It's Hot, Hot, Hot

Well, I guess summer is here!  It is so hot here in Florida that you practically melt when you go outside.  So, what are some ways to keep cool with your kids?
1) Go to the movie theater.  I usually freeze there, so it feels great in the hot weather!
2) Go ice skating!  Ice skating is an awesome summer time activity- your nose may even run!

Not me!

3) Check out synchronized swimming.  I have been doing synchronized swimming with my daughter this summer.  She is way better than me because when I get my arms going good, my legs stop, and when I get my legs kicking good I forget to move my arms.  I am not a multi-tasker in the water apparently!

Really not me!

4)  Hook up a sprinkler to your hose and run through it.  Or scoot or bike through it.

 5)  Spend the day in the library.  It is nice and air conditioned there!  I usually grab the latest issues of the gossip magazines and sit in the comfy chairs in the children's room while my daughter plays on the computers there.
6) Hit the beach- build sandcastles and find shells.  We usually go in the evening when the sun is not so bright.
7)  Make homemade snowcones or popsicles.
8)  Visit a spring.  There are many beautiful springs and they are so refreshing to swim in when it is cold.  Springs have this great smell and your hair is SO soft after you swim in one!
9)  Go tubing!  Take a fun group of people with you and don't forget to take an extra tube for your cooler full of snacks and drinks!  It also pays to arrange for a ride at the end of the tube run to take you back to your car.

 10)  Visit a museum.  Take a sketch pad and colored pencils for your child to draw the art that they liked the best.  

What do you do to stay cool on the hottest summer days?

Fairy Fun

My daughter has been making fairy gardens for about a year now ever since we saw the Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue movie.  We got to see a sneak preview of it at Disney's Hollywood Studios, got our picture taken with the fairies and got a goodie bag with a little fairy house that you could put together.  

 From then on she has been making and re-making her fairy garden!  Here is a picture of how it looks now:

She made it in a planter that I wasn't using.  Making fairy gardens are a great way to entertain your kid for a few hours!  
If you would like to see some other really cool fairy gardens click here!

http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2011/07/fairy-garden-competion-2011.html

 

Finding Fun

About a week ago my daughter got her first library card and we have been spending a lot of time at the library.  
Believe it or not, she has been checking out and watching nearly every Bill Nye the Science Guy video that the library owns!  This is funny to me because I am a science teacher and have almost every Bill Nye ever recorded- but they are locked up in my classroom at school for the summer!  

Love his theme song! Anyway, I am not very much in the mood for teaching kids over the summer- even my own kid, but I thought that I would jump on this opportunity to do some science activities with her.  
I found some black-line masters of snakes and butterflies online and told her that we were going to play a little hide and seek game.  

 I told her to observe the backyard and decide where the best place would be to put her butterflies and snakes out in plain sight.  I told her to color the animals so they are camouflaged to their surroundings, and that I would pretend to be a bird and try to find her animals to eat them.  She did an awesome job!  

So, while she was at camp today, I hid the animals in the kitchen.

Do you think she will find them???

Ha, Ha, I have tricked my kid!!!

I have tricked my daughter into not being bored this summer!!!  
Wanna know how?  
Each day this week, I have laid some sort of activity out on my kitchen counter!  I pulled a few stools up to the counter so she can sit around and explore whatever is there while I am cooking, and I can join in when I have a minute.   In all of the cleaning of her room, I have unearthed all kinds of cool toys and craft things! 
I started out a few days ago with a 100 piece puzzle.  I dumped it out and started assembling some of the edges (just can't help myself!) and as soon as she walked into the room, she plopped down at the counter and finished it! (Time to find a puzzle with more pieces!)
Yesterday, I put out a giant poster to color and her new organized art caddy inspired from HERE!  

Tonight I put out some seashells and a low temp hot glue gun and we glued ourselves silly!

Tomorrow, I plan to put out a container of legos, and the next day a barbie clothing designer kit.

I think this is a great way to keep your kids from boredom over the summer!  
The key is to put out things that you wouldn't mind playing along with them for a few minutes, and put it out in a central location which will catch their interest!  
Let me know if you try out my boredom busting idea!
As a side note, I actually do this in my classroom too.  I have a table where I will put out a puzzle, challenge or activity and just let the kids hang out there to explore when their work is complete.

More Summer FUN

We have been out of school for about 3 weeks now, and my little one is starting to get a little bored.  We had created a list of things we wanted to do over the summer, and last night was the perfect night so cross something off our list- a movie!


I took my daughter to see Monte Carlo yesterday, the new movie starring Selena Gomez.  I will admit that my hopes were not too high for it, but I was pleasantly surprised- I thought it was great!  My 8 year old is very interested in open mouth kissing when she sees it in a movie or on tv (don't ask!)- and in this movie there was not any- even though it was a romantic comedy, alleluia!

Our movie theater is at a mall, so after the movie we walked around.  First we hit Bath and Body Works and sprayed ourselves with lotion and perfume.  They did not have any good deals, so we moved on.  Then we found that they had just opened a new Sephora store. (Cue Alleluia chorus!)   We tried on nail polish, eye shadow, lip gloss and tinted moisturizer, YES please!  We asked one of the girls who worked there to put glitter on my daughter's eyes just like hers.  I also got perfume and cologne samples for my prize bin at school (can't believe I am already thinking about that!)  

Sephora lip gloss

Glittery eyes, just like the girl who works there!

So, on a boring summer evening, check out a movie and make-up session at the mall!