Life is in the Details

Summer Fun 2011 List

The kids have asked me to do Summer Bingo again and, to be honest, it was a bit more work for ME than I wanted. The kids were only doing things to mark it off and get a bingo instead of doing the things that I want us to do every day (or every week). So I plan on creating a little summertime family rhythm by having us do certain things each day like swim team practice (in the mornings), reading time, and "brain work" (to borrow the term from my friend Tiffany - Hi Tiff!) like logic puzzles, math/analogies/handwriting practice (depending on the child), etc. Then it'll up to us to decide what we want to do with the rest of the day. This is where the list comes in so that I remember all the things that we'd like to do. Is it only me that goes totally blank when trying to think of something fun to do when asked? That's why I LOVE LISTS! 

The kids have given me some of their ideas but they still have more to give me. I plan to go through last year's Summer Bingo list of activities and some of them here. This list is flexible and will evolve as more ideas roll in and others get crossed off (as some already have). I won't have to make bingo cards each week or think of prize ideas and we can simply go with the flow, yet still have plenty of things to do.

Summer Fun 2011 List

Away From Home

 Port Discovery & Science Museum - Baltimore

Torpedo Factory - Alexandria
Local hikes/nature walks
National Arboretum

Botanic Garden
Ida Lee Garden and picnic
Pick veggies/fruit @ farm
Letterboxing/Geocaching

Museums that are new-to-us (Asian Art, Textile, others)

Smithsonian Museum of National History
Smithsonian Museum of Art (West & East)

National Children's Museum http://ncm.museum

Sprinkler park

Other nearby parks

Bowling

Go the movies

Miniature golf

All of Us

Family game night

Family movie night

Minor league baseball game

See a summer concert

Build a sandcastle

Lasertag

Batting cages

At Home

Daily: Journal/Write Stories, Read, Brainwork

Jump rope

Cloud gazing

Dance to music or make up dance routine

Harvest in our garden/plant more seeds

Bike to our favorite Indian restaurant

Basketball out front

Tennis at the courts nearby

Bike to the lake or on the trail

Play in the sprinklers

Lemonade stand

Build a fort

Make an obstacle course

Swing on the hammock

Blow bubbles

Color scavenger hunt http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/holiday-seasonal-crafts/summer-crafts-backyard-activities/backyard-nature-crafts/world-of-color-892796/

Have a picnic in the sunroom

Play board games

Play card games

Go to library

Do a puzzle together

Learn more Italian (or Spanish)

In the Kitchen

Make: fruit leather, hot buttery pretzels, popsicles, ice cream

Different smoothies and find our favorite

Make frosted cupcakes

Make and deliver baked goods to friends, neighbors, family

Make bread

Plan a get-together with friends

Creativity

Create a movie using Flip and iMovie

Paint/draw/sculpt

Paint rocks

Watercolors outside

Try different journal/book bindings

Make and fly paper airplanes

Science experiments

Sewing

Sew bags with sewing machine

Paper Poppies - http://multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/04/crafting-with-kids-mothers-day-art.html

Sun prints

Write music/songs (with guitar or keyboard)

Tape paintings - http://pinterest.com/pin/37465731/

Paint sticks - http://pinterest.com/pin/33044468/

Sidewalk chalk gallery

Design/paint/color/tie-dye t-shirts

Create collaborate work of art on big canvas (maybe with our handprints - a tree??)

 

Back from our whirlwind trip

 

Where were we here??

The Colosseum of course!

Happy 4th of July!!

I've been absent the last two weeks because we were away strolling the streets of London, Florence, and Rome. I can hardly believe it myself. Pinch me, pinch me! We were able to tag along with Mike on some of his business trips and had a chance for a European family adventure (and managed to make it out of there without any of the kids needing any stitches - barely! My foot has really progress too - look Mom, no cane!).

We got in last night and this morning it was glorious to awaken in my own bed. When I first opened my eyes with the room still dark I barely knew where I was. I was trying to guess what city it was and then my eyes better adjusted and I realized I was HOME. There is nothing better.

I have lots to do: laundry, food shopping, tending to the garden... and going through 1500+ photos (plus getting J ready for sleepaway camp)!

