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I love the Summer Olympics and the Opening ceremonies are always a hoot. I love watching the entertainment and saying “What?” or when they show the celebrities, “I didn’t know he was Canadian!” While I do have to say that I like taping the Opening Ceremonies so I can fast forward through the boring parts, there is a sense of excitement to seeing it live (or at least watching it with everyone else on tape delay in our time zone). So, if you watch the Opening Ceremonies with your kids tomorrow night, here are three ideas to enhance your TV viewing pleasure.
FYI - The Opening Ceremonies are on NBC starting at 7:30 p.m. EST on Friday, July 27th.
Gold Medal Snacks!
Make some fun treats with the kids to munch on while watching the Opening Ceremony or any of the Games in the next few weeks. My kids and I made these Olympic Rings Cookie Treats this week that were so easy and yet so tasty. Grab the recipe, grab the kids and have some fun in the kitchen.
Let Your Own Game Begin!
Another fun way to have fun while watching is to download the Opening Ceremony Bingo Game. Tinyme.com created this super cute free printable game that you can download to play with your kids. Check out all of their FREE Olympic Games printables to really get the kids excited about the Games.
Capture the Memories!
Do you remember watching the Olympics as a kid? Which athlete do you remember most? Mary Lou Retton? Greg Louganis? Carl Lewis? I have fond memories of watching the Olympic Games with my family so I loved when I saw that Mique over at Thirtyhandmadedays.com had created a London Summer Olympics Memory Sheet for her kids to fill out while they experience the Olympic Games.
She also offers a kid-friendly version of an Opening Ceremony Bingo Game.
Start downloading these fun games and activities and let the games begin. If you are really into the Olympic Games, see how easy it is to host your own backyard Olympic Games.
Is your family excited about the upcoming Summer Olympic Games? My kids are thrilled and looking forward to watching their favorite Olympic Sports on TV – basketball, gymnastics, diving, and beach volleyball. My daughter is into horseback riding this year so the equestrian events are sure to be a hit, as well.
So, knowing that we are going to be watching the Olympic Games for a few weeks and then hosting our own backyard Olympic Games, I needed a fun, Olympic-themed treat that I could make with my kids.
Olympic Ring Cookie Treats
We brainstormed some ideas for Olympic treats and my kids unanimously chose dipped and decorated chocolate sandwich cookies to look like the Olympic Rings. Our fun in the kitchen was a classic example in experimenting because our first batch was pathetic. (Tasty, but pathetic.) My idea was to put a stick in the Oreos, dip them in white chocolate, and then display them in a stand as five rings.
Here’s what I learned. The minute you put the stick into the Oreos they crack apart. I even went a bought double stuffed oreos which would be thicker and provide a larger space for the stick. No dice! Then I bought the new WhoNu Double Stuffed Chocolate cookies, which my family likes much better than Oreos anyway, and they worked … if you put the stick in AFTER you dip them. However, if you don’t care about the stick part, you can use any chocolate sandwich cookie at any thickness that you like.
To make these treats you’ll need -
1 box WhoNu, Oreo or other Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
1 pkg. Almond Bark (we tried white chocolate but almond bark worked so much better – it’s whiter and thinner so it didn’t break the cookie while dipping.)
Food coloring - red, green, yellow, black and blue (You could buy frosting tubes in these colors but you really don’t need all that much so there is a lot of sugary waste.)
Melt the almond bark according to instructions. Once melted dip the cookie to cover completely. I just used a fork to pull the cookie out of the almond bark and transfer the cookie to a wax paper covered surface. Once the cookie is dry, cut any spillage off so the cookie looks like a clean circle.
Take the left over almond bark and divide into 5 little bowls. Add the food coloring to make your 5 colors for the rings. I am a terrible icer. Decorating with icing is definitely not something to put on my resume. If you are an expert icer, then drawing the rings will be super easy for you. You can use your icing bags and tips or I just put the icing in a small ziploc bag, cut the end off and used that to pipe my icing and draw a ring.
Optional: I used sticks to make my Olympic Ring Cookies stand-up. To make the stand I used a styrofoam floral block and covered it with aluminum foil. However, you can easily display them on a plate and skip the sticks.
Let dry and enjoy. What do you think? As I said, we messed up on making the icing look perfect but the kids all agreed that they tasted amazing. A perfect treat for my little champions. (They are all gone already and the kids are bummed, so we are off to make more.)
Want to throw your own Summer Olympics Party or just get the kids off the couch and active with your own backyard Olympic Games? Here’s how easy it is. You can also see a ton of great party ideas on my Olympics Inspired Party board on Pinterest. Let the games begin!
School is almost out and it’s time for some fresh air, sunshine, and fun outside with the family. Here’s our recommendation of 10 ideas and products that your kids will love to help them make some summer memories.
1. Ride Bikes.
Whether you have a little girl learning how to ride a bike this summer or a pro who loves to go on family bike rides, this Handlebar Horse Kids Bike Accessory makes riding FUN! Press the horses ears to hear “real” galloping horse sounds. Read our tips on how to plan the perfect Family Bike Ride.
2. Play Catch.
On the beach, in the park or in the backyard, these soft footballs are perfect for getting the kids off the couch and outside having fun. Every time we head to the beach we throw this ball in our beach bag. It’s fun to play catch in the water.
3. Plant a Garden.
Kids love digging in the dirt and gardening is an incredible way to spend time talking with your kids or grand kids. They’ll soak up plenty of Vitamin D and learn patience as they watch their garden projects grow all summer. Grab one of our Kid-Sized Gardening Sets to get them started. Here are 4 Fun Kids Summer Gardening Project Ideas.
4. Walk to the Farmers Market.
I love taking the kids to the local Farmers Market in the summer. We’re together, outside in the sunshine, discovering new foods, promoting local farmers, and exercising by walking the neighborhood. to help your kids learn about the importance of fresh, locally grown food, give them one of our Playful Chef Farmers Market sets. The set includes a bag for them to carry their purchases, a scrubber and cotton towel for cleaning produce, and a booklet with information on which fruits and vegetables are best in each season, where they are grown, and how best to prepare them. Here are some ideas on how to have even more fun with kids at the Farmers Market.
5. Build Sand Castles.
Pack up the beach gear, like this Shark Beach Tote Bag and Sand Toy Set and get ready for some summer fun! Fill your bag with sun block, sunglasses, beach hat, and toys. You’re ready for a day at the beach or the pool!
6. Play Flashlight Tag.
The best part of summer for a kid is staying up late. My kids love to play flashlight tag in the neighborhood and these Rechargeable Farm Animal and Zoo Animal Flashlights are perfect for games in the dark. You can also use them to make Shadow Puppets camping in the backyard.
7. Make Homemade Ice Cream.
Make summer extra special and fun for your kids, by whipping up some homemade ice cream together. We’ve got the perfect Kid-Friendly Ice Cream Maker that let’s you make two flavors at once, so no bickering! Better yet, once your ice cream is ready, here’s how to have an ice cream sundae party.
8. Race Cars on the Driveway.
Boys love race cars. (Actually, a lot of girls like them too.) Hot Wheels. Matchbox Cars. Lightening McQueen. You name it, they love it. So why not build a race track on your driveway for some summer time competition. Before the race begins, have your kids paint and customize their own wooden race car before the big race. Here are some fun race car treats to make for the kids.
9. Have a Royal Neighborhood Parade.
Put on some princess and prince costumes, decorate the bikes or wagons, put a leash on the dog, and have a fun neighborhood parade. For even more fun, let the kids decorate their own tiaras before the parade with our Twinkle Tiara 3-D Sticky Mosiac Kits. Since you decorate the tiaras with stickers, there is no sticky glue or tape or clean up! Boys can make one too or get them a Felt Prince’s Crown for the parade.
10. Build a Fairy House or Troll Cave.
Have fun outside by making Fairy Houses or Troll Houses. It’s a great way to use your imagination and have fun with nature. Legend has it that if you build a fairy house, they will come and bring good luck. (I don’t know what happens if that applies to a troll house, but I’m sure boys will love whatever mayhem ensues.) Here are instructions on how to build a fairy house or get them started with this Schleich Summergreen Fairy House and Unicorn toy.
I’m always looking for an excuse to have a party. Gathering family and friends for some laughter is definitely high on my list of summer fun to-dos. Here are some ideas to throw a family-friendly beach party that kids and adults will love, as idea #17 in our 51 Easy Summer Family Fun Activities series. Even if you dread entertaining, these ideas are simple and easy for you to plan. You’ll definitely want to host this party for your friends, neighbors, or family to enjoy some sun-filled fun. It’s a perfect theme for a summer family reunion, too.
Decorations:
Call a local travel agent and see if they have any old travel posters that you could borrow or have. Place these around the rooms to create a sense of adventure. If you have photos from an old beach vacation tape them up around the party area to show off your travels.
Party stores have tons of beach, luau, and tiki party gear. Flowers, sand, seashells, netting, and colorful beach chairs all create a festive mood.
Hang old bathing suits on the walls or tack them to the backyard fence for some colorful, unique decorations. It’s funny too! You can even have all of the guests bring an old bathing suit to hang or have guests bring the ugliest bathing suit and give a prize to the “ugliest” winner.
Table Decorations:
Sand, plastic beach toys, and starfish or plastic fish out on the table make easy and eye-catching decorations.
Use a kid-sized inflatable floatation ring as the centerpiece with a beach ball in the middle or a pretty floral bouquet.
You can also take a galvanized bucket, fill it with blue tissue paper and place plastic or small wooden boats inside to look like they are floating.
Here’s another idea to inspire some family fun this summer. Get the kids up and moving by hosting an Olympics Game in your backyard. What’s great about this family fun idea is you can spend a lot of time setting up and thinking about the challenges or you can just use what’s in your backyard already. Look through your garage to find some games and “obstacles” that you can use to create challenges for your kids and their friends. Use your creativity and make the games as silly as you want. (I think one of the challenges should be to wash the dog, but the dog gave me the evil eye.)
If you want to make it more educational for the kids, have them each choose a country to compete as and have them draw that country’s flag on a piece of paper that they “parade” around at the beginning of the games. Don’t forget to make these easy yet super tasty Olympic Ring Cookie Treats to celebrate your hard work.
Outdoor Games
Depending on your child’s interest or athletic abilities you can design a variety of challenges around speed, endurance, and special talents. If your child loves gymnastics, make sure you have some balance beam, cartwheel, or tumbling challenges. If your child loves basketball, get some hoops games going. The idea is to provide a variety of games that everyone will enjoy and have a chance at a medal. (more…)
Today’s summer activity for kids, #15 in our 51 Easy Summer Family Fun Activities series, is a simple one – summer is all about catching fireflies. Summertime is special for kids because they get to play outside AFTER dinner. There is still enough light out that they can eke a few more games out of their friends or a few more bike rides around the block before it’s time to go in for the night. Last night, while we were out socializing with the neighborhood we noticed that the fireflies were thick. Everyone’s yard was twinkling like fairy dust. It was magical.
Fireflies represent pure joy. Tiny little sparks of light flying around on warm sunny evening are fun to watch. I don’t know a person out there who doesn’t smile at the memories they have catching fireflies in the summer time. They are slow and easy to catch, don’t look as frightening as many other bugs, and they light up. How could you not love that?
So, share this joy and wonder with your kids by catching fireflies tonight after dinner. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Wait until close to sunset. (Put on bug spray! I don’t know about where you live but the blood sucking mosquitos are thick already.)
2. Watch for the tiny sparks of light. They like to hang out by low hanging trees or wooded areas.
3. When you see a firefly, cup your hand and CAREFULLY put your hand over the top of the firefly as you cup your other hand and bring it up underneath the firefly. Make sure your kids understand that these creatures are fragile and must be handled with care.
4. Now, you can either just watch it crawl over your hand, or put it in a glass jar with holes punched in the lid, or gently help your firefly into a bug catcher. Any way you decide to catch and watch them works. The jar is nice when you get a few fireflies inside and it starts to look like a lantern. Tomorrow my daughter and I are going to make a firefly catcher so we’ll show you how it went.
I also like the kids’ bug catchers because you can put many different kinds of bugs inside and the sides are mesh so you don’t need to worry about making air holes. (My daughter has offered hospitality to many caterpillars and toads in our bug catcher. She puts sticks inside for them to eat. She doesn’t seem to understand why they don’t eat sticks. Have you ever seen a toad eat a stick? I didn’t think so, but she never listens to me.)
5. Remember to release the fireflies before you go to bed, if not sooner. They only live a day or two anyway so why make them spend their short life in a jar where they can’t fly?
P.S. I took photos of my kids catching fireflies last night and of course, they didn’t come out. If you have any good photos of your kids catching fireflies, I’d love to see them and share them on the blog.
Today’s summer activity for kids, #14 in our 51 Easy Summer Family Fun Activities series, is to create a secret hideaway, tree house, or fort with for your kids. Did you have a secret place when you were a kid? I did. I went there when I was sad, if I just wanted to get away from everyone, if I wanted to read comic books in peace, or even have make-believe, secret club meetings. (My stuffed animals were the best club members ever – they agreed with everything I wanted to do!) This can be a hidden place for him or her to read a book, play, and imagine. For me, I remember it was a great place to quiet the mind.
Here’s an excerpt from David Sobel’s book, Children’s Special Places, so you don’t think I’m just making this stuff up.
An examination of the secret world of children that shows how important special places are to a child’s development. From the ages of five to twelve, the middle years of childhood, young people explore their surroundings and find or construct private spaces. In these secret places, children develop and control environments of their own and enjoy freedom from the rules of the adult world.
Working with your kids to discover or create a secret hideaway is perfect low-tech, summer fun because not only do you spend time together creating, your kids will spend HOURS having summer fun in their own private space. You can also turn it into a project that Dad works on with the kids. Not only will they be spending time together outside, Dad can show them the basics of woodworking or gardening.
Here are some ideas for how to help your child find or create a secret hideaway (more…)
Going to do some gardening with the kids or grandkids this summer? Gardening is such a wonderful experience for children. Sadly, our kids and grandkids have fewer chances to interact with the natural world, and the connection to nature is important for their development. Being responsible for tending a garden also boosts their self-esteem and learn to care for other living things. It’s also a great way to just spend time together outdoors creating and connecting with your kids or grandkids.
