Summer can be such a mixed bag. The excitement of finishing school and having a rather open span of time stretched ahead of you. Warm/hot days and lingering sunsets the world of summer is your oyster when you’re young. But without warning, it hits, boredom. The schedule is a little more lax and you aren’t surrounded by friends day to day. Rather than turn to the television to waste the summer away, I’ve been trying to reach into my bag of teaching tricks and come up with some easy but fun activities that are a little different from the norm.
On a particularly hot day, we were tired of being inside, but didn’t have the pool set up. The girls had unearthed their paint brushes from a box of art supplies and really wanted to use them. I gave them each a container of water and they went outside to paint on the driveway. They loved it. Granted, the only color they had was ‘wet concrete’, but their imaginations kicked in and suddenly, they were seeing every color imaginable. They made rainbows, houses, people, wrote their names and just painted.
Another day, I found some whiffle balls while cleaning. We then made our version of skeeball using a couple of mixing bowls in differing sizes. Our game of skill brought lots of giggles and hand-eye coordination practice.
We’ve done nail painting, coming up with some fun paint combinations and patterns.
The girls started out swimming in their pool, but after that was emptied, they put on some stylish footwear (and socks) and hopped on their scooters and bikes.
Cold treats are always a hit. Freezies and popsicles on the back porch or Amy’s Ice Creams at the Galleria.
I used to keep most of the art supplies under lock and key. Part of it was due to Lily’s age, and most of it was due to my curmudgeonly attitude about having to clean up paint, glitter, cut up paper pieces and Play-doh. Since we’re in the new house, I’m throwing common sense aside and leaving all of those things within reach. I also bought a new stick vacuum, so that has given me more courage. Having all wood floors makes cleaning up Play-doh and glitter bombs easy. Handing Lily a magazine I’d finished reading, a piece of paper, scissors and a glue stick literally gave me hours – HOURS – of quiet as Lily butchered the magazine and glued pictures of children, babies, cars and food on her paper. Once again, boosting the hand-eye coordination. Ella was also happy to get in on that action.
Helping with chores is always popular. What we see as drudgery, they see as fantastic. Good by me. Ella is an expert at pulling clothes from the dryer, then putting the wet clothes from the washer into the dryer and starts the dryer. Washing windows is popular, watering plants, feeding the cats and we’re starting to work on making beds.
Dress up is always a popular choice. Someone usually has to remove some sort of tiara, tutu, or costume jewelry before we leave the house on any given outing.
We enjoy taking evening walks around our neighborhood each night. We call them “metal walks” because as we walk to the mailboxes or around the block, we all scan the ground for metal pieces left by construction. So far, 2.5 months in and we’ve nearly amassed two coffee cans worth of metal. We like to think we’re saving our neighbors the hassle of flat tires and tetanus shots. Some nights, we throw caution to the wind and drive away from the metal laden streets to visit the Hill Country Galleria. We stop for treats at either Amy’s or Whole Foods and enjoy them near the fountains.
One evening, we visited the Galleria and had the girls decked out in their suits. Lily was excited to get into the fountains immediately. Ella was happy to just hang back and watch, finally with some coaxing, we got her out on the splash pad. I’m glad she challenged her comfort level because she ended up having a blast. She was tearing around from fountain to fountain with a giant smile while giggles and shrieks of happiness filled the air. We had a hard time convincing them to go, the setting sun wasn’t a deterrent to their fountain fun.
Holding hands. awww…
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