Keep Them Busy!

With Summer break quickly approaching, I am not sure whether to be excited or scared to death! You see, I love Summer break and I really am looking forward to it, however, this is the first full Summer that I will have had 6-8 kids at home with me on any given day. That thought alone honestly terrifies me. A group of kids with nothing to do very quickly turns to chaos. The one thought I have is to KEEP THEM BUSY! With so many kids, we are constantly looking budget friendly activities...we can't even take them all out for fast food without it costing us a fortune! Below are some of my ideas. I would love to have your feedback for more ideas to keep us busy this summer.

Basically, I have designated a "special" activity for 3-4 evenings a week.

Every other Monday - Craft Night - I bought some discount items from oriental trading. All of our projects will be something we can use, who needs useless junk lying around!?! We will design our own Bible Covers, Father's Day gifts, Make a quilt, MAke a prayer box (we are learning to pray real prayers and to pray for each other, and color our own cups...these are just a few of our ideas.

Every Other Tuesday - Outside Game Night - We will go outside for some family fun. Maybe water slip n slide, relay races, ping-pong tournaments, go for a walk.....just something outside and WITH Dad.

Every Wednesday - Kids Cook - Exactly like it sounds, the kids get to cook supper. They get to plan their own menus. The rule?....they have to have a main course, veggie, side, and dessert. Our first meal looks like it's going to consist of Hamburger Helper, carrots w/ranch, Macarroni n Cheese, and brownies. LOL It doesn't exactly go together and I never buy hamburger helper, but it's supposed to be fun, so one night won't hurt!

Every other Thursday - Night Out - This is when we will do low-budget activities away from our house. Snow Cones, Splash Park, Park play, go visit family

To go along with this, we are having a veggie competition, to try as many as we can think of. I have made a chart and they get a sticker if they at least try the new veggie with some type of reward at the end of summer for trying so many new foods. I am hoping we find some new items to add to the menu!

Every other Friday - Field Trip Day - Only if they had good behavior all week...my husband is off on Fridays, so it will be a family trip. Putt-Putt, fishing, Hiking, Movies

Every Friday - Talent Night - The kids have all week to plan out their talent...singing, poetry, telling a story, play piano, play piano with your toes, gymnastics, cheering,... tons of choices!


We are also trying to plan to some occasional Community Service type activities...to teach the kids to do nice things for others, with no expectations of rewards. Be nice just to be nice. These activities may include mowing someones yard, baking cookies for someone, Just filling a need whenever we see it.

Our mornings will also have a routine....get up/dressed certain time, chores, 1 hour of workbooks/reading, exercise time, bible story time and a few other things.

I hope this inspires some of my readers or at least helps calm the summertime "blues" if you have them! I would love to hear of your own summertime ideas!!!