75-Kid Activities

In June, after my little brother's wedding, it hit me that it was summer and I knew we had to make the most of it. I sat down with my kids and we made a LOOOONG list of 75 things to do before the summer was up. (granted, some of these are still INDOOR activities).

And THANK HEAVEN'S for Pinterest, so that my searching for activities was made easy! (I took most the pictures, tho a few I googled because I just forgot to take any while we were playing. But we are OFFICIALLY DONE with our LIST! And I wanted to share some easy fun ideas!

Our favorite activities we did multiple times.

(I made the pics mini, because there's SEVENTY FIVE of them, but if you click on them, it will show up full size!)

1: Glow sticks in the bathtub. (I had to cover the window with a blanket).

2: Writing your ABC's with licorice strings. (A fav)3: Photo shoot. Any mom can have a photo shoot with their children.4: Cloud watching. I had to make two. And it teaches your kids the correct name of the cloud.5: Fossil Digger. They have dino bones at the Dollar Tree. Burry them, and get your paint brushes ready to dust away dirt.6: Sponge Finger painting. Cut and soak up ANY sponge. I used makeup sponges I already had.7: Mini rainbow volcanoes.8: Make a book + illustrations. I folded it and got it ready. They started writing/drawing.

9:Balloon tennis. We got free paint stick stirrers at Walmart and used our 'personality balloons' found below.

10: Ding Dong Ditch w/a gift. Anyone neighbor you choose.
11: Teach diversity with eggs. We're all the same on the inside remember?
12: Teach about the moon phases with Oreos. Then get you each a mug-a-milk ;)
13: Hand shadows and other objects. This also helps my kids be less scared of the shadows in their room at night.14: Plastic sheet cover your homework sheets=dry erase. I use to scan them and print for my children, (which I don't think was stealing since I bought the book and let my children keep practicing the same page. It was for personal use only, I didn't sell them or give to other children. Just to clear things up for those concerned in the comments below.
But I've found that making it dry erase is a better way to practicing the same page over and save paper and ink!
15: Puppet show. I want to make this doorway puppet theater so bad. Hopefully soon. We just tipped out kitchen table over and used brown paper bag puppets :)16: Shave with daddy. With popsicle sticks of course. (my kids used my pink leg shaving cream:)

17: Play angry birds on the nook. (This was a mandatory pick, obviously by my kids)18: Pick any animal day. Pick ANY animal and teach them everything you can find about it. We've done Cheetah and ostrich. 19: Play hotel. You can play ANY 'pretend' game, but my kids love to put mints or chocolates on their pillows with flowers, and vacuum the room. (I'm soaking up every moment while they're young enough to think that cleaning is fun).
20: (wow this picture is small). Make Japanese chain cut outs. The kids will be amazed that they're all connected. (I tried to make the people holding hands, and FAILED. The hearts were easier).21: Create a silly holiday. I got this particular idea from my S.I.L. We made August 20th our annual donut day.
22: Floating raisins. We've all done this, but I have to be honest the kids weren't THAT into it.
23: Blow up a balloon with vinegar and B.S. YES, the kids LOVED this one.
24: Grab your nets and go Creature Catching! We caught a frog, a praying mantis and a dragon fly all in one day.
25: Helping cook. Doing grown up things is funner than kid things right? Of course be cautious in age and working around hot stoves and knives.
26: Make pony bead necklaces! My son loved this just as much as my daughter. (or pasta necklaces, tho ours always break.) And twice we've made fruit loop necklaces to bring and eat during church.27: Water paints are cheap and fun (for adults too).28: Lava floor. Dont touch the floor to survive.
29: Harry marker mirror faces.30: Melted crayon hot rocks. My sister showed me this technique.
31: Teach and learn smallest to biggest. Have them organize objects like toys, blocks and talk about sizes. Most kids dont even learn this before school.32: Go camping :)33: Messless Makeup. I took empty makeup containers and pored in fingernail polish. My daughter still thinks it's real, and I dont have to clean up any messes.34: Balloon Characters. Draw a face and then name them. (WARNING: your kids will be crushed if these ones pop, tears MAY BE SHED).35: INDOOR Picnic. Make sure to use a NON favorite blanket ;)36: Play School. Learn while playing? okay.37: Make a band. My kids LOVE to make noise. Not recommended while husband is sleeping from working a night shift ;)38: Write and make letters to family members. use LOTS of stickers.39: Teach you kids about the world.40: Teach your kids about outer space.

