Holy Smokes it's been busy around here lately! I've been trying to get ready for the big kid to come home for summer vacation and come up with a bunch of things for both of my girls to do. The problem is, when I am off in the summer I don't get paid so I have to find inexpensive or free things for us to do. I've told you before that the library is one of our favorite places and that's been true for me since I was a little person myself. Our library has movies with healthy snacks in the afternoons, obviously all the books you could ever want, craft times and of course, summer reading.
The Zoo is also another favorite place. At first I thought this was cost prohibitive, but the more I looked at it, I realized that purchasing the family membership (which covers parking and admission and a discount at the gift shop) and packing our own lunch we can make the drive to Columbus and it's actually a fun low-budget day. The beauty of our Zoo is that there is something to do year round so whether we're enjoying summer fun or admiring the holiday lights we get our money's worth out of the membership!
The park and the bike path - here in tiny Newark, Ohio we are very lucky to have a bunch of wonderful parks and a great bike path that goes on for miles. We put on our walking shoes, pack our lunch and enjoying swinging, walking and looking at what my girls call "nature" which means we pick up every bug and rock and examine it carefully. Most of the time there are baby ducks too so we get to watch them grow up, which is always fun too.
The garden - we have always planted a large vegetable garden in the summer and it is a family project. The girls help plant, weed, water (if the rain doesn't do it for free like it did this morning!) and harvest. This year I have gotten several books out of the library about canning and we are going to try our hand at pickles and tomato sauce, and a few other things. There's nothing better than a dirty kid eating the green beans that she planted and then running through the sprinkler to clean off before venturing back inside! I really think that the garden is the reason my girls eat anything (especially veggies) because they are so excited that they have grown these things themselves. The neighbors also like it when they walk around to certain houses and share the excess tomatoes with our elderly neighbors who can't have their own gardens anymore.
Camps and other fun stuff - I am always on the lookout for great camps and programs that my school-aged daughter can participate in. When she was in first grade I found that asking the gifted and talented coordinator at her school about summer opportunities was a great idea. A lot of the local camps send her information and she was able to provide me with information on several camps. Zoe has gone to art camp with a local art company for the past two years and she will be going again this year. The owners of the company are also instructors at Columbus College of Art and Design and for a minimal cost, she really learns a lot. One of our local churches also sponsors a sports camp that meets every Wednesday evening. Kids get to try a variety of sports, there is a short faith based lesson and they get a snack at the end. Best of all camp is free and meets from late May to early August.
I also stock up on inexpensive craft supplies when I see them. My oldest daughter is very into making friendship bracelets right now, her left arm is adorned almost from wrist to elbow. I've tried telling her the point of friendship bracelets is to give them to your friends, but she's just not ready to part with them yet. I also save all my "scrap" paper in my office throughout the school year (it's usually stuff that people print, but never pick up) so that there is plenty of drawing paper to encourage the young artists.
And just for fun, here are two of my favorite recipes for play clay and bubbles! The play clay is great and stores nicely in a zip-top bag or one of the canisters that the sugar free drink mixes come in and years ago I bought a container of bubbles from the store and I have been refilling it with this recipe ever since! If you don't have a bubble container to reuse, an empty peanut butter jar (scrape out all excess peanut butter with a rubber spatula and wash with hot water, half a scoop of oxy clean and a good squirt of dish soap, let it soak for a while and it will wash right out) will work just fine too and a drinking straw is good for blowing lots of tiny bubbles!
Homemade bubbles:
Makes a little more than a quart
4 cups water
½ cup light corn syrup or glycerin (if you're like me you will have the corn syrup because I make a lot of pecan pies)
1 cup dishwashing soap
Mix together gently and pour into a reused bubble container or a clean empty peanut butter jar.
Play clay:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 packages unsweetened powdered drink mix (buy the cheap stuff for this, I get the pack of 8 or 12 different little packets so I can make a few different colors, I think it's 89 cents)
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Mix flour, salt, drink mix, cream of tartar and oil until blended. Add boiling water, mix with spoon until cool enough to knead. Continue kneading until color is blended. Store in a zip top bag or plastic container (PB jar or empty sugar free drink mix canisters work well for this).
