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SUMMER THEME
Visit our Beach Theme, Rainy Theme for more Summer Fun!

CRAFTS:

Coloring
It is quite possible that there is not a child on this planet that does not enjoy coloring with crayons and markers. Pick up coloring books at the dollar store and keep them up high for special "boredom days".

Hairy Harry
What you need: styrofoam cup or paper cup (recycle) :) scissors construction paper markers glue buttons (or cut them out of paper for young children) potting soil rye grass seed
Steps: 1. Have the children cut eyes, ears, mouths, nose, etc...out of construction paper and glue in place on their cup. Let them also use markers to color on the cup. Let them use buttons to embellish or anything else you may have lying around.
2. Have the children fill their cups about 2/3 full of potting soil. Then plant the rye grass seeds in the soil. Place the cups in a sunny place and water regularly.
3. Hairy Harry will begin to grow "hair" in about seven days.

Make a flower power T-shirt 
It's a great way to get additional mileage out of a t-shirt with a spot or stain. Simply paint flowers over the stained area using fabric paints. Suddenly, this castaway t-shirt will become a "brand new" favorite.

Paper Plate Suns 
Cut 1- by 2-inch rectangles out of yellow crepe paper or tissue paper. Let the children paint paper plates yellow. While the paint is still wet, have them press the paper rectangles all over the centers of their plate as well as around the edges to create sun rays. If the paint dries to quickly, allow them to glue the rectangles. Hang from the ceiling.

Paper Bag Puppets
Nothing could be easier than taking a brown paper lunch sack and drawing on a face. Voila, instant puppet. You can add some color and creativity by bringing out the glue, scissors, yarn, glitter, markers and buttons. Use buttons for eyes, yarn for hair and markers to decorate the face.

Paper Loop Caterpillar
You will need colored construction paper, paper hole punch, glue, and scissors. Cut 1-inch-wide strips of colored construction paper. Cut and glue the strips into various sized loops. Glue together small paper loops. Attach paper-punch dots to decorate. Add eyes, mouth and antennae.

Sun Catchers
Paper plates, colored tissue paper, glue, sissors, yarn, hole puncher Fold paper plate in half, then cut designs, like half a heart, or a triangle, so when plate opens it makes a full heart or diamond shape in the center of the plate. fold plate again and cut more shapes, then glue tissue paper to back of shapes in many colors. Punch holes along the outside of the paper plate and lace yarn through holes, leave extra to hand in your windows, when the sun shines through it makes the colors come alive.

Sunglasses
Cut sunglasses shape out of cardboard. Glue on colored saran wrap to make lenses.

Sticky Pictures
Take about 2 feet of contact paper and attach it to the wall at all four corners, with the sticky side out. Peel off the back so that the face is sticky. Supply your child with various items to stick on the contact paper, such as scraps of paper or cloth, ribbon, feathers, foam shapes, cotton balls, tissue paper, etc. The result is a beautiful, creative, fun picture. --Joann K.

Watermelon Art 
Materials: Green and red construction paper Watermelon seeds What to Do: Give each child a circle cut out of green construction paper and a slightly smaller circle cut out of red construction paper. Have the children glue their red circles on top of their green ones. Then let them glue watermelon seeds all over their red circles.

GAMES & ACTIVITIES:

Camp in the House 
One of our tents can be set up without the stakes so we have camp outs in the living room and make smores in the microwave. You can always drape a blanket over a table. Make a tower from paper cups as tall as you can. Then remove the bottom piece and watch it tumble. 

Hide It 
Hide an object in an obvious place. For example, place your portable telephone on top of the television. The first person to find the telephone gets to pick the next object and hide it. The only rule is that the object cannot actually be "hidden", it must be in a visible place and not hidden from view.

Have an indoor "snowball" fight. 
Divide; give each one a stack of newspapers yell go and they have to wad up the sheets of newspaper into "snowballs" and throw them. Great fun! Last part is seeing who can gather the most balls into a trash bag! 

Hot Potato
Or Hot Beanie Baby, or whatever you have to toss around. Beanies actually work really well if you aren't a serious collector and worry about their condition. If you have some of the knockoffs, they work just fine too. Have everyone sit in a circle and toss the beanie from one person to another, never knowing where it's going to end up. It's a lot of fun for all the kids and keeps them occupied for absolutely no money.

Indoor Sandbox 
Fill a large plastic bin with different shaped dry pastas dry beans rice whatever you can buy least expensively. Give them cups and "sand" toys and you have a winter alternative to the sandbox. (Spread a sheet under the bin they will get it everywhere then you can just gather up the sheet and dump it back in the bin.) 

Indoor "snowball" fight. 
Divide; give each one a stack of newspapers yell go and they have to wad up the sheets of newspaper into "snowballs" and throw them. Great fun! Last part is seeing who can gather the most balls into a trash bag! 