Here are some tools & resources to help give your kids a love of gardening.
For books on gardening with kids, I reviewed a cute book called The Budding Gardener over at the Parent Tested, Parent Approved blog that offers 50 simple, creative and fun gardening activities to do with kids. What’s nice is that the book includes gardening activities to do both outdoors and indoors. So, you’ll find something to do even if it’s winter, you live in an apartment, or want to amuse a whole classroom.
I also love the book Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars by Sharon Lovejoy for ideas on exploring nature with kids and grandkids.
Gardening Tools for Kids
Here are some great gardening tool kits designed for little hands that we sell at ChocolateCakeClub.com. Get them their own gardening tools so you won’t have to hand over your favorite trowel and spade.
The Ladybug Garden Apron Set is super cute! Your little girl will love digging alongside you in the garden with her out gardening “outfit” and tools. It includes an embroidered ladybug apron, a pair of embroidered garden gloves, and two wooden handled, painted garden tools. See the review of this set on Droolicious!
The Green Toys Kids Gardening Set has everything you need to get started with a gardening project – three yellow pots, a green planter’s tray, an orange shovel, soil pellets, and three packets of organic seeds (Teddy Bear Sunflower, Basil, and Zinnia). The gardening set is made entirely from recycled materials so you’ll feel good about protecting the earth while learning how to plant. You can reuse the pots over and over again. You can also keep your plants inside and continue to garden throughout the winter.
After they’ve created their own flower pot or garden gnome, they can plant a flower or pick out a perfect spot in the garden or the patio for the gnome. I am a firm believer in the fact that every garden needs a gnome. See mine?
All of these gardening and garden-inspired craft kits are great for having fun at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, as well.
Do you garden with your kids or grandkids? What do you work on together?
Today’s summer activity for kids, #13 in our 51 Easy Summer Family Fun Activities series, is to plant a summer garden. Gardening for me is a great way to relax, de-clutter my busy mind, and reconnect with nature. I get a good workout, enjoy plenty of sunshine, create a pretty yard, and grow plenty of basil for my summer bruchetta. It’s a fun and relaxing summer activity and here’s how to get the kids in on the fun.
I love planting a garden as a summer family fun activity because you can work on it together the whole summer. There’s plenty of time to connect, talk and laugh. Last year, I decided to create a designated “Kids Only” garden where they could cultivate their budding green thumbs safely away from my begonias and rose bushes. They get to pick what they want to plant, which makes it exciting for them. (Although when we went to the local nursery to get flowers, my son only seemed to want to buy the container of preying mantises. Hmm!)
Here are some Kids Gardening Project Ideas:
1. Grow something good to eat. SimpleMom.com has some great ideas on her site for 3 gardening projects to do with the kids. I like the Pizza Planter idea.
2. Grow a cat toy. Familyfun.com has some other fun kids gardening projects and my daughter was all excited to plant catnip so she could make our cats some catnip toys.
3. Plant a tea party. Theme gardens are a cute idea like this Tea Party Garden idea where you can plant all kinds of tea plants around an old tea kettle in the garden. Cute!
4. Design and Create a Magical Fairy Garden. We are excited about planting a fairy garden this year. We’ve made plenty of fairy houses but we want to build a fairy garden now to attract the fairies to our yard. According to KidsGardening.com, fairies like plants with tiny leaves and delicate cup-like flowers. They can hide in there. Here are a couple of great links with inspiration on how to create a fairy garden in a container.
Today’s summer activity for kids, #12 in our 51 Easy Summer Family Fun Activities series, will help to avoide the summertime brain drain by playing school. While your school-age children may GROAN about this activity at first, your kids, especially your toddlers and your kids entering kindergarten, will enjoy having some summer fun by pretending to go to school. If your child is really nervous about starting kindergarten then showing him or her what to expect can not only be fun, but help ease their fears. (This is also fun to do when your younger child is devastated that their older brother or sister gets to go to school and they don’t.) A way to get your school-age kids to enjoy this activity is to have them be the teacher for their younger siblings. They’ll love being the know-it-alls!
Here are some ways to pretend school is in session:
Make up a silly name for your school to get everyone in the giggly mood.
Invite other kids in your neighborhood to be students or set up your child’s stuffed animals at little “desks” in the room.
If you have a desk at home, pull it out into the middle of the family room. Set up a white board, chalk board, or tape a large piece of white paper to the wall so you can “teach” in front of them.
Give your child a notebook or some pieces of lined paper to write, draw or pretend math.
Give them some scissors to practice cutting shapes you’ve drawn on a piece of paper.
Set your alarm clock to go off loudly, to announce that school is in session.
Use pretend money to practice counting and recognizing coins and dollars.
Read some fun story books about school.
Go outside and study bugs for science. Have them draw the bugs in their notebook.
You can even pretend to go on a Field Trip – loading the kids in a wagon and taking them to a local library to enjoy new books or visit a train station to talk about transportation. (Pick any nearby destination that your kids would enjoy and look at it from an educational angle.) For older kids, get some stealth learning in by visiting your city’s history, science or art museums. They’ll be having so much fun, they won’t realize they are learning.
Although, this isn’t playing school per se, help the kids to make a lemonade stand or have a neighborhood bake sale to learn how to count money and make change. While baking the baked goods to sell, they’ll need to learn about fractions and reading a recipe.
Have a fire drill. Set your alarm clock to go off again and “evacuate” the building safely.
Here are some fun, school-related activity kits and educational games that will have your kids smiling, while they are learning.
I am a huge fan of camping in the backyard. Why? I hate camping! However, the kids love it, so camping close to home keeps us all happy and has become one of our favorite Summer activities. We set up the tent in the backyard, grill out, roast the marshmallows, read comic books in the tent by flashlight, and play flashlight tag. But we get to use our own bathroom and at 11:30 p.m. I can go inside and sleep in my own bed, while Dad and kids enjoy the sleeping bags. Win-win!
After a few years of camping in the backyard, we’ve gathered some good tips for having the most fun camping in your backyard.
Camping Equipment:
Here’s a list of essential equipment we like to have on hand while camping.
Tent*. Pitch you tent on a dry, flat area. Pitch your tent in the afternoon while there is plenty of light.
Sleeping bags and pillows. If you don’t have sleeping bags, just use blankets. If you don’t like sleeping on the hard ground, throw some air mattresses in the tent.
Table. If you are going to eat outside, a table makes life so much easier.
Insect repellent and citronella candles. No explanation needed.
Flashlights, lanterns, glow sticks. Not only do they help you see, you can have some fun with these as you’ll see later.
Portable fire pit or at least a grill. A campfire is essential to the experience. S’mores and ghost stories are best experienced by campfire light. Let the kids gather sticks and twigs for you to use to start the fire, just like they would camping in a park.
Tarp. Put this down on the ground under the tent for extra dryness.
* Don’t panic if you don’t have a tent. Most of them are on sale this late in the summer or ask family, friends or neighbors if you can borrow one. You can always string rope between two trees, drape a large blanket over the rope and tack the four ends down with weights (bricks) or lawn stakes. Put a tarp or large plastic drop cloth on the ground to keep your sleeping bags from getting damp.
Here are some activities to keep the fun going all night long.
Roast marshmallows and make s’mores. Have the kids rustle up some really long sticks. You’ll need marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars for this wonderful dessert. Here are some variations on the classic S’more recipe.
Ghost Stories. Have Mom and Dad or the older kids tell ghost stories in the tent, if your kids can handle a little scare. American Folklore has some great inspiration!
Hide ‘n Seek. Play hide ‘n seek using flash lights. (This might freak out little ones or your family dog, but it’s a lot of fun.)
Flashlight Reading. Even those kids who say they hate to read seem to love the mystique of reading comic books or favorite bedtime stories by flashlight or candlelight in the tent.
Flashlight Limbo. If you haven’t already, turn off all of the lights. Have one person hold the flashlight straight to make a “beam” across. Each person then has to limbo under the beam of light.
Disco Dance. Turn your flashlights on and off quickly to create a disco dance floor effect in the tent. Use your portable boom box to play some dance music. Crack open some glow sticks and wear glow stick jewelry while you dance.
Flashlight Scavenger Hunt. Make a list of things you can find in the yard or in your neighborhood. Give the list to your kids and send them off with their flashlights to find the items. (To avoid fighting over the objects, you might want to give each kid a different list.)
Shadow Puppets. This is the perfect time to teach the kids how to make shadow puppets on the wall of the tent with your hands and a flashlight. Check out this video tutorial to get you started.
Movies. While this isn’t a traditional camping activity, watching movies from inside the tent will be a thrill for the kids. Open the tent flap, let the kids lie in their sleeping bags, keep the lights off, and dish up some popcorn for the movie viewing.
Here are some movies to watch with a camping or nature theme.
a. Open Season
b. Honey I Shrunk the Kids
c. The Great Outdoors
d. Over the Hedge
e. Meatballs –for older kids
f. Cheaper by the Dozen 2
g. The Parent Trap – (the original version)
h. Pocahontas
i. Brother Bear
j. Homeward Bound
Today’s summer activity for kids, #10 in our 51 Summer Family Fun Activities series, is to get active and go for a family bike ride. Whether you are tackling a new trail or just heading out for ice cream, a family bike ride is the perfect way to get exercise and spend time together. What I love most about a family bike ride is that it doesn’t matter how old your kids are. If they are too young to ride themselves, pull them behind. They’ll enjoy being outside just as much as the rest of the family.
Here are some tips for how to plan the perfect bike ride together.
Safety First
Wear helmets. Wear your helmet every time you ride, and set a good, safe example for your kids. No exceptions, wear your helmet! Make sure the kids’ helmets fit comfortably. Ponytails and hair accessories under a bike helmet can sometimes lead to headaches for kids. Make sure kids’ helmets are secure but not tight and that the straps are comfortable. Here’s a good post and video from ConsumerReports.com on how to choose the right kids bike helmet.
Kick the tires on your bike. Make sure your tires are inflated and your brakes are working well before heading out. We like to ride around the bike once or twice before starting on our long trip just to make sure everyone’s bike is riding well.
With the economy in the dump and gas prices still making us cry, many families are opting to stay close to home this summer. We sure are! However, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some time off and have fun adventures in our own backyard. Check out the article I wrote for Patch.com on How to Plan the Perfect Summer Staycation with tips on how to get in the vacation mindset and 5 simple and inexpensive ideas to make your Summer Staycation one to remember.
Today’s summer activity for kids, #9 in our 51 Summer Family Fun Activities series, is to go on a nature scavenger hunt. Summer is the perfect time to explore your backyard, local forest preserve, botancial garden, or even city wildlife.
Here are some things you might need for your Nature Scavenger Hunt.
For a hike you can just walk and discover what’s around you. For a hunt, you need a list of things to look for. You can make up your own list or download the lists we’ve included as links in this post.
Get a notebook to record your findings. Not only does it keep the kids interested in finding the next things on their list, it also helps them with their writing over the summer. Avoid the brain drain! REI has a cute kids nature journal that you can download for free or make your own.
Bring cameras and let the kids have a photo scavenger hunt.
Definitely bring bug spray and bottles of water.
Gently place the interesting bugs you find in a bug catcher to study them closer. Let them go before you go home.
Bring some paper and crayons to make rubbings of the interesting textures you find on your nature walk.
Keep your treasure hunt notes. That way if you go again in another season or the following year you can compare what you saw.
Here are 5 themes or ideas for your Summer Scavenger Hunts.
1. Go on a Bird Hunt. See how many different kinds of birds you can find on your hunt.
Draw pictures of the birds in your nature notebook. Find tracks on the ground, in the mud, in the sand, in the dirt.
2. Bugs, Bugs, Bugs! Go searching for the weirdest, most unusual bugs you can find on your scavenger hunt. Here’s a scavenger hunt list to download to guide your search.
3. A to Z Nature Hunt. Take a sheet of paper and write each letter of the alphabet down the side of the paper. As you walk on your nature scavenger hunt, write down any items that correspond to that letter. A for Ant, B for bird, C for cardinal, etc.
4. Animal tracks. See if you can find different animal tracks on your hunt and draw the footprints in your notebook. When you get home, look online to see what animals made the prints.
5. Wildflowers. It’s so much fun to find flowers in the wild. The bright colors, the butterflies, and the flowers growing in unexpected places. Here’s a list of flowers you could find on your scavenger hunt – pare it down for your kids based on what grows in your area.
Go outside and have fun exploring! Have you taken the kids on a nature hike or scavenger hunt lately? What did you find?
Boys love race cars. (Actually, a lot of girls like them too.) Hot Wheels. Matchbox Cars. Lightening McQueen. You name it, they love it. My big boy husband still has his original Hot Wheels racetrack from when he was a kid. You know, the orange, plastic, flexible tracks? With Disney’s Cars 2 Movie about to come out, why not create a race course on your driveway for some summer fun? It’s idea #8 in our series – 51 Summer Family Fun Activities.
It’s race day on the driveway!
What you need:
Cars (Any kind will do as long as they roll)
Chalk or Masking tape
Optional Extras:
Plywood
Empty wrapping paper tubes
Stop watch
Racing Flags to start the race
If you want to make it easy, just use tape or use chalk to draw lanes down the driveway. Make them wide because you never know which directions these cars will head. We drew ours a little too narrow and the cars wouldn’t stay in the lanes. Draw a starting line at the top of the driveway and a finish line at the bottom. As long as you have a sloped driveway the cars will pick up speed to race.
If you want to give the cars some acceleration out of the starting line, then you can make a race ramp out of wrapping paper tubes cut in half lengthwise. Marie over at Makeandtakes.com had a great idea for making ramps out of wrapping paper tubes. She shows you how in this post. Prop two or three of these ramps up on an outdoor table to make sure everyone is starting the race at the same height. Wave the flag and release the cars.
You can also use a piece of plywood as the ramp which gives you a much larger surface so more cars can race at the same time. Angle it up from the ground, use tape to mark a starting line, hold the cars in place, and release on “Go!”
