Archive: water activities

Summer Activities for Kids

With warm weather finally here, it’s time to get outside! Kids do best with a little direction and encouragement for their imagination so Mom Trusted put together a list of fun summer activities for kids. Don’t forget the sunscreen!

Decorate the town with chalk.

Chalk is a summer classic that never gets old. Grab a fresh box and let your little ones go crazy. It’ll probably only be a matter or minutes before your fresh sticks of chalk start to snap, but don’t panic. Invest in a giant Tupperware container that can hang out in the garage and be a home to old, used chalk chunks every summer. This will also allow for a collection of colors!

Play catch with water balloons and slippery hands.

Fill up a bucket with water balloons and head to the back yard. Then, grease up with something like vegetable oil, lotion or good, old-fashioned soap. See how long you can play catch with the balloons sliding around through slippery hands.

Float ice boats.

Make ice cube boats by freezing a tray of cubes with a drop of food coloring in each. Have your kids help you decorate little triangle pieces of paper as flags for each boat. Then, glue the flags to toothpicks and stick one per cube before freezing the colorful ice cubes. Fill up a cheap, plastic pool in your yard and let your kids splash around and float their boats.

Have a bubble party.

Fill a plastic kiddie pool with dish soap and water. Then, get creative with different bubble makers. Hunt through your garage. Use hula-hoops, bend wire into fun shapes and dig around in your kitchen to pull out a strainer with extra big holes.

Go on a water balloon hunt.

It works like an Easter egg hunt except you’re using very full water balloons. Because they tend to burst when they hit the ground or are squeezed too tightly, the goal is to see who can fill their basket with the most full balloons. Then, have a water balloon war with your new-found treasures.

Make your own sprinklers.

Raid your recycling for the biggest plastic bottles you can find. Then, drill holes in them and give them to your kids next time they’re playing in the outdoor pool or running through the hose and sprinkler. Voila! Mini sprinklers!

Sources:

-Pinterest: Summer Activities with Kids: http://pinterest.com/melissa_taylor2/summer-activities-with-kids/

-“Water Balloon Games for Kids” Fantastic Fun and Learning: http://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/water-balloon-games-for-kids.html

-“Summer Activities for Kids: Ice Boats” Spanglish Baby: http://spanglishbaby.com/finds/summer-activity-for-kids-ice-boats-water-play/

-“Tutorial: The Human Bubble and More” U Create: http://www.ucreatewithkids.com/search/label/bubbles

-“30 Summer Activities for Kids” Lil Luna: http://lilluna.com/30-summer-activities-for-kids/

-Photo courtesy of chrisroll/freedigitalphotos.net

Beat the Heat: 5 Ways to Stay Cool this Summer

Looking for a way to stay cool this summer, even with little ones running around? Mom Trusted put together a list of ideas for how to beat the heat and they’re ways that the kids will love:

1. Squirt Guns

Invest in a few squirt guns and let your kids go wild. You don’t need to drop the big bucks on the super deluxe toys either. Head to your local dollar store or thrift shop and see if they have any squirt guns.

2. Cool Ice Cubes

Buy a few ice cube trays with fun shapes. Fill and freeze them. Then fill up a kiddie pool in the yard and plop them in. Let your children splash around in the pool and play with the fun shapes.

3. Make Use of the Shade

Don’t have AC? In that case, it’s extra important to take some down time so your kids don’t get overheated. Set up quieter activities in the shade. Try coloring, fun books or finger painting. This way they can settle down and regroup while a breeze cools them down.

4. Freeze Juice Boxes

Stick a pack of juice boxes or Capri Sun in the freezer. Take them out about an hour before you want to eat them. Then, have the kids help smash them, breaking up the big, frozen chunks. When they’re nice and crushed, cut off the tops, grab a spoon and you have your very own slushies!

5. Ice Chalk

Make a batch of ice chalk! Mix half-part water with half-park corn starch and pour the goo into a regular popsicle mold. Then, mix a different color of tempura paint into each section. Freeze and be sure to explain that these aren’t the edible popsicles that your children are probably used to! The ice chalk will help the kids stay cool, colorful and creative this summer.

Sources:

-“Frozen Popsicle Chalk” Reading Confetti: http://www.readingconfetti.com/2013/05/frozen-popsicle-chalk.html

-“How to Keep Kids Cool in the Summer” eHow: http://www.ehow.com/how_2050040_keep-kids-cool-summer.html

-Photo courtesy of hyena reality/freegitalphotos.net