Photo Credits © Ingrid Balabanova | Dreamstime.com © Teodor Ostojic | Dreamstime.com © Elena Elisseeva | Dreamstime.com
The Zoo is also another favorite place. At first I thought this was cost prohibitive, but the more I looked at it, I realized that purchasing the family membership (which covers parking and admission and a discount at the gift shop) and packing our own lunch we can make the drive to Columbus and it's actually a fun low-budget day. The beauty of our Zoo is that there is something to do year round so whether we're enjoying summer fun or admiring the holiday lights we get our money's worth out of the membership!The park and the bike path - here in tiny Newark, Ohio we are very lucky to have a bunch of wonderful parks and a great bike path that goes on for miles. We put on our walking shoes, pack our lunch and enjoying swinging, walking and looking at what my girls call "nature" which means we pick up every bug and rock and examine it carefully. Most of the time there are baby ducks too so we get to watch them grow up, which is always fun too.
The garden - we have always planted a large vegetable garden in the summer and it is a family project. The girls help plant, weed, water (if the rain doesn't do it for free like it did this morning!) and harvest. This year I have gotten several books out of the library about canning and we are going to try our hand at pickles and tomato sauce, and a few other things. There's nothing better than a dirty kid eating the green beans that she planted and then running through the sprinkler to clean off before venturing back inside! I really think that the garden is the reason my girls eat anything (especially veggies) because they are so excited that they have grown these things themselves. The neighbors also like it when they walk around to certain houses and share the excess tomatoes with our elderly neighbors who can't have their own gardens anymore. Camps and other fun stuff - I am always on the lookout for great camps and programs that my school-aged daughter can participate in. When she was in first grade I found that asking the gifted and talented coordinator at her school about summer opportunities was a great idea. A lot of the local camps send her information and she was able to provide me with information on several camps. Zoe has gone to art camp with a local art company for the past two years and she will be going again this year. The owners of the company are also instructors at Columbus College of Art and Design and for a minimal cost, she really learns a lot. One of our local churches also sponsors a sports camp that meets every Wednesday evening. Kids get to try a variety of sports, there is a short faith based lesson and they get a snack at the end. Best of all camp is free and meets from late May to early August.
I also stock up on inexpensive craft supplies when I see them. My oldest daughter is very into making friendship bracelets right now, her left arm is adorned almost from wrist to elbow. I've tried telling her the point of friendship bracelets is to give them to your friends, but she's just not ready to part with them yet. I also save all my "scrap" paper in my office throughout the school year (it's usually stuff that people print, but never pick up) so that there is plenty of drawing paper to encourage the young artists.
And just for fun, here are two of my favorite recipes for play clay and bubbles! The play clay is great and stores nicely in a zip-top bag or one of the canisters that the sugar free drink mixes come in and years ago I bought a container of bubbles from the store and I have been refilling it with this recipe ever since! If you don't have a bubble container to reuse, an empty peanut butter jar (scrape out all excess peanut butter with a rubber spatula and wash with hot water, half a scoop of oxy clean and a good squirt of dish soap, let it soak for a while and it will wash right out) will work just fine too and a drinking straw is good for blowing lots of tiny bubbles!Homemade bubbles:
Makes a little more than a quart
4 cups water
½ cup light corn syrup or glycerin (if you're like me you will have the corn syrup because I make a lot of pecan pies)
1 cup dishwashing soap
Mix together gently and pour into a reused bubble container or a clean empty peanut butter jar.
Play clay:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 packages unsweetened powdered drink mix (buy the cheap stuff for this, I get the pack of 8 or 12 different little packets so I can make a few different colors, I think it's 89 cents)
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Mix flour, salt, drink mix, cream of tartar and oil until blended. Add boiling water, mix with spoon until cool enough to knead. Continue kneading until color is blended. Store in a zip top bag or plastic container (PB jar or empty sugar free drink mix canisters work well for this).
Photo Credits © Ingrid Balabanova | Dreamstime.com © Teodor Ostojic | Dreamstime.com © Elena Elisseeva | Dreamstime.com
Leave a comment