If you have remote control cars to race, make the driveway race course more challenging by setting up obstacles. Small road cones, planters, boxes, large toys, etc. Anything will work as an obstacle on your racecourse that the drivers need to avoid or circle around.
Of course, you need to establish some rules for your race before the kids start yelling at each other over who won. These rules are pretty basic, feel free to add your own.
Racing Rules:
1. If the cars crash into each other, both drivers are out.
2. If the car goes off course, the driver is disqualified for that race.
3. You can play best out of 3, so each kid races their same car 3 times to see who wins best 2 out of 3. That way, it takes luck out of the equation so hopefully the fastest car will indeed win.
4. You can also time the races, if you have a timer or stop watch. Have each car race individually, time it, and mark the times on a sheet of paper or on the sidewalk with chalk.
Have your kids try different cars to see which are the fastest. If you don’t have a stop watch to get the exact time, whichever car wins the first race goes on to compete in the next race and so on until you are left with the fastest car in the toy box. My son used to love to keep racing to see which of his cars was truly the fastest.
Wow! If you want to go all out and build a race track out of wood, here are some great instructions from Gwynn Wasson Designs that her husband built for their son’s race car birthday party.
There! I’ve provided you with easy, a little extra effort, and Wow! ideas for your driveway racetrack.
If you want to make the day even more fun, grab these Decorate Your Own Wooden Racecar Kits that we sell at ChocolateCakeClub.com. That way the kids can spend some time customizing their race car before the big race. They are only $5 and include the paint and stickers needed to create a cool car.
For some treats after the big race, read my post tomorrow for some racecar themed snacks.
Looking for any excuse to have a summer party? Idea #7 in our 51 Ideas for Summer Family Fun Activities is to throw your kids a half-year birthday party. A what? Throw them a fun, summer birthday party even if it’s not their birthday.
If your child has a winter birthday but has been really wanting an outdoor, summer theme, why not throw the party now when it is warm out? Or, if your child has always been bummed that their birthday falls too close to Christmas, have their party in the summer this year to spread out the gifts and make sure their special day doesn’t get lost in the Holiday chaos.
You can do some fun and wacky things for a half birthday like serve half a cake, only wrap half of the gift, when you sing “Happy Birthday” just sing every other word. If girls are invited and it’s a spa theme party, paint only half of your nails. Put makeup on half of your face. Once you have determined the them of the party, then be creative to tie in the “half” theme. “Happy … to ….” “Happy … to …” Halfbirthdayparties.com has some fun party ideas like starting the party at half past the hour, cutting all of the party food in half, or singing “Halfty Birthday to you, Halfty Birthday to you.”
You certainly don’t have to make the party centered on the “half” theme. Just throw a regular birthday party with a theme that excites your child most for his or her friends. Then on their real birthday, just have a quiet celebration with family.
Who knows? These half birthday parties may become part of your family’s birthday celebration traditions.
For ideas on some fun kids party themes, read some of my popular kids birthday party posts:
This summer get all silly with it and make breakfast food for dinner. It doesn’t matter how old your kids are, they still love messing with the “norm.” Idea #6 in our 51 Ideas for Summer Family Fun Activities is cooking pancakes for dinner with the kids.
Pancakes. They’re not just for breakfast anymore. It’s a fun way to shake your family’s day but, don’t just make your regular old pancake recipe. Do something fun -shapes, colors, extras. I remember my Dad used to make Mickey Mouse pancakes for my brother and I. We loved it and it was a tradition that is a fond memory still today.
Shapes: For fun shaped pancakes, buy pancake molds at kitchen supply stores or old cookie cutters that can lay flat on a griddle. Fill them with batter and amaze your kids. You can buy a Pancake Pen or use an old, clean condiment squirt bottle to “draw” pancake shapes on the griddle. You don’t need any special tools to make Mickey Mouse or bear shaped pancakes. Just make a larger circle and then two smaller circle pancakes and put them together on the plate to make your faces.
My son loves Star Wars so when we saw the new Star Wars pancake molds at Williams Sonoma, we ran out to get them. We added green food color to some of the batter to make the Yoda pancake shapes. (We liked these molds because they actually laid flat. We have bought molds before that weren’t completely flat and the batter leaks out to the side. Not cool.) How did we do?
Colors: Add food coloring to your pancake batter to make colored pancakes. Use a variety of colors and overlap them on the plate to make a rainbow. iammommy.com has a recipe for some awesome Rainbow Pancakes. Depending on the shapes you are using, choose a matching food color to enhance the design. If you are going to add some whipped cream to your pancakes (this is incredibly delicious with pumpkin pancakes), you can also color the whip cream.
Extras: For the Piece de Resistance, add some fun “extras” to your pancakes like Hershey kisses for eyes, red hots for buttons, cherries, bananas, baked apples, and M&Ms. Go wild. Use a piece of bacon or sausage link for the mouth.
What’s great about cooking pancakes is that it’s a perfect meal for kids to help out. They can put the ingredients in the bowl, stir, and decorate with the special ingredients at the end. To help make your time in the kitchen together even more fun, get your kids their own cooking apron. My son loves to cook and we were frustrated that most of the kid-sized aprons were all girlie, so we went and found some boyish kids aprons that we know you’ll love too.
Today’s summer activity for kids, #5 in our 51 Summer Family Fun Activities series, is to build a “golf course” in your backyard. Obviously you won’t be 18 holes around your yard but you can build a mini golf course for the kids to have fun and to encourage to practice if they are taking golf lessons.
I got the idea from my husband who designed a “9 Hole Golf Course” when he was a kid in their yard in Iowa. Even as adults he and his brothers still go out and play a few rounds whenever we visit Grandma’s house. You start at the garage and shoot towards the well, then the next hole involves hitting the old oak tree, now shoot towards the road and get the ball in the drainage ditch, etc. Last summer when we were visiting Grandma, my husband introduced our kids, the next generation of backyard golfers, to the course and the rules of play. They had a blast! Although, his childhood house is in rural Iowa, you weren’t allowed to shoot off of the property. All holes are in the yard, so there is a lot of chipping and putting and very little long shots.
Now granted, depending on your kids age and how close your neighbor’s house it to your yard, you may want to scale this course down to be a mini golf course. That’s fine. We all need help putting. But, you don’t need a rural environment for your course. Use plastic cups or sand pails for the holes. Or use flower pots and designate each hole with gardening stakes you have in the garage. FamilyLiving.com has some great ideas for creating mini golf holes and even golf clubs for young kids.
You can also have the kids make flags for the holes out of old fabric – T-shirts, rags, etc. – and tape them to some stakes. If you want it to really look nice, cut triangular flags out of felt and staple them to a wooden dowel. Nesquik, the chocolate drink, has templates for mini golf score cards and hole flags that you can download for free.
Hint: garage sales are great places to find cheap, sturdy, weather-resistant obstacles. If you have some old putters, use them. Check your phone book, you can also pick up some used kids clubs at your local used sporting equipment stores.
Now you are ready to design your course. Build on the natural topography of your yard to increase difficulty and keep the game interesting. (It’s OK to have to shoot through the patio furniture, under the deck or chip over the tree stump to make it more fun.) If your kids are older and good at this game, make it hard. Putt uphill. Put the hole behind a tree. Put the hole halfway up the side of the ditch. Try not to put any holes near a neighbor’s window, too close to the street, or in the direct line of fire to Daddy’s car.
Have the kids practice all summer and then host a neighborhood tournament in August. Give prizes out to the closest to the cup, hole in one, ball still on the grass, etc.
Want to make this even easier? Order the Alex Toys Miniature Golf Game from our sister site, ChocolateCakeClub.com. You’ll get two clubs, balls and 6 holes.
Today’s summer activity for kids, #4 in our 51 Summer Family Fun Activities series, is a trip to your local Farmer’s Market. Why? Fresh food, fresh air, and dogs.
I love Farmers Market Season. Browsing the Farmers Market stalls on a lazy Saturday morning is one of my absolute favorite summer traditions. I bring the family, the dog, and my iced coffee and enjoy myself. We’re together, outside in the sunshine, discovering new foods, promoting local farmers, and exercising by walking the neighborhood. (That’s almost an overload of family goodness, but we deal.)
But don’t think of it as a grocery run! At our Farmers Market there’s live music, food samples, dogs, dogs, and more dogs. The kids love the entertainment value. With a little creativity, a trip to the Farmers Market can be an adventure for your kids.
Here’s how to make it more fun:
1. Shop. Give the kids a bag and let them buy their favorite foods. Our Playful Chef Farmers Market Bag is PERFECT for this! The set includes a bag to carry your purchases, a scrubber and cotton towel for cleaning your produce, and a booklet with information on which fruits and vegetables are best in each season, where they are grown and how best to prepare them.
2. Learn. Give your kids a small notebook or “Adventure Guide Book.” Have your kids visit each stall and identify a food they like best. Have them write notes in their book on who they met, which foods they tasted and liked or didn’t like, and where the farm is located.
3. Hunt. Create a scavenger hunt for the kids. Have them find an item for every letter of the alphabet or find as many colors as they can. Find something from another state. Find 5 raw foods and 5 cooked.
4. Count. If your kids are a little older, give them som money to shop on their own. Have them see how much they can buy with their limited budget. It will help teach them to make choices and count out their money.
5. Photo Contest. You can take some great photos at a Farmer’s Market. The colorful flowers, produce and people make for some interesting snapshots. Give the kids a digital camera or small disposable camera and let them have at it. It’s fascinating to see what they found interesting and how they shot the picture. Give a prize at the end of the trip for the funnies, most unique, or most colorful photo. See the photos my daughter took of all of the dogs we met at the Farmers Market.
Now, go home and enjoy the fresh taste of summer!
Do you take your kids to the Farmer’s Market? What do they enjoy the most?
For today’s idea for a kids summer fun activity, we are going old school with the timeless Lemonade Stand. Nothing says summer like cool, refreshing lemonade. Help the kids set up a stand, make a sign and get their first batch of lemonade ready. Other than coming in for more supplies every now and then, I know this keeps my kids completely occupied for hours. They set up their shade umbrellas, get the boom box playing Kids Bop, and they’re happy as can be with some old-fashioned fun. They get so excited when one of the neighbors gives them some quarters.
What you need:
Pitcher
Lemonade mix
Disposable cups
Folding table
Poster board for sign
Markers
Want to make it even easier? Order our Kids Mini Lemonade Stand Kit which includes a paper hat, wooden spoon, lemonade mix, lemonade stand banner, flower cookie cutter, lemon cookie mix, and a price sheet.
Here’s some more inspiration:
If you really want to make this a family project, ThisOldHouse.com has templates and instructions on how to build a lemonade stand.
Want More Summer Fun Ideas? Check out our 51 Ideas for Summer Family Fun Activities. We want to help you make this the most fun summer EVER for your family. Mom, you’ll look like a hero.
Did you have a lemonade stand when you were a kid? Tell us about it.
I’m so psyched! We were mentioned in an MSN Money video segment on Summer Break Savings. The video touts ChocolateCakeMoments.com as a great site for inspiration for summer family fun ideas. Check out the video – they have some great ideas for you on ways to have fun with the kids without breaking the bank. Thanks for mentioning us, MSN Video Team!!!!
Today’s summer activity for kids, as part of our 51 Summer Family Fun Activities series, is to put the kids to “work” painting the house… with water. It’s such an easy activity for Mom but you’ll love it because it will amuse your toddlers for hours. Even big kids have a kick painting with water.
What you need:
a bowl or bucket of water
a fat paint brush
That’s it! Just give your kids the bucket and the paint brush and tell them to have at it. Paint the house, the sidewalk, the trees, the fence. You name it, they can paint to their heart’s content without making a big mess or ruining anything. It makes them feel like they are doing a “grown-up” activity and encourages their imagination.
To build on this activity, when my kids were a little older, around 5 or 6 years old, I gave them a spray bottle with water and they loved going around watering the plants and flowers outside. Sure, they liked spraying each other too but it certainly kept them occupied. You can also accomplish the same thing by giving them a watering can and let them water all of the flowers.
I love an activity that is simple, inexpensive and yet amuses kids for a long time. Have fun painting or spraying. For more fun activities, read Fun Activities for Toddlers for Super Hot Days.
What other kind of fun ideas do you have for amusing kids with water?
My kids are bouncing off the walls. They can’t wait for the last day of school tomorrow. Even though I don’t get the summer off, I do look forward to our annual family tradition of celebrating the end of the school year. Since they are so excited, I figure why not join in on the enthusiasm and make it a family tradition to do something fun as a family to mark the beginning of summer break?
Parents, if you can, take the afternoon off of work or dedicate a day for pure fun. Here are some ideas to inspire your celebration:
1. Hit the pool! Let the splashing begin. Head on over to your local pool and start working on that gorgeous tan while splashing around with the kids.
2. Neighborhood Fire Pit, Anyone? Put a fire pit out on the driveway and invite the neighborhood families over to celebrate together. Share your summer vacation plans, discuss the highlights of the past school year, talk about starting a gourmet club or how mosquitoes are the plague of man’s existence. You know, whatever makes you happy.
3. Run Around. It’s summer, so go outside. Be active and enjoy the outdoors. Go to the local forest preserve and play games, hit your favorite theme park, go for a long bike ride in another part of town, or go horseback riding if it’s available near you.
4. Go see a movie during the day. If your outdoor activities get rained out or you just want to enjoy extreme air conditioning, take advantage of that early bird, weekday discount to see the latest family flick. It will be a rare pleasure for the kids to see a movie during the day, because SCHOOL IS OUT!
5. Cook your kid’s favorite meal. Ask your kids what they want as a celebratory meal and have fun making it together.
Here are some other great ideas from around the Mom blogs for celebrating the last day of school.
Today, I scream, you scream, we all scream for homemade ice cream. Summer and ice cream just go together like salt and pepper, milk and cookies, cheese and crackers. You can survive without one or the other but then life just wouldn’t taste as good. (Can you tell I’m hungry while I’m writing this.)
Today’s activity, as part of our 51 Summer Family Fun Activities, is to make today extra special and fun for your kids, by whipping up some homemade ice cream together. Better yet, once your ice cream is ready, have an ice cream sundae bar.
