Themed Summer Activities for Families!

A Little Summer DQ Treat - 2010

The first summer I had four children I craved a way to instill a little summer "homeschooling" and have a little order to our weeks - This is the brain child of that desire.  I am happy to share these with you - use one idea or the whole bunch - several resources are specific to Central MN, but could easily be adapted to other areas with your resources.  During this summer my kiddos were - 6, 4, 2, and 6 months - so the activities are pretty geared to these ages.  We did not accomplish everything on this list, but had so much fun doing many of these things!  Enjoy ~

SWAT Weeks (Swisher Weeks of Activity Themes)

Every week includes whatever books I order from the library (www.griver.org) , coloring sheets(http://www.coloring-book.info/coloring/; http://www.coloring.ws/coloring.html ),  plus info from the field trip destination’s website.  Of course intermingled with this will be lots of opportunities for letter and word learning, vocab building, coloring and other projects, etc.   We have purchased a family membership at Pine Grove Zoo, MN Historical Society , & State Parks Pass….to accomplish all of this with a reasonable amount of money J   FAD - is my code for Family Adventure Day.

Little Falls Greenhouse

Week one: Plant Week –

·         Visit greenhouse, plant flowers (and veggies?)

·         Field Trip to Munsinger Garden (Friday)

·         Carnation Science project (white carnation in colored water – each kid picks the color)

·         Walk to Lindbergh State park to find as many different plants that we can

Underwater Adventures (Mall of America)

Fish Project - Cut a triangle out of a paper plate and attach to the other side with a staple - decorate!

Fish Cookies!

Week two: Fish Week –

·         Field trip to the MN Fishing Museum (not sure what day yet)

·         FAD to the Underwater Adventures & Children’s Museum

·         Hopefully fishing with dad

·         Look at fish at Walmart

·         Watch Finding Nemo, Shark Tale

·         Eating Nemo fruit snacks, Sweedish fish, and Goldfish

·         Eating Tuna and Salmon

Reading with Dad

Week three: Book / Reading Week –

·         Write a book as a family and publish it

·         Meet an author, have a book signed

·         Read, read, read

·         Do letter learning activities

·         Go on a word scavenger hunt around town

Baking at Home

The BEST Bakery Ever - Pete and Joys!

Week four: Baking / Cooking Week –

·         Field trip to Bakery (Wednesday)

·         Kids choose things to cook and bake

Apollo Space Shuttle - Apollo High School, St. Cloud

Week five:   Solar System Week - 

·         Field trip to SCSU planetarium (?)

·         Track down someone with a telescope

·         Paint glow in the dark stars on kid’s ceilings or attach plastic ones

·         Visit Apollo space shuttle if in St. Cloud at all

·         Visit the Lindbergh House – flight, space, etc….

Creating birdfeeders - pinecones covered in pb, rolled in birdseed, hung with some yarn - fun and messy!

Our bird checklist for bird watching at Crane Meadows near LF

The clipboard is almost as big as the 2 year old -

Week six: Bird Week -

·         Set up birdfeeder

·         Watch birds with Grandma

·         Make pinecone feeders (pb, seeds string)

·         Field Trip to Hemker Zoo?

Releasing our Butterflies

Como Zoo Butterfly Pavilion

Week seven: Butterfly week –

·         Order butterfly garden habitat http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000ISC5/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

·         FAD to Como Zoo & MN History Museum (?)

·         Butterfly paint projects

Week eight: Bible Discovery Week –

·         VBS

·         Bible Stories for book times

·         Veggietales for all shows

River Bats Game (now St. Cloud Rox)

Week nine: Sports Week –

·         Field trip to River Bats game, Sun night 6:05

·         Play different sports, different places

Week ten: Bee Week –

·         Watch a Bee Movie

·         Contact Elizabeth for any bee ideas (?)

·         Try honey on new things / different kinds of honey

Week eleven: Dinosaur Week –

·         FAD to MN Science Museum / Kelly Farm (?)

·         Dinosaur dig in sandbox

·         Dinosaur egg discovery

·         Watch Dinosaur Train on PBS

·         Watch The Land Before Time

Week twelve: Farm & Vegetable Week –

·         Contest between mom & dad and kids as to how many different kinds of veggies each can eat

·         Visit the Farmer’s Market

·         Field trip to a farm (?)

·         Help Grandma & Grandpa with garden

What fun activities for learning have you done with your kids in summer?
Does your family have favorite places to visit that you feel have educational value?

The Only Constant Is Change



Me 13 months pregnant with baby #3 (2008)
Our beautiful crib in the background!

"The only constant is change"~ Heraclitus a 500BC, Greek philosopher

I am reminded of this fact over and over in parenting.  Just when it seems I have "mastered" one aspect (or at least begun to maybe understand it a little) of parenting it seems that my children move forward in their development.

Yesterday was momentous in our house - this week with school ending it seems every day has been momentous - but yesterday we disassembled our crib.  Our wonderful bundle of wood that held and protected each of my babies through their earliest days and nights.  It has been a fixture in our home for 8 years.

It was a poignant reminder to me about how each stage of parenting seems overwhelming at the time you are going through it.  New babies are a LOT of work, toddlers are an emotional roller coaster, preschoolers long for independence, and so forth.  However, once you are past each stage there are days when you miss it - not the exhausting parts of the stage, but the perks that went with it - newborns snuggle, babies are loving, toddlers explore, preschoolers discover.

"This too shall pass" ~ this is probably the quote that runs through my brain the most often when I am feeling overwhelmed as a parent.  But here is the secret - the pleasant and unpleasant stages will pass.  My challenge to you today is to not let the joyful parts of each stage get lost in the sleepless nights and endless days. 


What part of the parenting stage that you are in seems overwhelming right now?
What part of the parenting stage that you are in are you loving right now?