I Spy 
To play this game simply choose an object within eyeshot and state the letter that it begins with. For example, if your object is a candle you say "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'C' " Each family member takes turns guessing what object you spied. Whoever guesses the object gets to go next.

Mirror Writing 
Show your kids how to write “backwards” messages by printing letters and words backwards so that the messages can be read when they’re held up to a mirror. Hint: Older kids will find the activity more challenging if they try using handwriting rather than printing.

Mystery Bag
Place an object inside of a black plastic garbage bag. First allow the children to feel the object from outside of the bag. If they are unable to guess what's inside, allow them to reach into the bag and feel the object. If they still don't know the answer, provide fun clues. For example, if the object is a framed photo of Mom, give hints such as "who puts bandages on your scraped knees?" or "Daddy thinks she's picture perfect."

Obstacle Course Indoors
Set up an obstacle course in the living room or the basement using chairs with pillows over them (kids crawled under) different things to make circles they could step in with different feet a jump rope and a mini-trampoline. 

Puzzles
What a great way for the family to spend some relaxing time together. Puzzles come in all shapes and sizes, different age ranges and difficulty levels.

Play ‘How many things can you remember to do?’ 
Give them a list of activities and make the list longer each time. For example hop to the door knock on it 2 times crawl under the dining room table and do the crab walk back to me. If they successfully complete this then I name 5 things the next time. 

Red Rover, Red Rover, Let Mom Come Over!
Here are some family-oriented games to keep a parent active!

Shoe Scramble 
Everyone chucks their shoes in a pile. When the whistle blows, you have to scramble to find your own shoes and get them on your feet. Note: To level the playing field a little, everyone over the age of five has to wear a blindfold!

Water Bag Seats
Get a hose and fill up lawn bags with water. Use twisty-ties or knot to seal. They make COOL beanbag chairs on hot summer days. They roll downhill well and are the ultimate water balloon! --Bob B.

SONGS:

You are MY Sunshine
You are my sunshine. 
Bright, yellow sunshine. 
You bring me sunlight All through the days 
You help the seasons go 
You make the plants grow. 
Please be my sunshine always.

STORIES:

Have any good stories? Let us know!
 

FOOD SUGGESTIONS:

Berry Tasting
Set out blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries (Compare size, shape, texture, taste, color) 

Fishing
You take Pepperidge farms goldfish crackers,peanut butter and pretzel sticks. put peanut butter on pretzel an try to catch a cracker fishy.

"Ice-Cream" Cones
Ingredients:  1 small package of instant pudding (any flavour), 1 1/2 cups milk, 1 cup whipped topping, ice cream cone What to Do:  Pour the milk into a bowl and add pudding mix.  Beat with an egg beater or an electric mixer at low speed.  Gently stir in the whipped topping.  Put the pudding mixture in the refrigerator for at least fifteen minutes before serving.  To serve, scoop the mixture into ice cream cones and top with candy sprinkles.  (Makes 4 to 6 treats)

Lemonade
Make lemonade to drink outside in the shade. (Taste with and without sugar) Set up a lemonade stand (work on math skills as you measure ingrediants, make change) Melon-tasting offer cantalop, honeydew, watermelon (Compare size, shape, color, odor, taste) 

Make Ice cream 
Make popsicles using juice in dixie cups and inserting a craft stick. These work best if made a day ahead so they can freeze hard.

Ocean
Take the blue jello and put gummy sharks and fishies in it and top with cool whip. 
 

TIPS/NOTES:

Basic Facts about the sun. 
• The sun is a star. It is our daytime star.
• The sun is very big. You can demonstrate this by drawing a circle with a 15 ft diameter and place a golf ball in the center of it.
• The sun is far away. It would take 17 years to fly to the sun in a jet plane.

The sun is very bright
(Warn the children to never look directly at the sun.) Safely observe the activity of the sun with a pinhole camera. Cut a 2 inch square from the end of a large box and tape a sheet of aluminum foil over the opening. Make a small pinhole in the center of the foil. Tape an index card inside the box on the side opposite the foil. Take the box outdoors and place it over your head so that you are looking at the index card and the pinhole is facing the sun. DO NOT look at the pinhole. Observe the image of the sun on the index card.

The sun is hot
Demonstrate how the sun heats up the land and water by placing a cup of soil and a cup of water in the sun and a cup of soil and a cup of water in the shade. After a few hours feel the water and soil. (You could talk about sunburn at this point and how important it is to wear suncreen or sunblock.

The sun is the center of our solar system
The Earth and other planets orbit around the sun. We can not feel the Earth moving in its orbit because it moves so slowly. It takes a whole year to go around the sun. Simulate the Earth's orbit around the sun, using children as models.

The sun is always shining
We maynot be able to see it, but it is always shining. Demonstrate the principle of night and day with a globe and light bulb. Place a small piece of tape on the globe where you live. Rotate the globe slowly in front of the light bulb (sun).