Homemade Ice Cream
If you have an ice cream maker, you can search online for recipes for every flavor under the sun. At the ChocolateCakeClub.com, we sell a great ice cream maker for kids that is easy and let’s you make two different flavors at once, in case the kids can’t agree.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, don’t despair. There are quite few recipes online for ice cream you can make in a Ziploc bag with kids. Here’s the first one that caught my eye from Kaboose.com. It gives you the recipe and step by step instructions for how to make homemade ice cream in a bag or a can. (The can recipe looks fun.)
Whichever method you choose, it’s bound to be fun and delicious.
Ice Cream Sundae Bar
Ok, you’ve got your ice cream, homemade or one of your favorite store varieties. (I’m a vanilla girl myself much to the dismay of the chocolate ice cream lovers in my house. When it comes to ice cream, for me it’s all Vanilla, all the time. It IS the finest of the flavors.) Now, here are some ideas to get creative with a sundae bar to put all of the ice cream parlors to shame. (Are they even called ice cream parlors anymore?)
Here’s a list of ingredients to include on your ice cream sundae bar to inspire the tasty imaginations of kids and alike:
Caramel or Dulce de Leche
Butterscotch
Pineapple
Strawberries
Bananas
Peaches
Marshmallows or marshmallow topping
Chocolate Fudge/ Chocolate Syrup
Maple syrup
Crumbled milky way bars
Crushed malt balls
Crushed vanilla wafers
Crushed Oreo cookies
Teddy Grahams
Toasted coconut
Cinnamon sugar
Chopped nuts
Dried cherries or Maraschino cherries
Candied dried ginger – (mixed with vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup – editorial note: “Purely awesome!”)
Red hots, sprinkles, or crushed rock candy
Don’t forget the whipped cream!
Crumbled raw cookie dough – We like the tubs of Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip that you can buy at Costco
I’m a firm believer in making it a party, inviting others to share in our family fun. Invite another neighbor family over to participate and ask them to bring their favorite toppings. Heck, invite the whole neighborhood.
Don’t want to get quite this complicated? We sell a fun Ice Cream Sundae Kit that your kids or grandkids will love. It includes 4 cute ice cream bowls and spoons, a scoop, toppings and even an old-fashioned ice cream parlor hat.
For blog readers only, take 20% off of the homemade ice cream maker for kids and ice cream sundae kit. Use coupon code ICBLOG from now until August 15, 2011. Order them both and you’ll save over $10.00!
Leave us a comment with your idea for the perfect ice cream concoction. Who knows, Ben & Jerry’s might be calling you for ideas.
I have challenged myself to be the coolest Mom on the block and have the Most Fun Summer Ever so I have been putting together a list of fun activities that I know my husband and kids will love. It’s been a long Winter and Spring. Family projects, illnesses, cancelled vacations, commitments, responsibilities, etc. have all added up over the past six months and now I want my family to just have some FUN! No one likes to party alone so I want to share all of my ideas with you to inspire you to have fun with your family this summer, too. (Maybe you’ll even invite us over to have fun with you!)
As a family, we are going to try to do all of these ideas so we can share the photos and any advice. I’m hoping we can get to them all but even if we don’t, I’ll be adding tips and advice for each of these ideas throughout June and July so put us on your summer reading list, follow us on Facebook, or sign up for Chocolate Cake Moments email newletter so you don’t miss a thing. However, this list is not exhaustive. PLEASE share your summer family fun plans with us because I would love to keep adding to this list. If you have any photos of your family having summertime fun, I’d love to feature them. Send on over to sue (at) chocolatecakeclub.com.
It was important to me that the ideas be simple, creative & most importantly memorable. I don’t want to have to work too hard to have fun and I’m sure you don’t either. These ideas are designed for families with kids of all ages. So here goes!
Were you frustrated last summer that the time seemed to slip by and you didn’t get to do all of the things you wanted to with the kids? Been disappointed that you didn’t get to the Zoo, or get tickets to a popular kids concert, or get the bikes out enough to justify the space they take up in the garage? Well, last summer our family started a Family Summer Fun Plan and it made planning and scheduling our family fun a whole lot easier. We were tired of “missing” some of the fun things we wanted to do every summer because we didn’t act fast enough, so we decided to take charge and make it a family project. Here’s how you can do it too:
Pick a night and when you sit down for dinner, go around the table and ask everyone in the family what they would like to do for fun that summer. Have someone write down all of the ideas. Then vote on the Top 10 ideas that your family is going to do together. (If this gets too heated or causes hurt feelings amongst younger siblings, put all of the ideas into a hat and pull the first 10. While someone might still be miffed that their idea didn’t make it, at least it’s fair!)
Now, grab the family calendar and plan which days you’ll schedule each activity. If any work needs to be done ahead of time like buying tickets, making reservations, or inviting friends over, assign the responsibilities to family members so everyone is working together to have fun. You’ll get more buy-in from the kids, Mom won’t be the only one planning everything, and you won’t miss any important activities. If your kids are still too young, Mom and Dad will just have to divide and conquer.
Your kids and grandkids grow up so fast. Don’t miss these precious summer days and nights to have fun together. (That was my mushy Moment.) To make it easier, download the Family Fun Calendar above to create your family’s fun plan.
Here’s our family’s Summer Hit List so far, around the Chicagoland area:
Train ride downtown, eat at French Market
Concert at Ravinia, our outdoor concert venue
Long bike ride along Lake Michigan – RJ Grunts for dinner
Cubs Game
Splash time at North Ave. Beach
BBQ party with friends
Hang out with neighbors at local pool
Backyard camp-out
Drive-in tailgate party with friends
Trips to Austin, TX and Iowa to visit the Grandparents and cousins
Here is a cute printable you can download for free to help you create your summer fun plan from SomewhatSimple.com.
Summer is almost here and the heat is coming. It’s time to go play outside but with little ones you’ve got to be careful and beat the heat. So, I’m super excited to introduce a new guest blogger today, FunMama, who will share her great ideas for playing outside with toddlers while keeping your cool.
Hot weather is just around the corner! My kids would live outdoors, if I let them, so I need to get creative to find ways to keep us cool.
Here are my favorite ways to keep toddlers comfortable on the most sweltering of days!
1. Sponge toss. Instead of tossing water balloons, use sponges. They never pop and give splash of water with every throw. The fun last so much longer.
2. Fill a large container up with water and small toys. Freeze it. Remove the huge ice pop and play with it until it melts
3. Make your own ice cream in a bag! Grab the recipe.
4. Put your children in charge of watering your garden. Of course, they will probably end up watering the ground and themselves more than anything!
5. Paint brush + bucket of water + the side of your house = Hours of wet, creative fun
Fun Mama wants to be an adventure-seeking, mess-making, creative parent everyday to her toddling twins. Some days she succeeds. Join her quest and discover crafts, songs, recipes, outings, and more for little ones at www.funmama.org, www.facebook.com/beingthefunmama, and www.twitter.com/beingthefunmama
Thanks FunMama, these ideas make me want to go outside and play. I can’t wait to try the ice cream recipe. Looking for even more inspiration, read about these hot weather family fun ideas.
It’s finally warm enough in the Midwest that the Farmer’s Markets are now open. Yeah! I love Farmers Market Season. Browsing the Farmers Market stalls on a lazy Saturday morning is one of my absolute favorite summer traditions. I bring the family, the dog, and my iced Coffee Toffee and enjoy myself. We’re together, outside in the sunshine, discovering new foods, promoting local farmers, and exercising by walking the neighborhood. (That’s almost an overload of family goodness, but we deal.)
But don’t think of it as a grocery run! At our Farmers Market there’s live music, food samples, dogs, dogs, and more dogs. The kids love the entertainment value. With a little creativity, a trip to the Farmers Market can be an adventure for your kids.
Here’s how to make it more fun:
1. Shop. Give the kids a bag and let them buy their favorite foods. Our Playful Chef Farmers Market Bag is PERFECT for this! The set includes a bag to carry your purchases, a scrubber and cotton towel for cleaning your produce, and a booklet with information on which fruits and vegetables are best in each season, where they are grown and how best to prepare them.
2. Learn. Give your kids a small notebook or “Adventure Guide Book.” Have your kids visit each stall and identify a food they like best. Have them write notes in their book on who they met, which foods they tasted and liked or didn’t like, and where the farm is located.
3. Hunt. Create a scavenger hunt for the kids. Have them find an item for every letter of the alphabet or find as many colors as they can. Find something from another state. Find 5 raw foods and 5 cooked.
Now, go home and enjoy the fresh taste of summer!
Do you take your kids to the Farmer’s Market? What do they enjoy the most?
I did it! I had to finish this 30 Day Summer Family Fun Challenge series and even though it is no longer summer, I finished it. (Although since it was 91 degrees in Chicago today, it still feels like summer.) We were having too much fun this summer that I apologize for falling behind. On with the show …
Here’s my final idea in my challenge to inspire you to have the most fun summer EVER with your family.
Did you hit one of the local Carnivals this summer? If not, put it on your calendar for next summer. I remember as a child my parents would take my brother and I to the carnival every year. The smell of cotton candy, popcorn, candy apples, corn dogs and other healthy foods, brings back memories of fun and excitement. We would ride our bikes (my brother and I in the little kids’ seats in back) and we’d go take in the thrill of the rides. My parents might not have loved the carnivals with the same intensity as us kids, but they did take us every year. So, my husband and I have carried on the tradition and we join all of our neighbors at our local summer carnival. Kids 2 – 10 years old will love going with you and meeting friends at the carnivals. After that, it won’t be cool to hang with the boring parents, so take advantage and create these memories now.
There’s just something about a Merry-Go-Round that makes you smile. To a kid, it seems like you can see the whole world from up on that horse. Even though you are going up and down in a circle at a snail’s pace, you love the feel of the wind in your face. My daughter is a Merry-Go-Round junkie. We can ride it 50 times and not get tired. (I had to take Dramanine this year to ride with her. How sad is that! God, I hate getting old.)
Since these carnivals only come around during the summer, the kids will look forward to this special treat every year. Here are some money saving tips though, so you don’t break the bank. Our local carnivals offer something they call wristband hours. You buy your child a wristband for $15 and they get unlimited rides during the wristband hours. Since the lines for the rides aren’t that long, your kids can enjoy quite a few rides in an hour, so unlimited rides is a deal. Don’t pay as you go! Your kids will be whining for more tickets in 20 minutes.
Also, don’t eat there. You can splurge for a treat like cotton candy but don’t actually plan on eating lunch or dinner at the carnival. It’s just typical fried food which isn’t healthy and it’s expensive. Eat at home before you head out. (Plus, if your son keeps riding the tea cups, he’s going to throw it all up anyway.)
To find a carnival in your area, check with your local township office or check the local parenting sites. Most suburbs have a summer festival of some kind which usually involves a carnival. If you are thinking of venturing out into another town, Kidwinks.com is my choice in the Chicagoland area to find out what is going on for families.
If you don’t like the carnival, look for other summer-only events that your family will look forward to each year. Like a Renaissance Faire or hitting an Amusement Park.
In general, I’m more of a pool person than a beach person when it comes to summer water fun. I just can’t stand sand in my shorts! Itching. Chafing. Yuck! However, over the past few years we have made it a family tradition to celebrate the last weekend before school starts with a trip to the beach.
Now, I know that not everyone lives near the beach. But, you would be amazed how many natural or man-made beach options are available to you and your family. Check your Park District, like Naperville’s Centennial Beach, or even the indoor water parks boast a sandy shore. Chances are if you have a lake in your area, someone will figure out a way to create a beach. If not, hit the public pools.
Heck, we live in Chicago which is pretty far from either coast. However, we’ve got Lake Michigan. In Chicago, our family makes a pilgrimage to North Avenue Beach to wave goodbye to summer. There’s plenty of people watching, fairly decent public restrooms, lots of space to spread out on the sand, and a restaurant for lunch, if you don’t want to bring food yourself. You can even rent bicycles and ride along the lake which is one of my favorite summer things to do in the city. The view is fantastic!
But, back to the beach. The kids love surfing in the waves and building sand castles. (With any crowded public beach, make sure your kids wear shoes when they are walking in the sand, if they aren’t near the water. You never know what’s been dropped and could cut their feet.)
Here’s what you are going to need to bring for a day at the beach:
Backpack or beach bag
Suntan lotion/ chapstick
Hats or sunglasses for the kids
Water bottles
Snacks
Toys to play with in the sand – my daughter brought plastic horses this time and built sand stables, instead of sand castles
Football, frisbee, or paddle ball
Blankets or towels to lie on
Hand sanitizer
A change of clothes for everyone
Camera to capture the Chocolate Cake Moments
You might want to bring a sweater, jacket or long-sleeve shirt for the kids. After the beach, we usually head on over to a local fun restaurant for dinner – RJ Grunts. After sitting in the sun and wind all day, the kids tend to be freezing when we hit the air-conditioned restaurant.
Have a sandy, splashin’ good time!
Looking for a fun, pool or beach-related gift idea? Check out our super-cute, Kids Hooded Towels, which you can personalize with a child’s name.
Hot summer nights are perfect for stargazing! My husband and I are fascinated by astronomy so a few years back I bought him a telescope to enhance our view. Well, lo and behold, our kids love it too and it’s become a fun family activity. We pull the telescope out on the sidewalk on summer nights and some of the neighbors come on over to view the night sky, too. It turns into a fun, mini-gathering!
If you live in a city or busy suburb, you may have a problem with ground lights obscuring your view of the night time sky. You might want to pick a clear night and head out to a forest preserve or out in the country, where you can see the stars and planets a little better. (Don’t go breaking any after hour rules or traipsing through someone’s field. Trespassing is not a good lesson to teach kids. Really!) However, you can definitely gaze at the moon no matter where you are. Kids love the funny face of the man in the moon. Or is it cheese? I can’t make up my mind on which story I like best.
