I’ve been hinting around that I’m starting a new series/challenge here this week and it’s finally time for the “big reveal”! 🙂
We’ve done 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home and 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer so far this year. Those challenges were great, but they required quite a bit of time and effort many days (or maybe that should be all of the days??).
I wanted to do a challenge for summer, but I wanted to keep it simple and fun. So, we’re going to focus on being intentional about family fun for the next four weeks.
I’m always on the lookout for things we can do as a family that don’t involve a lot of prep work, don’t cost a lot of money, and are a lot of fun. Based upon the emails I’m receiving, I’m not alone in this quest.
For the next four weeks (beginning June 15 through July 13), I’ll be sharing a fun and frugal activity that we do every weekday as a family. I’ll be taking pictures and sharing how-tos (like the Homemade Puffy Paint tutorial from last week).
And I’d love to have you join us by blogging about a fun activity you do as a family each week day. The activity can be as simple or as complex as you’d like to make it and it can be for any age. The only requirements are that it is inexpensive, fun, and family-friendly.
I can’t wait to be inspired by all your ideas!
I’ll be back tomorrow evening around 5 p.m. EST with a post on our frugal and fun activity for the day along with a link-up for you to share your posts, too!
Our summer holidays (in the UK) are six weeks away but no matter, I need this already! Thank you!
I started a series on my blog June 1st like this! I want my children to have special memories of things we do together, and each day M-F, I’m making a point to do something out of the ordinary with them.
We’ve waded in a creek for the first time, played fingerprint detectives, made mystery pictures, watercolor popsicles… it’s been a LOT of fun!
The series is called, “Making Memories That Last”, and you can follow along at http://www.Sonbeams.com/blog .
When I am having a crazy day and I just need to add a splash of whimsy and fun. We have upside down day. I throw a sheet over the table, and we eat underneath. It is guaranteed to make us all giggle and end a grumpy day on a fun note.
This is so timely! It is really my desire to make this an “intentional” summer with my 3 kids. I’ll be posting too!
This sounds like fun! I was wondering what the series would be 🙂 We began our own 102 Things To Do This Summer( http://cozycakescottage.com/2012/06/12/102-things-to-do-this-summer-our-list-series/ ) which will help me follow along with your challenge. Thank you so much for taking the time to share with all of us!
Awesome! Quick question- if we want to do the series along with you, are we able to use the graphic up top on our blog posts too (I’m assuming it would link back to you…)? It’s totally fine if we can’t, just thought I’d ask. Thanks!
Absolutely! Thanks for asking!
Sounds like fun for both the kids and myself. We will join in.
I took my daughter to a children’s science museum while on vacation last week and they had one giant craft room stocked with supplies like cereal boxes, egg cartons, paper, scissors, milk cartons, glue, string, googly eyes, paint, etc. The children use their imagination to create whatever they want.
This would be so easy to do at home so I’m stocking up on cereal boxes/egg cartons/paper towel holders to reuse instead of throwing away.
One of the best things we ever did was to invest in a 50 lb. bag of cracked corn. A lot of the parks around us have ducks so from time to time we all jump in the car, drive to the park with a bucket in hand and go feed the ducks. Even our 11 yr old enjoys it. It’s good, wholesome family fun. Sounds simple, but we enjoy it. Can’t wait to hear your ideas!
This is a HUGE child hood memory of mine! My grandma always went to the “day old” bread store to get bread. Thanks for helping me re-visit this! I will surely be doing this with my kiddos this summer 🙂
This is a wonderful idea. I am so in!
Looking forward to this series.
I hope you’ll be including or linking to things that are appropriate for an only child. Activities like the homemade puffy paint can be done with any number of kids, but so many times I see summer fun activities that really aren’t much fun unless two or three kids are involved.
Absolutely! I’m going to be sharing a variety of ideas, many which would definitely work for an only child.
We try to do things close all summer.
1. hiking and seeing free local points of interest – Very easy to do in Appalachians!
2. I personally am not a big crowd person so I do not like to attend the local festivals as much, but they have lots of free things to offer.
3. We are very big in the arts as a family and there are usually concerts in the park a few times a week to attend that are free.
4. Take advantage of the nice weather and eat outside as much as possible.
5. When my kids were younger we would have afternoon ‘fairy teas’ and set out an area for a small fairy tea finding interesting leaves, flowers, and pieces of wood for plates etc.
6.
I am excited for this series! I just did a post about some ideas for summer from a teacher’s perspective, but it is NECESSARY to have mama’s perspective. I don’t have that (yet), but I will in just a few weeks…
Sounds like fun! Can’t wait! 🙂
Great challenge! Thanks for choosing something that includes the kids. It will also help me with my new year’s resolution to have fun together as a family! I sure could use the help. My kids are 7, 5, 3 & 1. 🙂
I’m excited for this one!
OHHHH!!!!! I can’t wait! I have a huge list of easy, inexpensive (mostly free), and fun learning activities that M, M and I have enjoyed.
We recently did an ABC’s of summer fun so I can’t wait to incorporate your ideas. Looking forward to it!
Very nice! I am in!!
Looking forward to it. My 7 and 9 year old love the stop watch on my husbands phone. We have had so much fun timing each other lately to see who can do things like balance for the longest or who can run around the house the fastest. The local high school keeps their track open for the public and we run lots of hundred yard dashes, just to see who can run the fastest.
I can’t wait for this series. Could you also include suggestions for families with older kids? Mine are 11 and 14 year old boys.
I agree, Terry! My kids are 12 and 13! It’s hard to find suitable stuff for the older kids.
Agree! I really hope there are some things for older kids.
Since I don’t have older kids, I can’t really speak to this, but I’m guessing some of those who will be participating will have older children so definitely check out the ideas of those who link up!
And also, check out this post for lots of great ideas:
https://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/ask-the-readers-frugal-summer-activities-for-older-kids.html
Here’s another idea that I just did with my 15 yo son. I asked him to make me a list of things he’d really like to do this summer and he had to include some free/almost free things. I’ll be using the more costly items as rewards for helping finish projects around the house that we need to get done. Then I know we’ll be doing something HE would like to do!
I would love this too!
We love making a picnic, some homemade popcorn in our whirley pop(paid $2 at a yardsale) and heading to a concert or movie in the park.
This will be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to getting some great ideas. Too often we resort to Netflix for Family Fun Night. We could use some fresh ideas. I have been thinking this past week how we need to laugh more together as a family.
Can’t wait to share and read!
My daughter just started playing competitive marbles…lucky for us the local park has marbles rings…
I’m looking forward to this! We just recently started our first real budget so there’s like no money for fun right now! I’m sure my boys will thank you too! 🙂
Thanks for all you do, Crystal!
Wow! best get my thinking cap on! I think the kids are going to love this series.
Oh how wonderful! I’m looking forward to this!