll attempt to use them in a story. That should be interesting!
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Turn Over the Rock. We'll spend a day turning over rocks and documenting what we find. What are those strange creatures that make their homes under our rocks? I'm sure we'll find a good amount of scorpions, as well as a few Jerusalem Crickets.
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Hide the Flaming Red Rock. I'm going to paint a rock (the size of a softball) a bright red and hide it somewhere within a certain radius of our house. When the rock is found, that person chooses a baked treat of their choice (we'll make the treats for each other). That person also hides the rock for the next person.
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In the life of... What do you want to be when you grow up? My kids have their answers and they've only changed a bit since we first began asking them. My son started out with Paleontologist but has slowly evolved into Paleontologist and Writer. My daughter is still holding firm to Vet. But what do people do in these careers? We'll pretend for a day that we are working in that field...
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The Currency Converter Game. Imagine that our country has implemented a new currency. Our new currency is worth 3-cents in our old currency. One player gathers and makes items to sell in the old currency and the second (and subsequent) players must convert the price to the new currency (which is the only currency they can use).
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Shade Hopscotch. Sure, my brother & I did this as children out of necessity but what if it's a game? We'll see who can travel the farthest by only jumping from shade to shade.
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Grind it Up Mystery Mash. My kids love to grind up natural things in an old mortar & pestle. You can often find old mortar & pestles in the thriftstores. Though my kids love to do it all on their own, if you want to make it a game, you can write up "recipes" beforehand and then send them out on a "treasure hunt" for the ingredients (ie, 3 parts berries, 2 parts grass, 1 part yellow flower petals...etc). Safety Warning: Be sure to tell your kids that their mash is not safe to eat!! This might not be a good one for younger kids)...
What about you? Do you have any games & activities for your kids to do at home? I'd love to compile a LOOONG list of ideas to refer back to. I will add the list to the Resources on my sidebar----I'll probably think of more ideas myself and I'll add them to that list as I do... Be sure to check back and if you think of any ideas later on, please email me! It's a LOOOONG summer!
I'm leaving this blog post up for a couple days so as to gather ideas (hint, hint)! I hope to add my list of summer activities to the sidebar this weekend...