41: Exercise. I pretend to be their instructor, or I just put in a workout dvd. It's like playing follow the leader but while building muscles.

42: Make an obstacle coarse with crape paper streamers. I used our hallway. They crawl and step over all of it while trying not to touch the streamers.43: Act out a story. You dont need great costumes for this. Our bedtime stories come to life with T-shirts and sweaters. (wolf and lil Red below).

44: Make Dino fossils out of play dough and toy dinosaurs. Imprint and then let it dry.

45: Go to a fish hatchery and feed the fish bread :)46: Fly a kite. We did this a 100 times this summer. We went through quite a few plastic kites. Next year I'll be making fabric kites (with the left over kite sticks from the broken ones).
47: Make a Japanese Hanging Fish :) A big catch.48: Have a Tea Party. Mini foods and mini cups are a hit with BOYS AND GIRLS.49: Play dress up. See what your kids come up with. WINK~

50: Go geocaching. My kids love 'treasure hunting' and BEG to do this EVERY single day. One of our favorite family activities.
51: Blow Wish Flowers. (AKA: dead dandelions). Or go Dandelion picking with baskets.52: Make popsicle stick puzzles. Storing a puzzle in a rubber band is brilliant enough I think. (using a photo is fun too)53: Make GIANT bubbles. Poke a hole in the bottom of a paper cup, or cut off the bottom of a water bottle. Dip. Blow. 54: Go swimming. My kids both did GREAT this year. We over came some MAJOR water fears.55: Color-Trace Leaves. If you haven't done this before...get to work.

56: Hand Print Art. Elephants, flowers, lions, reindeer, turkeys etc... it's endless.

57: Ice cube paint. Freeze water and food color in ice trays. Freeze with a toothpick or popsicle stick. Go outside if it's warm and enjoy some cold painting.
58: Play Mail Man. (with the mail you wrote and decorated earlier)

59: Go on a hike. Or run on a hike...

60: Make homemade lava lamps. Thanks to my friend Jess who taught me.61: Mini Marshmallow construction. Give them toothpicks and you've got a good hour of down time.62: Make mini bun pizzas. This way your kids can decorate their own.63: Paint and Roll Marbles. (Or in our case, hungry hippo balls)64: Make cookies. Let them do everything but work with the oven. Make matching aprons if your ambitious! (I got the kids aprons at the dollar store;)65: Potato stamps. (A fav)
66: Make a pinecone bird feeder. You'll enjoy the fruits of your labor all summer while bird watching.
67: Make and Play Play Dough.

68: Go through a car wash. (And if your in our family, tell scary stories:) This is a new major high-tech car wash in our area...
69: Have a water sprayer fight! recommended outdoors;) (also good to fill up with 1/4 vinegar and give your kids toothbrushes to clean the base boards...Yes I'm aware of child labor laws, but for now...it's a game to them)70: Scavenger Hunt. (A fav)71: A picnic. A regular one. Nothing's better than a spot of shaded grass on a hot day.
72: Build a fort! I wanted to post this one for inspiration because my blanket forts weren't picture worthy. My kids LOVE watching movies in a fort tho.
73: Write and send snail mail to loved ones. (That blue flying eagle is considered snail speed now thanks to the internet).74: Tear drop volcanoes. Put baking soda on a tray. Fill paper cups with vinegar and food color. Use a dropper to create fizzy foam!75: (no pic) Go Dollar Store shopping. Give them each 5 bucks and they're in heaven.




Some of these I found on Pinterest, and a couple didn't have a link. Let me know if it belongs to you!