If you don’t have a telescope, no problem! Grab a pair of binoculars or just lay on a blanket and stare at the sky. Ask your neighbors if they have a telescope they’d be willing to pull out and share. See if there is a Planetarium near you and check out their summer stargazing programs. In Chicago, visit the Adler Planetarium. They have several telescopes mounted on their balcony. The helpful guides will already have the telescope trained to certain stars or the moon, so you don’t have to spend time trying to find the most important objects. Psst! The balcony of the Adler Planetarium not only provides you with access to star gazing but offers one of the best nighttime views of the city of Chicago. Take your camera, tripod, and see if you can capture a nighttime skyline shot. Check their website for times and special events when they offer night time hours or Museum Overnight Programs.
Summer Stargazing Highlights
So what’s up there worth viewing? In the Northern Hemisphere, Mercury is easy to see in early summer. Jupiter, Saturn and Venus are all visible at different times in the evening during late summer and early autumn. We can actually see the rings of Saturn on our telescope on a really clear night. Totally Cool! In late summer or early autumn, if you see a Harvest Moon, run and get the telescope. There is nothing more amazing than a huge red moon sitting off on the horizon. Check one of these ideas to get a better handle on what you can see each night.
Definitely check out your cell phone App Store and download one of the many stargazing apps. It’s amazing how you can point your phone up to the sky and it will identify the stars and planets you are seeing. This makes life so much easier than just guessing. You want to look smart in front of your kids not “Well, it might be a UFO but I think it’s really the Degoba System.”
If your family really gets into astronomy, you can learn more at the following websites that I thought were interesting.
Do you remember your first concert? I remember my first rock ‘n roll concert in high school. I went to see Billy Squier and Ratt. Not a proud moment, but certainly worth a good chuckle. However, other than vaguely remembering that my kindergarten teacher played the ukulele, I don’t remember seeing any concerts as a child. I love music and seeing a performer live is always memorable, so we share that experience with our kids whenever we can.
Little Rockers
Kids these days are so lucky that there is so much wonderful live music available. Taking your kids to see a live concert is a great way to bond as a family. You get to share an “adult” experience that you love with your kids. While I wouldn’t suggest taking a toddler to see Ratt (I am so dating myself here), there are so many wonderful children’s music performers today that parents love too. There are also so many bands and performers that I like as an adult that are now performing kids music. So, it’s fun for all ages. Bare Naked Ladies, They Might be Giants, Perry Ferrell, and Ralph Covert of Bad Examples have all jumped on the lucrative and fun kids music scene. So, take your kids to a live music concert this summer. It is a great experience, instills a love of music and the arts, and a lot of times it’s free!
A few weekends ago, our town hosted their Street Fest celebration. One of the performers was Ralph’s World so we went to see him and the band play for the oh, 8th time. (I’ve seen Ralph’s World more times than I have seen Lyle Lovett and the BoDeans now. I’m sorry Lyle, but you’re just going to have to put out a kids album for me to keep up.) It’s funny because my husband and I used to see Ralph as the lead singer of the Bad Examples all the time before we were married. Now, we groove and cheer to “I Have a Teddy Bear.”
If you have never been to a Ralph’s World concert then you are in for a treat. The atmosphere is family friendly, but with all of the dancing, screaming and yelling, you’d think Bon Jovi was playing. The kids are dancing and singing, the parents are singing and yelling, and it is a loud party for all. My favorite song – “M-O-M-M-Y Needs C-O-F-F-E-E”. It’s eerie, like it was written for me.
The Classics
However, loud parties aren’t the only concerts in town. Here in Chicago we have Ravinia, our outdoor music festival. While Ralph’s World and Justin Roberts do play there in the summer, we like to take our kids to the classical music concerts. The music is beautiful and calm, we bring our picnic dinner and the kids think it is so cool to be out late at night listening to music.
Want to turn your kids on to classical music? Try Beethoven’s Wig. His what? Wildly imaginative and fun, Beethoven’s Wig is one of the best introductions to classical music you could give to your children. Richard Perlmutter created this series of music to educate and get kids intestered in classical music. The CDs are set up in an interesting way. In the first half you hear well-known classical music pieces from the likes of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Haydn with very silly lyrics which are appealing to kids and adults. The lyrics teach kids something about the composer or style of music. Then the CD includes all of those songs again, without lyrics, to be heard as the composer intended. To this day, our kids favorite CDs are the Beethoven’s Wig series. We have all 4. It always amuses me when we are in Nordstroms and they call out the names of the classical music. The store piano player is always impressed. (Heck, these CDs have done a better job of educating me on classical music than Classical Music 101 that I took in college.) We have all 4 Beethoven’s Wig CDs in our car and listen to them quite frequently.
We also recommend Lemony Snickett’s The Composer is Dead Book and CD. Very funny! (Especially if your husband reads it to the kids with funny accents.)
Have a blast enjoying live music this summer with your family! Which kids music performers are your favorites?
Summer’s the perfect time to turn your kids on to the joys of a ball game. Whether you are playing, watching or both, it’s fun to get the whole family involved in a ball game. Here are some ideas on how to have a sporting good time this summer.
Attend a sporting event
Summer is the perfect time to take the kids to a ball game. Whether you fork over the money to see a professional team or support some small, local teams, going to see a game is a perfect family fun experience. We live in Chicago so we (really my husband) are Cubs fans. I personally hate baseball – I think watching my cat sneeze is more exciting – but I do LOVE going to the ball park. Especially if you live in a city with a stadium that has so much tradition and personality, pay the money and take the kids at least once. Wrigley Field is a blast! Here’s a tip – if your team is not that good, and you wait until the end of the summer, you may be able to find tickets easier and even cheaper than face value by taking season tickets off of somebody’s hands.
The Boys of Summer
However, don’t feel like you have to support the big city teams. Check out the Minor Leagues Teams. Our kids love to watch the Schaumburg Flyer games. I find that the small, farm league teams are more family-friendly. There’s a lot of entertainment between innings to keep everyone in the family amused, even if you don’t like baseball.
A friend of ours has a wonderful tradition where every summer he, his brother, and his nephew travel to a different major league baseball stadium to see a ball game. It is their goal to see a game in every stadium in the Major League. They fly or drive, share a hotel room, and spend the summer day experiencing a ball game and new stadium experience. How fun!
The Boys of Late Summer
However, baseball isn’t the only game in town. Check out professional soccer or arena football teams. Starting in August, NFL pre-season kicks in. You can get tickets to pre-season games. Or, find out where the team practices during the summer and call to see if you can bring your kids to watch. Sometimes they open up practice to the public on certain days.
Finally, our favorite sporting events are college football games. My son lives to go see the Iowa Hawkeye football games with the family or meeting up with Uncles and cousins to enjoy the game. There are almost always games during Labor Day weekend once school is back in session so take the kids to see you old Alma Mater kick off the season.
Organize a Neighborhood Ball Game
Now that your family has watched their favorite team in action, you’re probably itching to play yourself. Why not organize a neighborhood or family softball, soccer, or football game? If someone has a large backyard or field nearby, choose the location, assign snacks and drinks and get everyone out on the field. (If some family members or neighbors don’t want to play – no problem. They can be cheerleaders, referees, scorekeepers or the all important snack managers.
Friday Night Lights
Does anyone in your neighborhood have lights on their driveway basketball hoop? If so, Night Game! We do and it’s pretty fun to have a Friday Night Neighborhood basketball tournament.
We hope these ideas help you have some more fun with the family this summer or inspire you to start a “sporting event” tradition with the family.
Tell us, which team does your family root for most? Do you have any “sports-oriented” family traditions? We’d love to hear about them.
Summer means blockbuster movies, right? Well, for us, summer also means viewing your favorite movies au natural. What better way to catch the latest flicks than enjoying them outside?
The Drive In.
Remember the drive-in? I vividly remember going to the drive in as a kid. My parents would throw a small mattress in the back of the car so we could lie down to watch the movie and then fall asleep. My brother and I were so psyched we got to wear pajamas in the car! I vaguely remember going to see Bambi at the drive-in. (If you remember going, what did you see?)
Then in high school, drive-ins took on a completely different vibe – teens smoking pot, making out and who knows what else – and most of them closed. (I feel like such an old lady ranting at those young whippersnappers.)
But guess what? In certain areas of the country, the drive-ins are coming back as a family friendly place. Here in the Chicagoland area, the McHenry Drive-In Theater is a fun place to hang with the kids during the summer. First of all, they show one kids movie and then an adult movie afterwards to please all viewers. (Moms and Dads! You might actually get to see a grown up movie without waiting for it to come out on video.) Second, you can bring your own food and drinks which keeps the entertainment budget down nicely. They do have a nice snack bar, if you want. Third, the vibe is that of a block party or a tailgate party, so it’s fun to go with a group. We’ve gone with a few of our neighbors several times. Before the movie starts there is plenty of grass area where kids are throwing footballs, Frisbees, or playing tag. Parents can gab and share food while relaxing on their lawn chairs.
It’s so easy. Parents pull their SUVs into the parking slots with the rear door facing the screen to let the kids watch their movie. When it’s done, turn the car around so Mom and Dad sit in the front of the car to watch their movie, while the kids sleep in the back. Here’s a list of drive in theaters by state.
Movies in the Park
Check your local or nearby major city park district to see if they are showing movies outside during the summer months. Chicago’s Park District offers their Movies in the Park program from June to September. Bring a blanket, chairs, and some food and enjoy the show. Best yet, they are usually FREE!
Backyard Movie Theater
Can’t find a drive-in nearby? Don’t worry, create your own backyard movie theater and host a party. To set up a backyard theater, you’ll need:
1. a video source (usually a DVD player or laptop computer)
2. a video projector
3. a screen ( a sheet against the garage works well)
4. a sound system
If you have a home theater system, you probably have all of these components and can move them outside. If not, use your laptop computer and rent a projector at a local AV store.
Here are a bunch of links on how to plan and set up a Backyard Movie Night event from the simple to the elaborate:
While your school age children may HATE this idea, your toddlers and especially your kids entering kindergarten will enjoy having some summer fun by pretending to go to school. If your child is really nervous about starting kindergarten then showing them what to expect can not only be fun, but help ease their fears. (This is also fun to do when your younger child is devastated that their older brother or sister gets to go to school and they don’t.)
Here are some ways to pretend school is in session:
Make up a silly name for your school to get everyone in the giggly mood.
Invite other kids in your neighborhood to be students or set up your child’s stuffed animals at little “desks” in the room.
If you have a desk at home, pull it out into the middle of the family room. Set up a white board, chalk board, or tape a large piece of white paper to the wall so you can “teach” in front of them.
Give your child a notebook or some pieces of lined paper to write, draw or pretend math.
Give them some scissors to practice cutting shapes you’ve drawn on a piece of paper.
Set your alarm clock to go off loudly, to announce that school is in session.
Use pretend money to practice counting and recognizing coins and dollars.
Read some fun story books about school.
Go outside and study bugs for science. Have them draw the bug in their notebook.
You can even pretend to go on a Field Trip – loading the kids in a wagon and taking them to a local library to enjoy new books or visit a train station to talk about transportation. (Pick any nearby destination that your kids would enjoy and look at it from an educational angle.)
Have a fire drill. Set your alarm clock to go off again and “evacuate” the building safely.
Here are some fun, school-related activity kits and educational games that will have your kids smiling, while they are learning.
Wait! Summer isn’t over yet. We still have 8 more ideas for our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge. We apologize for the intermission in our series (vacations, Back-to-School busy season, life) but we have some good ideas to come and hope we inspire you to schedule some more family activities and laughter.
We all love arts & crafts. But doesn’t art seem more majestic when you create outside in nature? Here are some ideas to nurture your creative spirit while breathing in some summer air.
1. Chalk it up! Our kids love to draw on the driveway with chalk. We write birthday messages on the driveway, Holiday greetings for the neighborhood, and lovely pictures to be admired from space. Some of our favorite chalk drawings are when someone lies down on the driveway and we create a chalk outline of their body. Now color on some crazy clothes and make funny looking driveway people. (My son likes to draw crazy minions that will help him take over the world. To each their own.)
2. Raise the Banner. Another great outdoor art project is to grab some butcher paper or a long roll of art paper and roll it down the sidewalk. Now have your kids or all the kids in the neighborhood start drawing a large scene. The kids can walk around the block holding the banner when they are done, to show off their creativity in an art parade.
3. Paint with Water. Grab some buckets or cans of water. Grab some thick paint brushes and have your kids paint the outdoors. The best part is – it’s mess free. Toddlers love it! They can pretend to paint tree trucks, fences, or cars. They can paint on the driveway or on butcher block paper. Take a photo of their masterpiece before it dries.
Have fun making the outdoors a little more beautiful this summer.
Get the kids up and moving with our next Summer Fun Challenge idea – Host an Olympics Game in your backyard. Look through your garage to find some games and “obstacles” that you can use to create challenges for your kids and their friends.
What’s great about this family fun idea is you can spend a lot of time setting up and thinking about the challenges or you can just use what’s in your backyard already. Use your creativity and make the games as silly as you want. (I think one of the challenges should be to wash the dog but the dog gave me the evil eye.)
If you want to make it more educational for the kids, have them each choose a country too compete as and have them draw that country’s flag on a piece of paper that they “parade” around at the beginning of the games.
Outdoor Games
Depending on your child’s interest or athletic abilities you can design a variety of challenges around speed, endurance, and special talents. If your child loves gymnastics, make sure you have some balance beam, cartwheel, or tumbling challenges. If your child loves basketball, get some hoops games going. The idea is to provide a variety of games that everyone will enjoy and have a chance at a medal.
Race Challenges -
Run to the end of the driveway and back the fastest
Run around the cul de sac
Sack race
Egg and spoon race
Three legged race
Race against the dog – who can run down the block the fastest
Wheelbarrel races
Baton races
Suitcase Relay – You’ll need at least two teams. Each team gets a suitcase with articles of clothing like a hat, scarf, mittens, sweater, robe, wig, pants, boots, etc. Then have the kids get in a line each with a suitcase full of clothes. First child on each team runs with the suitcase to a designated spot. Opens the suitcase and puts on all of the clothes. They run back to the start with the empty suitcase, take the clothes off and hand it to the next team member. Whichever team finishes first, wins.
