Ah, summer time. The kids are off school and suddenly your social media feed is full of everyone else’s fancy vacation photos. Alas, no big trips are in the cards for you this year. Are you doomed to a boring summer?
My favorite thing about summer has always been the way that time slows down. I love taking the time to soak it all in! The rest of the year can feel very frantic, and our bodies need time to recharge. This is the season of lounging by the water or curling up with a book on a hot afternoon. Here is my list of suggestions on how to enjoy the type of summer you probably had as a kid.
Where to look for fun first? I would start by trying to find community events you can join. Are there festivals, open houses, or arts events running on the weekends? Fireworks for holidays? Our city screened movies outdoors in the park when the weather was warm enough. Most of these types of events are free, by donation, or have reasonable entry costs. What facilities are around that you can take advantage of? Where I live there are a really impressive number of parks, many with small splash pads included. They are free to visit and run most of the day. We also have parks with tennis courts, basketball courts, baseball diamonds, soccer and football fields. The public pools are a reasonable price if you want to mix things up a bit. Our libraries run free programs for kids and have a lot of interesting things you can borrow like board games or movies. I would definitely suggest you spend as much time in nature as you can. Find a beach, lake or river if there is one nearby. Even if you can’t swim there, there is just something about sitting beside the water that is instantly relaxing. Bring a book, a friend, or your favorite hobby, and just spend the afternoon. What about the local trails? Are there any good walking or biking trails? If you are lucky enough for them to be through the forest, you will even have shade! Don’t forget to include your friends and family! Host a low key bbq, invite people on a picnic, or borrow a projector for a backyard drive in movie. Don’t forget simple playdates for the kids, mixing things up with a new face can make a big difference! What about the kids? Personally I am a big fan of the “just add water” theory of keeping them entertained. A cheap sprinkler, dollar store water guns, sponges as water balloons (if you share my horror if tiny little balloon confetti spread through your lawn). For the littles, a kiddie pool may well be the best $10 you spend this summer. An old bin or bucket with some cups and toys you borrow from the house can be just as much fun. So is water painting. Just take the biggest paintbrush from your art supplies and a jar full of water, then paint giant paintings on the driveway and watch them slowly disappear. There are tons of ideas for games and crafts online. You can search for things based off of your kid’s interests or age. I am a big fan of open ended activities, but that can be really stressful for non artistic kids. There are so many wonderful arts and crafts tutorials online, many of them free on places like YouTube. Collect a box full of clean recyclables, string, tape, and glue and let them create! Use electrical tape to make racetracks on the floor for little cars. Let an older kid take something broken apart. The possibilities are endless. One last, cheap tip for spicing it up is to add fun snacks. The dollar store sells popsicle molds, and the combinations of things that can be frozen in there could be a post to itself. Finger food is always a hit. Serving an easy cheese and crackers lunch becomes a treat when it is arranges prettily on a cutting board. (Now it’s charcuterie!) Let them pop their own popcorn, look up a new cookie recipe, or take the cookie cutters to their sandwiches. Make some potato salad and cute sandwiches and have a picnic. Let them play potions in your tea cupboard and make sun tea. You really don’t have to step as far outside of the box as Pinterest makes you think in order to make things fun. Well, what do you think? Were any of those on your summer bucket list? With any luck I’ll be seeing you across a picnic blanket sometime soon, but until then… Happy Summer! 
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