The kids are still loving Summer Bingo! This week's card will be their first US version. I had to quickly make up European ones to coincide with our trip. I'll be posting each of the weeks' cards soon.

I look forward to many lazy days of summer ahead (since there has been nothing lazy about ours so far). Though those days will likely include very long, non-lazy bike rides. I'll have to start slow after two months off but after all the walking I did (especially Florence, which is punishing, even those that have completely healthy feet like everyone else in my family) I am so ready for getting on the bike again. I think I will have no problem clipping in at all.

SUMMER BINGO + free downloads

 

Looking for ideas on how to keep the kids entertained this summer? Look no further... Summer bingo time is here!

Our summer hasn't offically started yet, as Jessica's last day of school is tomorrow, but I realize that many of you have kids that already finished school - but it's not too late. Any time is a good time to start summer bingo! So what is summer bingo? I first read about Summer Bingo last year in this post at Stacy Julian's blog so first I have to give her the credit from the start. She also has a Summer Bingo Q+A here. It's simply brilliant (as is she, which I tell her whenever I get the chance). I am so grateful for her sharing this idea! I'm happy that I made the time during my recovery to take the necessary steps to implement it for my kids this summer. My kids are already excited about it. 

The idea is to take a bunch of activities (both ones that you want your children to participate in and ones that they'll want to do) and create a bingo card using them. Each activity goes in its own square and the kids work on their own card each week and try to cover as many squares as they want. When they complete an activity they get to cover it with a sticker (which will be given out by me). When 5 consecutive squares are covered.... they have a BINGO. For each bingo they will get a ticket from me which they can save up to "spend" on prizes. Sometimes its some quality time with just me or my husband, getting to choose an activity or getting to pick the smoothie flavor of the day, getting a popsicle, extra screen time, a sleepover, more time at the pool, etc.  The prizes are very flexible... whatever things end up being fun or special for them that I discover over the course of the summer will get added in at any time (they love having pizza at the pool and also really want a butterfly habitat so those will be included in my prize list as well). I'm allowing a maximum of 5 bingos possible each week or a special "blackout" prize if they cover all of them. [Free downloads are available at the end of this post.]

When I sat down to generate my list of activities that I will using to create the bingo cards it helped to create my goals for this summer project.

GOALS OF SUMMER BINGO

• Reduce summer boredom
• Work cooperatively with sibling
• Learn how to research things
• Be active, creative, and spend time outdoors
• Be involved with long-term projects
• Cook dinner together at least once a week (me and the kids)
• Experiential learning – field trips of historical places nearby/take advantage of the living museum of a place that we live in
• Have kids involved in more life skills, independently, around the house and as family activities
• Not have a summer brain drain
• Do some really cool stuff and HAVE FUN!!

I eventually came up with categories for the activities when I noticed a pattern emerging with the list that I was creating but this is not necessary - my brain just likes to organize and group things so I go with it!

MY BINGO CATEGORIES

• Exercise/Outdoor - go for bike ride with mom, shoot some hoops at the basketball hoop, swim 6 laps at the pool, run 2 miles, dance to music for 30 minutes, use kids yoga deck for 30 minutes
• Learn/Reading/Math/Writing/Science - research a country/state/province/region and share 5 interesting things about that place, learn 5 state capitals, do a science experiment (I checked out a book from the library and also bought a science kit), read a book illustrated by Melissa Sweet or Laurie Keller (two of our favorite illustrators), memorize a poem and share at dinner
• Art/Creativity - create a scavenger hunt, build a marble run, build a fort and then read your book inside it, decorate the garden for 4th of July, interview a family member living out of the house and then create a scrapbook page about it, create a photography series
• Gratitude/Kindness - share three things you like about each family member, do something nice for a neighbor, collect 5 things that you no longer use and donate it, call a far-away relative to say "I love you" and see how they are, let someone else go first, write a letter or draw a picture and send it to a friend or family member
• Play (the stuff that I think of when I think of summer) - play in the sprinkers, build a wood sculpture, paint en plain air (outside - something my kids love to do), work on a puzzle with your sibling, create an obstacle course, call a friend and plan a get-together
• Life Skills (this is where I get them to do some chores that they are not used to but that they need to get used to) - practice tying shoes (Ryan), do laundry from sort to fold, clean out three garbage cans that need emptying, meditate with mom for 10 minutes (Jessica... this is something new I'm trying with her to hopefully give her brain the quiet that it needs but doesn't get - a challenge with her sensory issues - and also to help her understand her reactions/emotions more), weed in the garden with mom for 20 minutes, water container garden on front porch, pack a picnic lunch for the pool, try a new food (Ryan), cook dinner with mom (Jessi)