Triathalon – Bike around the block, run around the block, skate around the block.
Frisbee throwing discus challenge – who can throw the farthest or who can get the frisbee closest to a target
Long jump – grab your tape measure!
Obstacle course – We like to set up obstacles to run around but also have the kids stop every now and then and do something silly. Run to the tree and give me 6 jumping jacks, then climb over the hill and roll down, walk like a duck, jump over every crack in the sidewalk, yodel, and then run through the hula hoops without missing one.
Croquet Slalom Race – instead of going through the hoops, you have to go around them
Paddle Ball Competition – team with the most hits before ball drops wins
Trampoline – how many sit jumps can you do in a minute? Can you do a splits kick? Can you jump and sit, then knees, then twist all in one move? Who can jump the longest without losing balance?
Basketball Hoop – HORSE contest, knock-out, or 3-point shoot-out games
Paper Airplane Throw – make a paper airplane and see who’s flies the farthest
At the end of the day, give out medals to the winners. Make sure everyone wins a medal for something. You can buy inexpensive medals at a craft store or make some with aluminum foil and ribbon. Check out our post on Celebrating the Winter Olympics Games with your kids. There are some good ideas for crafts, food, and party decorations.
Good luck and may the best team win! Send us some photos of your Olympic Games at sue@chocolatecakeclub.com. We’d love to feature them on the blog.
Sure, making dinner some nights can feel like a total chore but cooking with your kids is a tremendous way to spend time together talking in the kitchen. You’ll be teaching them a life skill, and with childhood obesity on the rise, you have a chance to feed your kids a healthy, home-cooked meal where you control the amount of salt, sugar and fat in the meal. For our 21st Family Fun idea for the summer, we recommend Cooking with the Kids focusing on some fun summer foods.
Even if your kids eat healthy foods in general, there is nothing like sharing the joy of fresh, in-season produce. We all know that a homegrown tomato is so much better than the waxy, flavorless version we get most of the year at the grocery store. Show your kids what some of their favorite foods taste like when it is fresh and in season. Pulling the fresh ingredients from your garden to taking a trip to the local Farmers Market makes cooking summer flavors even more special.
Depending on the age of your child, give them a task they can handle, whether it is filling a pot with water, stirring a sauce, or cutting the vegetables.
There are all kinds of kid-friendly recipes online to help inspire you in the kitchen. I’ve included some of my family’s favorites below.
Chicken Shish-Kabobs – kids will have fun “spearing” the meat and vegetables on a stick.
Fresh Fruit Popsicles
1 Cup fresh strawberries
1 Cup fresh blueberries
1 banana
2 Cups 100% white grape juice
Add ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into Popsicle molds and freeze until solid.
Here’s a No Bake Brownie Cupcake recipe from Barbara Beery, perfect for summer since you won’t need the oven, which makes it hot in the kitchen.
Send me a recipe by Friday, July 30th at sue@chocolatecakeclub.com and we’ll enter you to win a Playful Chef Kids Cook Book with fun recipes perfect for kids. Don’t want to wait to win? Order one by Friday and get 20% off.
Cooking together is the perfect way to end a summer day. Have fun enjoying the tastes of summer! What recipe do you like to cook with your kids in the summer?
Slumber parties are a blast but why should just the girls have all the fun? Throw a family slumber party where Mom, Dad, sis, bro, and the various pets in the family get to experience the late night bonding. It’s a great and inexpensive way to have fun on a Friday Night and you can also “test” out recipes, games, and movies for a future slumber party that the kids want to have with their friends. It’s very funny to see Dad and brother playing “girlie” games, too.
Here are some suggested activities for your family Slumber Party:
Attire:
Mix and match pajamas. Everyone should wear pajamas for their slumber party but wouldn’t it be funny if you wore each other’s pajamas? Your kids would find it hilarious to wear Mom and Dad’s large pajama pieces or see Dad trying to wear Jr.’s slippers for the evening.
Games/ Activities:
Conversation Games- Play a conversation game to get things rolling, like our Truth or Dare or Slumber Party Conversation Games. So, Dad, who was the first girl you ever kissed? Hmm? “What do you mean it wasn’t Mom!?!”
Flashlight Board Game – Pick your favorite board game and play by flashlight or candlelight to make it a little more spooky or special.
Spin the Nail Polish Bottle – If the boys in the family are up for it, this makes a hilarious game. Take several colors of nail polish and place the bottles in the center of the group. One person picks a bottle and spins. Whoever it points at has to paint one of their toe nails that color. Keep going until you have a rainbow of colors on your feet.
Pillowfight – You can’t have a slumber party without a pillow fight. Your little kids will love it. Keep the fighting away from the big screen TV or Dad will be mad.
Custom Made Pillowcase – Even if you aren’t a crafty family or have any artists in the house, it’s fun to make a “You Are Loved” pillowcase for another family member. Pick up some pillowcases and some fabric markers at a craft store. Put everyone’s name in a hat and each of you will pick a name. Now use your pillowy canvas to draw or describe why you love that person. (We do something similar as dinner time conversation when we are having bad days to booster everyone’s spirits. I thought it would be fun to take it a step further and remind a family member why you love them. They’ll be smiling every time they sleep with that pillowcase.
Movies:
Sleepiest View in the House – Have everyone lay out their sleeping bags on the floor to watch a movie together. Or, if your family room couch is a pull-out bed, pull the bed out and have everyone pile on to watch together.
What to Watch? – The movie you watch depends on the age of your kids or your family’s interest. If your kids are older, you can watch scary movies. If your kids are younger, Monsters Inc. is a great slumber party movie. For a “Girlie” movie – Princess Diaries 2 is a good choice because there’s a slumber party scene.
Home Movies. – Don’t forget that you can watch family movies as well. Our kids still love watching the video of our wedding.
Food:
Popcorn, ice cream sundaes and chocolate fondue are our top picks for a slumber party.
Here’s our recipe for Chocolate Fondue:
2 lb. of your favorite milk chocolate bars (we like Ghiradelli’s)
8 oz. dark chocolate bar
1 1/2 cup heavy cream (can use half and half for less calories)
2 Tbsp. vanilla
Break the candy bars into pieces and place in your fondue or hot pot. Turn to a low setting. Add cream and stir constantly until chocolate is melted and smooth. If you are melting this on a stove top, don’t walk away or the chocolate will boil and be ruined. Add the vanilla right before serving. Then dip away! (Serves 12)
For dipping:
Hazelnut or almond biscotti (more for the adults)
Salted pretzel sticks
Cubed pound cake
Sliced bananas
Stem strawberries
Large marshmallows
Send us photos of your family slumber party. We’d love to see them.
It’s Friday Night, you don’t have any plans, no babysitter, and you’re sick of movie night. It’s the perfect opportunity to host a Neighborhood Firepit Party. It’s a simple, fun, and easy way to be sociable and amuse the kids, no matter what age.
Our neighborhood is pretty friendly so if you build a firepit, they will come. Before it gets dark, we put the firepit out on the driveway, set up some chairs around the fire and that’s all the invitation the neighbors need. If that won’t work in your neighborhood, type up a quick flyer and have the kids hand it out to the neighbors or spread the word as you walk the dog around the block.
Tell everyone to bring their own drinks and bring some munchies to share. If you start planning earlier in the morning or the day before, people might have time to whip up something, otherwise I love seeing what people have in their fridge or pantry to share at a moment’s notice. Run to the corner store and buy supplies for s’mores. Tell the odd numbered houses to bring the appetizers and the even numbered houses to bring dessert. Our “go to” dish to bring – Guacamole and Chips. We keep our favorite guacamole in the freezer and can thaw it out for any occasion. Costco has some good pre-made guac.
When you have little kids, these parties are great because everyone will keep an eye on the kids. Or the bigger kids in the neighborhood will take them in hand and run some games. Sweet! You can go inside and put them to bed when needed.
The older kids can run around playing hide ‘n seek, ghost in the graveyard, or get a flashlight flag football game going. Set up a tent and let the kids play in the tent. Get out the baggo, bocce or Super Parachute Party Game. If there is a big sporting event on that evening, bring a radio or TV outside. We’ve got a large telescope so it’s fun to bring that out and let the kids take turns looking at the moon.
I love to do these parties right before school starts. The parents talk about who got which teacher, who’s going to be at the bus stop, and what to look forward to this school year. If your child is going into kindergarten, it’s a perfect time to pair him or her up with an older kid to help them on the bus.
Tell us about your neighborhood parties or your “go to” dish.
It’s Day 18 of our Summer Family Fun Challenge. Are you having fun yet?
Today’s idea is to take a trip around the world. If you can afford to that literally, then by all means, Bon Voyage. For the rest of us, pick a day, pick a country and then spend time celebrating it’s culture. For example, if you pick Italy:
Go online and look up some fun facts about Italy.
Go to the library and check out some Italian music or an Italian movie.
If you know someone from Italy, invite them over for dinner and have the kids ask them questions about what it’s like to live there.
Get some language instruction tapes and learn some words in Italian.
If your kids like animals, learn which animals are indigenous to that country.
Read about an Italian family tradition that sounds interesting and try it at home.
Grab an Italian cookbook, have each family member choose a dish they would like to try. Spend the time in the kitchen cooking and experimenting together.
If you are fortunate to have an international trip coming up, then definitely use this time to learn more about the country and get the kids excited about what they might see.
Don’t know which country to pick? Research your family ancestry. Or, have everyone in the family write down ideas on a piece of paper. Throw the paper into a jar and pick. Or, hang up a world map and let someone close their eyes and point to a country. (If you don’t have a map, use our World Map Kids Placemat or World Map Sticker Set.)
Want even more help? Try our Playful Chef French Cooking Set.
This kids cooking set includes kid-sized cooking tools, recipes for popular French food, and fun information about French history, vocabulary and geography.
Happy Monday! It’s Day #17 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge and our idea today is to learn something new as a family.
Is there anything you’ve always wanted to learn how to do? Speak Spanish, play guitar, play golf, tennis, take better photos, dance the tango, or cook a perfect souffle? Why not get the whole family involved and take a group lesson or start a new family hobby? (I suggested we all learn how to balance the checkbook but they “booed” my idea.)
Families that play together, stay together. Learning a new skill, hobby or sport is a fun way to spend time together and expand your mind. You’ll all be starting at the same level – newbie – and it will be interesting to see who in the family really takes to the lessons.
Find a class
Contact your local park district or community college to see the continuning education courses that they offer. If some of the classes look interesting for the whole family, sign everyone up. Look online for some local language classes or check your local health clubs, park district or YMCA for swimming, tennis, golf or even scuba diving lessons. Since you will have 3 or more “students” in the class, it might be worthwhile to find an instructor and see if you could arrange for private lessons in your home.
Now, show off your new skills
Once you’ve discovered your new skill and if everyone likes it, plan your next family vacation so you can apply this new knowledge or start a new family tradition.
Take Spanish lessons then vacation in Mexico or Spain
Take Cajun cooking lessons and then plan a trip to New Orleans
Take golf lessons and then swing away in California
Learn to scuba dive and head to the Caribbean
Take some wildlife photography lessons and then head to Yellowstone National Park
If no one really takes to the new skill, there’s always next summer to try something else. My husband loves to golf and my kids have been taking lessons for the past two summers. I always swore I would never golf (after having waitressed in a snobby golf club in high school and swearing I would “NEVER” be like those people) however, I’m rethinking taking lessons because it would be a fun thing to do as a family or with another family. (If I’m no good, I could always lay on top of the golf cart and just get a tan. That’s quality time together, right?)
Extra Practice
Ask around and see if another family you know loves the same skill or hobby. Invite them over to practice together. The more the merrier.
If you are going to tackle learning Spanish, we have some fun products to help practice with kids.
Or if you are going to take cooking lessons, get the kids excited about the lessons with their own apron and cooking utensils, like our best selling Playful Chef Kids Cooking Kit.
Is your family taking lessons to learn something new? If not, what do you think would interest them?
We’re back from our fun family vacation (we’ll share our travel tips next week) and we’re back on track for our 30 Day Summer Family Fun Challenge. If anyone has any photos of the fun they have been having this summer and you are willing to share, please send them in to sue (at) chocolatecakeclub.com. I’d like to post a bunch of photos of readers having a blast with their families.
Seed a Love of Nature
Kids love digging in the dirt. It’s a primal joy. So, why not take a trip to a nursery and let them pick out flowers, vegetables, or herbs for their own Kids-Only garden.
If you have a green thumb, this is the perfect opportunity to share your knowledge and enthusiasm with your kids or grandkids and teach them how to care for their plants. They’ll love watching their gardens grow throughout the summer, and it might even encourage them to eat their veggies!
If they are more artsy than dirtsy, have them paint their own flower pots, stepping stones, or Garden Gnomes to contribute to the family garden.
Day #15 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge and we’re thinking of snow and Holiday fun. We all know how busy it is around the Holidays. I have every intention of making homemade gifts for loved ones or having the kids make cute things for Grandma and Grandpa, but we never seem to find the time once the season is upon us. So, I had an idea why not turn an arts & crafts day this summer into a Holiday Gift making day. You’ll get your gifts done early so you’ll feel extra special good about yourself and the kids will get a kick out of Christmas in July.
Here are some links to Homemade Christmas Craft Ideas that the kids can make:
If those don’t inspire you, at Chocolate Cake Club we have quite a few Arts & Craft Kits that will help you keep the kids amused this summer and leave you with an armful of homemade presents come Holiday time.
Have fun crafting and getting a leg up on the Holidays.
It’s Day #14 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge and today we’re all wet. Why pay the big bucks to go to the water park when you can set one up in your backyard or neighborhood?
At the very least, you’ll need a hose. To make it more fun, get some buckets, large sponges, watering cans, slip ‘n slide, wading pool, sprinkler, balloons, or water guns.
This can be a lot of fun if you team up with other neighborhood parents. Each house can host its own activity. Make sure you have some snacks and lemonade on hand for all the fun.
Here are some games to try:
Soak large sponges in water and then have the kids run around and try to throw them at each other.
