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5 Tips for Staying Busy with The Kids This Summer
Posted by candi on Jul 19th 2019
Well, it’s official. Summertime is just days away and the kids, if not already home, will be home for the summer soon! I 3 kids at home, which means that summertime is a lot of fun, but it can also get hectic and exhausting. For me it may be a little bit different because of the ages of my children (15, 11, and 3), which basically means my days are hectic year round. Summertime though, is exceptionally busy. It’s great, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I have found that just having a general outline of things that we need to do during the summer days and frankly, stuff we just want to do because we want to get out of the house. I started doing this a couple of years ago and I am all about staying on top of things this year so you can bet my my summertime checklist is already filling up.
If you want to do the same thing this year to keep you and the kids happy this summer, I have put together a list of 5 tips for staying busy with the kids this summer that you should check out. This list will give you some ideas and some tips for making your outside ventures go more smoothly than you may have experienced in the past. As a mom of a toddler, I am always looking for tips on making my trips outside go more smoothly!
- Plan your trips. Trust me, you don’t want to just wander around looking for something to do. That is nothing but a waste of gas, money and your precious time. Instead sit down with the kids at the beginning of the summer and talk about the places you would like to go and the things you would like to do. This will give you a good base of things to plan out.
- Make your trips, playdates. As much as my kids love to hang out with their mom during all of their free time, I do know that it’s a lot of fun for them to have their friends along with them. I like to make an effort to plan friend-friendly activities at least a couple of times per month. Plus, a lot of my kids’ friends’ moms are friends of mine, so mom gets to visit too!
- Bring food along. I have been a parent for 15 years and I have learned that kids get hungry. ALL. THE TIME. I have to bring food along with me if I want to have any kind of sanity and not listen to kids whining all day. Plus, if I left their hunger up to the drive through, I would go broke, fast. Additionally, my daughter and I both have food allergies so it is important that we bring along foods that we can eat. No way to carry all that food? No worries, check out the adorable lunch bags that we have that would be perfect for your summertime adventures. All of our lunch bags are all of which are lightly insulated and can be hand-carried or slung over the shoulder with the adjustable nylon strap:
- Check out new places! I’m sure that you love your local park, but I bet there are other parks nearby that would be fun to visit. Chances are your kids would have a blast checking out the new place too! It helps to spice up your regular spots to make sure that you don’t get bored of them.
- Sign them up for a Summer Program. There are so many different programs and camps that you can sign your kids up for during the summer time that you should never have trouble finding things for them to do. Here are a couple of ideas:
- Kids Bowl Free (2 free games of bowling for kids everyday during the summer)
- Regal Movie Express (Just $1 to go to the movies?!)
- Sports camps
- Junior gardener camps (check out your local universities)
- Junior ranger camps (check your your local state parks)
- Summer Reading Programs (check out your local library for info on these awesome programs)
- Build workshops (Home Depot offers awesome Saturday build workshops for kids)
- Bring the kids stuff along. If you are anything like us, you just never know how long your adventures will last and you might switch up your plans mid-day. If this sounds like an issue you may face, be sure to bring all of your stuff along for the ride with you. I’m talking sunscreen, swimming clothes, water bottles, sunscreen). I like to keep bags specially packed for this reason and I love the bags we have at Sassafrass is perfect for this.