There are rules (which came from Stacy as well) and a planned schedule.

BINGO RULES

1. Your journaling and school practice work must be finished before starting Bingo activities. See schedule.
2. You will receive a new bingo card each week (on Sunday). Items in blue must be done each week. Items in green earn an automatic ticket.
3. Mom will give you the stickers so you need to let her know which one you’ve done.
4. Each time you complete 5 in a row, you receive a ticket. Tickets can be redeemed for treats, additional screen time, movie rentals, sleepovers and more (see prize list).
5. The maximum mount of bingos you can get per card each week is 5.
6. HAVE FUN!

SUMMER SCHEDULE 

Each morning after breakfast will start with journaling. Each morning the kids can choose to write about anything they want. If they are having problems thinking of something on their own I have taken a bunch of journaling prompts and cut them into strips and created a journaling jar. They can pick out a prompt from the jar and write from that as the starting point (or write and draw in Ryan's case).

Note: This is tentative as I'm usually more go-with-the-flow but Jessica always craves more structure so I'm trying to give that to her... and help save my sanity in the process.

Jessica

• Monday: Journal & Multiplication
• Tuesday: Journal & Division
• Wednesday: Journal & Money – counting and making change
• Thursday: Journal & Hebrew
• Friday: Journal & Division
• Saturday: Clean room & Logic
• Sunday: Clean art room & bathroom 

Ryan

• Monday: Journal & Tying Shoes
• Tuesday: Journal & Practice writing letters
• Wednesday: Journal & Addition
• Thursday: Journal & Tying Shoes
• Friday: Journal & Telling Time (:00 and :30)
• Saturday: Clean room & Logic/Analogy
• Sunday: Clean art room & bathroom

Here are the downloads I have created for your personal use if you are interested. The rules and bingo cards are based on the ones that Stacy Julian offered in her post mentioned above. The journaling prompts is a subset of prompts that I am using, gathered from some online sites as well as my own questions.

FREE DOWNLOADS

• Download Summer Bingo Rules Sample (this is similar to Stacy Julian's, I have updated it to add my own rules/prizes and offered them here so that you can find what I am using in one place)
  
• Download Summer Bingo Card Sample (same as the note above)
  
• Download Summer Bingo Activities Sample document - use this as a master list of activities that you create your bingo cards from
• Download Daily Writing Prompts Sample - these can also serve as discussion prompts as my friend Alex is doing (great idea for short or long car rides and even dinner discussions)

This was the first year that I chose not to purchase the summer workbooks that the elementary school offers. I've found that it's not challenging enough and ends up being busy work. I respect my kids' time too much for this kind of stuff so I went a different route. I researched different avenues and ended up purchasing a variety of books from Mindware for logic puzzles, analogies, and math work for us to use throughout the summer (and next summer too... I tend to go a little crazy where educational things are concerned!).  They have an awesome selection of brain stuff and games! If you are interested in the specifics of the ones I bought, let me know and I can post about them. Almost all of the Mindware workbooks that I bought had free downloadable sample pages that you can use to see if they'll work for your kids. I love this company!!

You can also download a Summer Adventure Book (from Disney and the movie Up!). It looks fun and I'm going to have this as one of the square activities for my kids close to the beginning of the summer so that they can work on it throughout the weeks ahead.

There's also a Summer Bingo Facebook page which has some GREAT ideas in the discussion area so be sure to check it out!

If you have any questions or ideas to share that relate to this please post in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.

H E R E ' S   T O   A   F U N   S U M M E R !!!