Watering Can Race. Divide the kids into teams and have them line up. Hand each team a small watering can. At one end, have a large bucket of water. Tell the first child in line to fill the watering can with water and run across the grass to another empty bucket. Dump their water in the bucket and run back to give the next team member the can. Keep going until one team empties their bucket first.
Pop the bubbles. If you have one of those wands that makes extra large bubbles, have one person be the bubble maker. Have the rest of the kids stand a fair distance away and try to pop the bubbles with their water guns.
Car Wash. If the kids have bikes, tricycles, or plastic play cars, have them pull into the “car wash” and clean their vehicles. Heck, if you can convince them to wash your car while they’re at it… Bonus!
You’ll need some towels for your water park fun. Check out our incredibly cute Kids Hooded Beach and Bath Towels. With cool designs like Robot, Monster, Princess, Unicorn, and Horse, they’re perfect to take to the pool or make a wonderful pre-summer vacation gift. Don’t forget to personalize them with your child’s name. That way they won’t get “taken” at the local pool, beach or camp.
Any other water game ideas? Please leave us a comment and share. Have some splish-splash fun!
Ready for Day #13 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge to make this the most fun summer EVER for your family.
Today, let’s have fun outside by making Fairy Houses or Troll Houses. It’s a great way to use your imagination and have fun with nature. Legend has it that if you build a fairy house, they will come and bring good luck. (I don’t know what happens if you build a troll house, but I’m sure boys will love whatever mayhem ensues.)
My daughter built a fairy house on a little “island” we have in the cul de sac at the end of our street. I have to say it was beautiful. She showed off her creation to all the neighbor girls, and soon we had a fairy village going with everyone chipping in.
Here’s the “fun with extra frosting” part – we started seeing “notes” from the Fairies. Some of the neighbor Moms and older girls would write notes thanking the kids for their houses. My daughter loved it and I was psyched to see how many neighbors got into it. My daughter put hard candy out there one night and some of the younger kids were so thrilled that the fairies were leaving them gifts. Needless to say everyone seemed to add a little touch of magic that kept everyone wondering if it was real or not. FUN!
Here’s how some of the houses looked:
Even if your fairy house doesn’t become a neighborhood project, it’s fun to be outside, use nature as your building blocks, and believe in magic. Next time you are on a nature hike in the local forest preserve or walking through the neighborhood, keep an eye out for the perfect acorn or flower or pinecone to add to your fairy house.
Note: If you live in the city, don’t despair. Just make your Fairy House in a box or in a flower pot.
How to build your Fairy House (or Troll House if you don’t want to be girlie) –
1. Collect your building blocks - pinecones, acorns, flowers, moss, tree bark, sticks, pebbles, shells, feathers, and rocks. Materials should be all natural and reflect the flora and fauna of where you live. That’s what magical creatures of nature like, you know.
2. Pick a secluded and shady spot in your yard to build. Fairies don’t like to be out in the open. Trolls don’t like too much sun. (I’m not making this up, I swear I read that somewhere.)
3. Start to build with nature’s legos. Build the structure of their house and if you have more “stuff” go ahead and build furniture.
4. Send us a photo of your fairy house. We’d love to have a whole collection of fairy houses posted on the blog.
Want to see some great photos for inspiration? Check out Fairyhouses.com.
We don’t sell anything to help you build your fairy house at the Chocolate Cake Club but we do have some fun gifts if you have a little girl who is fascinated by all things fairy. Sadly, we don’t have any troll toys.
Planet Pixie Dolls – Maia and Anyu Fairy Dres Up Doll Magnetic Tin Yubo Fairy Princess Lunch Box Fairies and Berries Melamine Dish Set Fairy Sticker Play Scene Fairy Tea Set Pin the Fairy on the Flower Game Fairy Backpack – School size and Toddler size Fairy Lunchbag Fairy Princess Magic Cookie Baking Kit Fairy Princess Magic Crayon T-Shirt Activity Fairy Fun Bands
It’s Day 12 of our 30 Day Summer Family Fun Challenge and we hope you are using some of our ideas to make this the most fun summer EVER for your family.
Today we are suggesting a Picnic in the Park. No matter what age your kids, from baby to teens, time spent outdoors in the park is good family fun. You can make it a nice intimate family event or invite your friends and make it a party. (These tips are also great for taking the family to a local outdoor concert. In Chicago, we have Ravinia which stages several kid-friendly outdoor concerts. While I love going on a date with my husband and enjoying wine, cheese, and great music, I also like taking the kids for a totally different experience.)
NOTE: If you like any of the ChocolateCakeClub.com products we feature below, TAKE 25% off, until midnight Friday, July 2nd.
Here are some of the Picnic Essentials that you need for the whole family. Further down I’ve given you some suggestions for additional items for babies, toddlers, and older kids.
Disposable dinnerware, cutlery and napkins (to make clean up easy) or eco-friendly lunch bags and water bottles to reuse again and again
Trash bags
Water, to drink it is obvious but we end up using it to clean kids clothes or faces while at the park
Hand sanitizer or wipes
Maybe toilet paper, depending on how long you are planning to picnic
Sun protection: hats, sunscreen lotion, sun glasses
Bug spray
Plastic table cloths or a large picnic blanket to lay on the ground
Ziploc bags to take home any leftover food
A camera to capture the chocolate cake moments
Locations
Some of our favorite places to picnic are the local forest preserves (we usually ride our bikes and have a picnic), Ravinia or your version of a local outdoor concert venue, botanical gardens, or the beach. Don’t forget tourist attractions as a great place to picnic. This blog post by Travels with Baby reminds us that you don’t have to go inside a Museum to enjoy the visit. Or, picnic outside to save money on expensive meals and then hit the Museum.
Picnic with Baby
With a baby, it’s nice to just sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. Make sure you protect your little one with bug spray and suntan lotion if they will be laying out directly in the sun. If they are still too young to be mobile, protect your baby from bugs and the harsh sun with one of these beautiful Summer Airy Car Seat Covers from BabbaCo. Their lightweight covers have a layer of SPF and UV protection 40-50+ fabric! Feel free to go out and enjoy the sun and your baby will sleep like well, a baby.
We also suggest taking a play blanket so baby can roll around on the ground without the worry of bugs or grass stains. These Silly Billyz play blankets are super soft on one side and water repellant on the other so even if the ground is a little wet with dew, baby will stay dry. The blanket also serves as a great windbreaker if the weather changes while you are out.
If you are breast feeding, your food menu is pretty easy. Otherwise, bring baby food in an insulated lunch bag or try one of our Mrs. Smith’s Diaper/ Toddler Bags which has an insulated patented drawer on the bottom of the bag. Super easy and convenient. (These bags are perfect for picnics because they are so spacious you could put your food, blanket, extra clothes, and bottles in all of the convenient pouches and holders.) It’s the best day trip bag on the market, in my opinion, because it keeps Mom organized.
Toddlers
If you don’t want to worry about eating a full lunch or dinner in the park, definitely bring some non-perishable kid-friendly snacks like goldfish, cheerios, granola bars, and crackers. You know the drill. Something to snack on that doesn’t need to be kept cool. You might want to bring an extra blanket in case they get tired and want to nap or get cold.
Little Kids
Why not give your kids their own Picnic Basket set to bring along or play picnic in the backyard while you are packing up the car or getting the bikes ready?
Try our Super Parachute Game to keep the kids amused.
Tweens and Teens
It’s all about the food and the games at this point. What kinds of fun foods do we get to eat at the park and what games can we play in the open area? Go ahead Mom, amaze them.
Some of our favorite games & activities at a picnic:
Frisbee
Bocce Ball
Baggo Set
Washer Horseshoe Game
Paddle Ball
Kite, if windy enough
Remote control airplane
Pump rockets
Football or glove and baseball
Photo Hunt – give the kids a camera and see who can take the best nature photos
Picnic Foods
Are you bringing a grill or have access to a grill? Do you want to keep it simple with sandwiches and salads? There is so much you can cook or bring to make a picnic fun, just for the good eats. But hey, no pressure on the cooking. We’ve had some very fun family picnics where we just grabbed take-out sandwiches or grabbed prepared food at Whole Foods, on our way to the picnic site.
We found some great family friendly picnic recipes at Kaboose and Food Network.
Remember to leave the park as you found it. Pick up your mess!
Where do you like to picnic with the family? Want to share a favorite picnic recipe with us? We’d love it.
It’s Day 11 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge. Have you tried any of the ideas yet? If so, please leave us a comment and tell us all about it.
Today, I scream, you scream, we all scream for homemade ice cream. Summer and ice cream just go together like salt and pepper, milk and cookies, cheese and crackers. You can survive without one or the other but then life just wouldn’t taste as good. (Can you tell I’m hungry while I’m writing this.)
To make today extra special and fun for your kids, make homemade ice cream together, have an ice cream sundae bar, or best yet, do both.
Homemade Ice Cream
There are quite few recipes online for ice cream you can make in a Ziploc bag with kids. Here’s the first one that caught my eye from Kaboose.com.
At the Chocolate Cake Club, we sell a great ice cream maker for kids that is easy and let’s you make two different flavors at once, in case the kids can’t agree. Whichever method you choose, it’s bound to be fun and delicious.
Ice Cream Sundae Bar
Ok, you’ve got your ice cream, homemade or one of your favorite store varieties. (I’m a vanilla girl myself much to the dismay of the chocolate ice cream lovers in my house. When it comes to ice cream, it’s all Vanilla, all the time. It is the finest of the flavors.) Now, get creative with a sundae bar to put all of the ice cream parlors to shame. (Are they even called ice cream parlors anymore?)
Here’s a list of ingredients to inspire the tasty imaginations of kids and adults (really just big kids) alike:
Caramel or Dulce de Leche
Butterscotch
Pineapple
Strawberries
Bananas
Peaches
Marshmallow
Chocolate Fudge/ Chocolate Syrup
Maple syrup
Crumbled milky way bars
Crushed malt balls
Crushed vanilla wafers
Toasted coconut
Cinnamon sugar
Chopped nuts
Dried cherries or Maraschino cherries
Candied dried ginger – (mixed with vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup – editorial aside “Purely awesome!”)
Red hots, sprinkles, or crushed rock candy
Don’t forget the whipped cream!
Crumbled raw cookie dough – We like the tubs of Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip that you can buy at Costco
I’m a firm believer in making it a party, inviting others to share in our family fun. Invite another neighbor family over to participate and ask them to bring their favorite toppings. Heck, invite the whole neighborhood.
Don’t want to get quite this complicated? We sell a fun Ice Cream Sundae Kit that your kids or grandkids will love. It includes 4 cute ice cream bowls and spoons, a scoop, toppings and even an old-fashioned ice cream parlor hat.
It’s Day #10 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge, where we’re giving you 30 days of simple, creative & most importantly memorable ideas to make this the most fun summer EVER for your family. Who’s up for a road trip?
Whether you are planning to drive on your summer vacation or contemplating a small weekend road trip, you’ll need to keep the kids (and adults) entertained in the car. There are all kinds of travel games like travel bingo, but we love the simplicity of conversation games. They are easy to play in the car, on the plane or in a restaurant while waiting for your dinner to arrive. The games are small so they’re easy to throw in Mom’s purse or a backpack.
Here are some of our family’s favorites (that’s why we sell them at the Chocolate Cake Club):
Family Road Trip Box of Questions
We love this conversation starter game from the Box Girls because it has more than just questions. Inside the box your family will find games like I Spy, License Plate ID, Travel Scavenger Hunt, Who Am I?, and more. A lot of the conversation questions are travel related which is fun and gives you some insight into where you should plan your next family vacation.
Chat Pack for Kids
This incredibly small and compact game is so easy to carry in your purse ALWAYS for those emergency times when you need to amuse the kids. (Heck, I’ve pulled them out while we waited in line for an hour at Six Flags.) There are 156 question cards so you won’t get bored anytime soon. With questions like “If you could be guaranteed that one item you currently own would never break, wear out, or get lost, which item would you choose?” or I like “If you could create the ultimate vacation resort, what would it be like?” (I don’t know how my son is going to pull off the exploding volcano in the lobby of his dream resort, but it sounds cool.)
Family Dinner Box of Questions
This isn’t travel specific but if you are traveling to visit family, pull this box out at the dinner table or the family reunion. You’ll be amazed at what you learn from relatives you thought you knew well. Here’s what some of our customers said about the fun they had playing the game:
Just wanted to share with you that these cards worked very well for us to learn more about my son’s girlfriend over the weekend….very fun. As we were gathered around the table chatting there came a lull in the conversation so I turned around grabbed the box of questions and let her rip…… Cathie
First I have to tell you how much we enjoyed that game I got from you about the dinner questions!! We stayed at the table for almost 3 hrs!!! Marina
If you want to save even more money, come up with your own questions. Write them on small pieces of paper and throw them all into a bag. Once you are in the car, have the kids reach into the bag and pull out a new topic for conversation.
What are some questions you’d like to discuss with your family? One of our favorites to pull out on a day that we just aren’t getting along, is to have everyone at the dinner table say 1 thing that they really like about everyone in the family. It’s a great mood booster and you might be surprised what your kids say.
Here’s a great family fun idea for this weekend. The National Wildlife Federation has declared today, June 26th the Great American Backyard Campout. Why? According to their website:
Create lasting memories by connecting with family and friends in the great outdoors. It’s something simple you can do to promote happier, healthier children.
Your funds are used to establish and maintain programs to make outdoor time a priority to protect children’s health and ensure their readiness to learn.
Check their website to see if your local park district is supporting this initiative. I know the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum in Chicago is hosting a Great Backyard Campout event today from 11 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. REI representatives will be there to talk tents and the Museum will be sharing tips on games, cooking outdoors, and you’ll get to see some live animals.
It’s Day #8 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge, where we’re giving you 30 days of simple, creative & most importantly memorable ideas to make this the most fun summer EVER for your family. What has your family been doing to have fun, so far?
Yesterday was the longest day of the year, the official first day of summer. My kids wanted to stay up until it got dark, so as we were walking the dog after dinner, we noticed the fireflies.
Fireflies represent pure joy. Tiny little sparks of light flying around on warm sunny evening are fun to watch. I imagine that they are little fairies on a mission. (OK, so I’m a little fanciful.) I don’t know a person out there who doesn’t smile at the memories they have catching fireflies in the summer time. They are slow and easy to catch, don’t look as frightening as many other bugs, and they light up. Perfect for kids!
So, share this joy and wonder with your kids by catching fireflies tonight after dinner. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Wait until close to sunset. (Put on bug spray! I don’t know about where you live but the blood sucking mosquitos are thick already.)
2. Watch for the tiny sparks of light. They like to hang out by low hanging trees or wooded areas.
3. When you see a firefly, cup your hand and CAREFULLY put your hand over the top of the firefly as you cup your other hand and bring it up underneath the firefly. Make sure your kids understand that these creatures are fragile and must be handled with care.
4. Now, you can either just watch it crawl over your hand, or put it in a glass jar with holes punched in the lid, or gently help your firefly into a bug catcher, like this one. The jar is nice when you get a few fireflies inside and it starts to look like a lantern. I like the bug catcher because you can put many different kinds of bugs inside and the sides are mesh so you don’t need to worry about making air holes. (My daughter has offered hospitality to many caterpillars and toads in our bug catcher. She doesn’t seem to understand why they don’t eat sticks. Have you ever seen a toad eat a stick? I didn’t think so.)
5. Remember to release the fireflies before you go to bed, if not sooner. They only live a day or two anyway so why make them spend their short life in a jar where they can’t fly?
To help you have some buggy fun with your kids this summer, take 25% off our Bug Catcher today only.
P.S. I took photos of my kids catching fireflies last night and of course, they didn’t come out. If you have any good photos of your kids catching fireflies, I’d love to see them and share them on the blog.
Sorry! We skipped a day. Too much going on. You know the drill. We are back on track though with our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge, where we’re giving you 30 days of simple, creative & most importantly memorable ideas to make this the most fun summer EVER for your family.
What is it with boys and construction equipment? They just love to watch the big machines destroy and build. When my son was 2 he was enthralled by construction equipment and would point it out through the car window. By the time he was 3, he knew the name of all the major equipment and would correct me when I mistakenly called a “front loader” a “backhoe.” (Smart Aleck!)
Well, since I live in Chicago and we have two seasons here – Winter and Construction – I thought I would share one of the fun things we used to do with my son to give him a fix for the Big Machines.
We used to drive around our neighborhood and find a construction site or if we were lucky enough to be able to walk over to one, we’d strap my son in the stroller and head over for some “better-than-reality-TV” entertainment.
Staying out of the danger zone, of course, we would look for a spot to park the car and watch or stroll around and look on in amazement through the safety fence. Cheap. Loud. Fun. The kind of entertainment every young boy craves. Take some photos and show your toddler on the computer screen later to relive the exciting memory. Have fun!
If your child is crazy for construction, check out some of the fun Construction-themed products we sell to help them express their inner demolition expert. These are perfect gifts for toddler boys. Today only, take 25% OFF of these top-selling gifts.
Constructive Eating Plate & Silverware Don’t forget the girls – the fun kids plastic silverware is available in pink too.
Welcome to Day #6 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge, where we’re giving you 30 days of simple, creative & most importantly memorable ideas to make this the most fun summer EVER for your family.
We’ve got storms here in the Chicagoland area today so I thought I’d share a Rainy Day fun idea. You can’t go wrong with Arts & Crafts when you are stuck indoors during summer break. However, there are a lot of craft kits out there so you need to keep some things in mind.
1. Are you going to do the craft with them or do you need the kit to keep the kiddos busy while you do other things? If so, make sure it is age appropriate so they don’t need Mom to do it all for them. Also, make sure they won’t finish it in 5 minutes and ask “Now, what?”
2. Is everything included in the kit? If you have a ton of art supplies in your house already, you don’t need a kit that includes another glue stick or more magic markers. Maybe your best bet includes getting a craft book from the library or book store and using the supplies you already have. If you are at Grandma’s house or don’t have that many supplies, then make sure your kit has everything included. (You don’t want to start a craft only to find out that you need to go to the store to get Googly eyes. “Mom, how can we create under these conditions?”)
3. Do you want to reuse the kit or craft ‘n go? My daughter, the artist, goes through so many craft kits that I now look for ones that I can dispose of when we are done. We already have some great art kits that include all kinds of materials that we use constantly. So, I don’t want a new kit with 1,000 paint brushes. No more crayons in my house! I look for kits that we or she can put together with no extra pieces left over when we are done. Klutz makes some great craft ‘n go kits.
4. What do your kids like to do? There are so many cool themed art kits to appeal to all sorts of interests and artistic techniques. Check out all of the fun arts & craft kits we sell. There is everything from painting to jewelry making to shrinky dinks to sewing and more.
We’ve tried a lot of the craft kits out there with our kids and some keep them engaged, and some don’t. However, the three kits we keep using again and again that have provided our kids with hours of crafting fun, include the Alex Toys Giant Art Supply Jar, the My Very Busy Box, and the My Art Case Art Supply Kit, which is why we sell them.
I would recommend the My Very Busy Box for younger kids (as young as 2 years old) because there are instructions on how to make certain craft ideas. The Giant Art Supply Jar is perfect for older kids who want to create their own ideas and just need the supplies to make it happen. Don’t forget to grab an Art Project Splat Mat or an old tablecloth to protect your kitchen table or put on the floor under the crafting area.
Welcome to Day #5 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge, where we’re giving you 30 days of simple, creative & most importantly memorable ideas to make this the most fun summer EVER for your family.
Pancakes. They’re not just for breakfast anymore. Here’s a fun way to shake up your family’s day. Make pancakes for dinner. But, don’t just make your regular old pancake recipe. Do something fun – shapes, colors, extras. I remember my Dad used to make Mickey Mouse pancakes for my brother and I. We loved it and it was a tradition that is a fond memory still today.
Shapes: For fun shaped pancakes, buy pancake molds at kitchen supply stores or old cookie cutters that can lay flat on a griddle. Fill them with batter and amaze your kids. Or use a condiment squirt bottle to “draw” pancake shapes on the griddle. You don’t need any special tools to make Mickey Mouse or bear shaped pancakes. Just make a larger circle and then two smaller circle pancakes and put them together on the plate to make your faces.
My son loves Star Wars so when we saw the new Star Wars pancake molds at Williams Sonoma, we ran out to get them. We added green food color to some of the batter to make the Yoda pancake shapes. (We liked these molds because they actually laid flat. We have bought molds before that weren’t completely flat and the batter leaks out to the side. Not cool.) How did we do?
Colors: Add food coloring to your pancake batter to make colored pancakes. Use a variety of colors and overlap them on the plate to make a rainbow. Depending on the shapes you are using, choose a matching food color to enhance the design. If you are going to add some whipped cream to your pancakes (this is incredibly delicious with pumpkin pancakes), you can also color the whip cream.
Extras: For the Piece de Resistance, add some fun “extras” to your pancakes like Hershey kisses for eyes, red hots for buttons, cherries, bananas, baked apples, and M&Ms. Go wild. Use a piece of bacon or sausage link for the mouth.
What’s great about cooking pancakes is that it’s a perfect meal for kids to help out. They can put the ingredients in the bowl, stir, and add the special ingredients. To help make your time in the kitchen together even more fun, get your kids their own cooking apron. My son loves to cook and we were frustrated that most of the kid-sized aprons were all girlie, so we went and found some boyish kids aprons that we know you’ll love too.
To get your started on your breakfast at dinner fun, today and tomorrow, take 25% OFF all of our kid-sized cooking aprons.
Good morning! Welcome to Day #4 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge, where we’re giving you 30 days of simple, creative & most importantly memorable ideas to make this the most fun summer EVER for your family.
Putt, putt everyone. Tomorrow is Father’s Day and I know my husband wants to spend some QUIET time on the golf course, so it got me thinking about what to do with the kids while he’s golfing. (Our kids are taking golf lessons, but notice I highlighted the QUIET part earlier so they are staying home.)
Today’s fun tip: Build your own backyard miniature golf course. Use plastic cups or sand pails for the holes. Or use flower pots and designate each hole with gardening stakes you have in the garage.
You can also have the kids make flags for the holes out of old fabric – T-shirts, rags, etc. – and tape them to some stakes. If you want it to really look nice, cut triangular flags out of felt and staple them to a wooden dowel.
Hint: garage sales are great places to find cheap, sturdy, weather-resistant obstacles. If you have some old putters, use them. Check your phone book, you can also pick up some used kids clubs at your local used sporting equipment stores.
Now you are ready to design your course. Build on the natural topography of your yard to increase difficulty and keep the game interesting. (It’s OK to have to shoot through the patio furniture, under the deck or chip over the tree stump to make it more fun.) If your kids are older and good at this game, make it hard. Putt uphill. Put the hole behind a tree. Put the hole halfway up the side of the ditch. Try not to put any holes near a neighbor’s window, too close to the street, or in the direct line of fire to Daddy’s car.
Have the kids practice all summer and then host a neighborhood tournament in August. Give prizes out to the closest to the cup, hole in one, ball still on the grass, etc.
Want to make this even easier? Order out Alex Toys Miniature Golf Game. You’ll get two clubs, balls and 6 holes. Today only, take 25% off this fun outdoor game!
Welcome to Day #3 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge, where we’re giving you 30 days of simple, creative & most importantly memorable ideas to make this the most fun summer ever for your family.
Today’s idea is a trip to your local Farmers Market. Browsing the Farmers Market stalls on a lazy Saturday morning is one of my absolute favorite summer traditions. I bring the family, the dog, and my iced Coffee Toffee and enjoy myself. We’re together, outside in the sunshine, discovering new foods, promoting local farmers, and exercising by walking the neighborhood. (That’s almost an overload of family goodness, but we deal.)
But don’t think of it as a grocery run! At our Farmers Market there’s live music, food samples, dogs, dogs, and more dogs. The kids love the entertainment value. (Read about my daughter’s photo scavenger hunt at the local Farmers Market to see some cute dogs.) With a little creativity, a trip to the Farmers Market can be an adventure for your kids.
Here’s how to make it more fun:
1. Shop. Give the kids a bag and let them buy their favorite foods. Our Playful Chef Farmers Market Bag is PERFECT for this! As a TREAT: Take 20% off of the Playful Chef Farmers Market Set TODAY ONLY. The set includes a bag to carry your purchases, a scrubber and cotton towel for cleaning your produce, and a booklet with information on which fruits and vegetables are best in each season, where they are grown and how best to prepare them.)
2. Learn. Give your kids a small notebook or “Adventure Guide Book.” Have your kids visit each stall and identify a food they like best. Have them write notes in their book on who they met, which foods they tasted and liked or didn’t like, and where the farm is located.
3. Hunt. Create a scavenger hunt for the kids. Have them find an item for every letter of the alphabet or find as many colors as they can. Find something from another state. Find 5 raw foods and 5 cooked.
Now, go home and enjoy the fresh taste of summer!
Did you miss Day #1 and Day #2 Summer Family Fun Ideas?
Welcome to Day #2 of our 30 Day Summer Fun Challenge, where we’re giving you 30 days of simple, creative & most importantly memorable ideas to make this the most fun summer ever for your family.
Have you ever wondered where the summer has gone? Been disappointed that you didn’t get to the Zoo, or get tickets to a popular kids concert, or get the bikes out enough to justify the space they take up in the garage? Well, last summer we started a Family Summer Hit List and it made planning and scheduling our family fun a whole lot easier. We were tired of “missing” some of the fun things we wanted to do every summer because we didn’t act fast enough, so we decided to take charge and make it a family project.
Pick a night and when you sit down for dinner, go around the table and ask everyone in the family what they would like to do for fun that summer. Have someone write down all of the ideas. Then vote on the Top 10 ideas that your family is going to do together. (If this gets too heated or causes hurt feelings amongst younger siblings, put all of the ideas into a hat and pull the first 10. While someone might still be miffed that their idea didn’t make it, at least it’s fair!)
Now, grab the family calendar and plan which days you’ll schedule each activity. If any work needs to be done ahead of time like buying tickets, making reservations, or inviting friends over, assign the responsibilities to family members so everyone is working together to have fun. You’ll get more buy-in from the kids, Mom won’t be the only one planning everything, and you won’t miss any important activities.
Your kids and grandkids grow up so fast. Don’t miss these precious summer days and nights to have fun together. (That was my mushy Moment.)
Here’s our family’s Summer Hit List around the Chicagoland area:
Train ride downtown, eat at French Market
Six Flags Day with fellow Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Families
Concert at Ravinia, our outdoor concert venue
Long bike ride along Lake Michigan – RJ Grunts for dinner
Cubs Game
Splash time at North Ave. Beach
BBQ party with friends
Hang out with neighbors at local pool
Backyard camp-out
Drive-in tailgate party with friends
Trips to Austin, TX and Iowa to visit the Grandparents and cousins
TREAT: To make your planning a little easier, for every order placed today at the Chocolate Cake Club between 8 a.m. CST and midnight, we’ll throw in a FREE Mom’s Plan-it or momAgenda Family Planning Calendar. While supplies last, so get your order in now!
Welcome to Day #1 of our 30 Summer Fun Challenge, where we’re giving you 30 days of ideas to make this the most fun summer ever for your family.
Today, we are going old school with the timeless Lemonade Stand. Nothing says summer like cool, refreshing lemonade. Help the kids set up a stand, make a sign and get their first batch of lemonade ready. Other than coming in for more supplies every now and then, I know this keeps my kids completely occupied for hours. They set up their shade umbrellas, get the boom box playing Kids Bop, and they’re happy as can be with some old-fashioned fun.
Want to make it even easier? Order our Kids Mini Lemonade Stand Kit which includes a paper hat, wooden spoon, lemonade mix, lemonade stand banner, flower cookie cutter, lemon cookie mix, and a price sheet. Today Only: Save 20%! Buy Now.
Send us photos of your lemonade stand to sue@chocolatecakeclub.com and we’ll publish them and enter you into our weekly Summer Fun Giveaway. Get them in by Sunday, June 20th for the first drawing.
