Add these ideas to your family's list of summer activities and you'll always have something fun to do!
Poetry stones
Collect pretty rocks and pebbles from nature walks or strolls along the beach. When you return home, make "poetry stones." Rinse off rocks if needed. Use permanent markers to write single words or alphabet letters on the flat side of each rock. Arrange them in a row to compose a sentence, phrase or word. Store the stones in a decorated box and place on your kitchen table, ready to use whenever you feel inspired.
Nurture creativity
Play a game by looking around your home together with different "glasses." In other words, think about ways you can use an object you see for something other than its intended use. Empty tin cans on the kitchen counter? Turn them up-side down and they could be jungle drums. Plastic drinking cups? Hold them up to your eyes for "alien" goggles. See how many new things you can create with ordinary items.
Get organized
Sort through closets, cupboards and drawers. Donate children's books and magazines you no longer use to a summer-school program, community center or children's hospital.
Beat the heat
Enjoy a morning or afternoon in a cool indoor environment such as a children's museum, your neighborhood library or a skating rink.
Sing-along
On a weekend jaunt in the country, sing together in the car. Make the harmonizing extra fun by making up new lyrics to favorite songs. For example, to the tune of the song "The Wheels on the Bus," you might create "The berries in the field are red and sweet . . . " Other songs that work well are "Oh! Susanna" and "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain."