Summer Fun! Kid Activities & Free Printables

I am so excited to share this with you!!!

I was inspired by lists of fun summer activities to do with my kiddos, like this one and this one, but of course I had to remake it so that it was just the way I wanted it If you don’t have a perfectionist and/or crafty bend, feel free to just use this one as is!

Here’s what it looks like, all set up and pretty above my dining room table:

I’ve uploaded the pdf as well as the original publisher file (which you obviously can only open if you have publisher). I made them 3.5” square and mounted them onto 4” square pieces of scrapbook paper that I already had (7 sheets of 12 x 12 paper). I used regular yarn and mini clothespins from Joann’s to attach them. I have a DONE envelope to put them in when we’re done. Here are the fonts that I used:

• Aardvark Café
• Cool Dots
• Delius Swash Caps
• Eraser Dust
• First-Grader

I also made a supplies list for myself, broken down by activity, as well as cost, if any. Of course, there are a handful of activities that are local to my neck of the woods, but you can either just toss those or replace them with ones in your area. I’ve also linked to the resources that I found to actually complete these lovely activities.

Crafts / Cooking

1. Make Sidewalk Paint
• Cornstarch
• Food Coloring
2. Potato Stamps
• Potatoes
• Paint
• Knife
• Paper
3. Make Popsicles
• Dixie Cups
• Popsicle Sticks
• Yogurt
• Strawberries
• Lemon Juice
• Sugar
4. Paint with Pudding
• Pudding
• Muffin Tins
• Paper
5. Finger Paint
• Sugar
• Salt
• Corn Starch
• Food Coloring
• Jars for paint
6. Make a Bird Feeder
• Peanut Butter
• Plastic bags
• Bird Seed
• Plastic spoons
• Twine
7. Kool-Aid Soda Pop
• Kool Aid
• Sugar
• Bubble Water
8. Make Dessert
9. Make Cupcakes for Neighbors
• Cake mix
• Frosting
• Sprinkles
• Printed topper
• Ziplock bags
10. Snack Necklace
• Pretzels
• Cheerios
• Other snack foods with holes
11. Make Flubber
• Elmer’s Glue
• Borax
• Food Coloring
12. Make Play Dough
• Flour
• Salt
• Cream of Tartar
• Kool Aid
13. Caramel Popcorn
• 1/2 cup unpopped corn kernels (10-12 cups popped)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
14. Craft from Magazine
15. Make Shirts (I mean decorate some with fabric markers)
16. Make Ice Cream
17. Bubble Snake
• Plastic Water Bottle
• Sock
• Rubber band
• Super Giant Bubble Solution
• Dawn
• Cornstarch
• Baking Soda
• Secret Ingredient from link
18. Make Cookies for Neighbors
19. Bathtub Painting
• Clear Glycerin Soap
• Tempera Paint
• Long skinny ice cube tray

Outings that may or may not cost money

1. Picnic
2. Get a new clothing item
• $10
3. Swim
• $10
4. Movie at Theater
• $5
5. McDonalds Playland
• $10
6. Nature Scavenger Hunt
• Printable
• Collection bag
7. Get Slurpees
• $5
8. Bowling
• $10
9. Zoo
10. Camping
11. Bike to Park
12. Fireworks
13. Splash Park
14. Donuts
15. Go For a Hike

Things to do around our house

1. Campout in Backyard
2. Play a Board Game
3. Movie & Popcorn
4. Kids Plan Dinner
5. Ride Bikes
6. Lemonade Stand
• Lemon Juice
• Sugar
• Cups
• Signs
• Table
7. Learn a New Game
8. Blanket Fort
9. Water Balloons
• Water Balloons
• Bucket
10. Breakfast for Dinner
11. Paper Airplanes
12. Swim at Our Pool
13. Water Bottle Fight
14. Treasure Hunt
• Clue Cards
• Envelopes and Plastic Eggs
• Candy
• Prizes

Things specific to us here in Fort Collins (although you might be able to find something similar where you live)

1. Farmer’s Market
2. Ride the Trolley
• $6
3. TCBY
• $10
4. Lee Martinez Farm
• $3 x 3 = $9
• Pony Rides $5 x 2 = $10?
5. Mail a Letter to Maria (our sponsored child through WorldVision.org)
6. Discovery Museum
7. Swimming at City Park
8. Ice Cream Truck
9. Noontime Notes
10. Walk to the Mullins
11. Drive In Movie
12. IMAX at Discovery Museum

I also was thinking that since at least half of these aren’t necessarily summer-only activities, once summer is over, I’ll be putting these in a box or something to pull out once in a while when we need something besides our usual to do.

Also, please don’t be intimidated or think that I’m some kind of super mom!! I can guarantee that we will NOT be doing ALL of these this summer. I just wanted some ideas of some things to do so that we don’t feel like our entire summer slipped away. Some days we might do several of these, but some days (or weeks), we might only get to one or two or none for that matter.

A few others things we’re doing also:

• Going to as many parks in our town as possible. According to the city’s website, there are 38 parks with playgrounds.
• Doing several summer reading programs including the one from our library and and a few from this list.
• Nate is signed up for a music class as well as an Amazing Athletes class through the city.
• Vacation Bible School! The kids are beyond thrilled and eagerly anticipating VBS

I have a pinterest board just for summer too, so we might do a few more things from there, but who knows?

What are you doing this summer?

~S

In case you missed it in all those words, here are the download files:

• pdf  OR
• publisher file (which you obviously can only open if you have publisher

Here are the fonts that I used:

• Aardvark Café
• Cool Dots
• Delius Swash Caps
• Eraser Dust
• First-Grader

Tools for the Journey – Budgeting Worksheets

Yesterday I had the privilege of co-teaching a seminar on budgeting and creative money saving tips as part of the Tools for the Journey workshop at my church. They recorded most of the seminars, so you can look for those here sometime this week.
The main way that we budget right now has evolved from using the Crown Financial Ministries method for many years. This is what we’ve come up with to personalize their great system. If you have never taken a money bible study like Crown or Dave Ramsey, I would strongly recommend it!
Here’s my budget board that hangs very visibly by our coat closet (ignore the fly swatter :))

First, the color-coded main budget page on the bottom right. This helps keep track of all the categories that need to be paid every month, whether I’ve paid them, and if we were over or under budget.
Monthly Expenses
Next is the tracking sheet for all debit card purchases. I pull out about half of our monthly general fund in cash, and when I do, it goes on this tracking sheet as well. We have found that a combination of cash and debit card without a lot of categories (like groceries, personal care, diapers, etc, etc) works best for us.
Monthly Cash
Then I have a separate sheet to keep track of spending out of savings. This includes things like getting the furnace fixed or other things that were intentional expenditures out of savings. I also have our date night on there, but I usually pull this out in cash as well. This just helps if we go out before I have a chance to do that.
Savings
I also made a “Hey Dude, Pay Up!” sheet. This is just for when either I buy something for someone (like at CostCo) or they do the same for me. It’s come about because otherwise *I* would forget. Not at all a reflection on my friends/family who end up on there :-)
Pay Up
Other features of my budget board:

• All of the papers are in sheet protectors so that I can write on and erase them every month.
• There are two wet erase markers, a calculator, and a pen velcroed to the board. This way I have *no* excuse not to write down expenditures.
• I also have a few categories that I pull out in cash every month, like car license. These envelopes are all clipped together and hang on the upper left. The front envelope is for if I have cash that needs to be redeposited (like when I pay the car license) or any random checks that need to be taken to the bank. I try to only go to the bank once or maybe twice a month.

Tomorrow I’ll post the rest of our handout/notes from the seminar!
~S

Brain Book, hooray!

 
I got my new brain book all done last Friday, hooray! I can’t tell you how many things I wanted to write down in a safe place last week and had nowhere to do so. Several people have expressed interest in my files, etc, so here goes.
What is a brain book?
My brain book is all the daily/weekly/monthly information that I would otherwise either attempt to store in my head or write down on a scrap of paper and then proceed to lose the paper. They’re called many things by many people: household notebook, daily planner, etc. I call it my brain because that’s what I think of it as. With this bad boy, I don’t have to remember all that stuff, I have a safe place to keep it all. I use it to “brain dump” before I go to bed, too, so that all that stuff I’m supposed to do tomorrow doesn’t keep me from sleeping (as it has in the past)
That’s great, but what kind of things are actually in your brain book??
Of course, mine is tailored exactly to me. This is the second one that I’ve put together in this format, and I *love* it! I got this idea from Life As Mom about 6 months ago, so I used quite a bit from her site. I even purchased her Organizing Life As MOM e-book so that I wouldn’t have to recreate everything she’s already done. She also has some other great free printables that I’ve used here and here. I did create several sheets that are exactly what I wanted, but you don’t have to if that’s what’s stopping you from having some type of book. Part of the reason I ended up doing that is because I wanted mine to be 5 1/2” by 8 1/2” (which is 1/2 a sheet of paper, not a whole one) so that it would fit in my purse instead of always getting left behind. Also, this one that I just made covers 6 months because more than that is too much and less than that is too much work to make a new one.
Okay, the nitty-gritty
Here’s the sections I have in my current brain book:

1. To Do
2. Calendar
3. Errands
4. $$$
5. Shopping (code name for mystery shopping)
6. SVCC Preschool
7. Blog
8. Food
9. Paper

To Do:
This is my daily to do list. I printed enough to use about one every other or every 3rd day. I really only need one on a day that’s not the normal routine of things, like when I have errands to run or other things going on. You could also just laminate one and wipe it off every day, which I might try in July.
Bubble Planner
Back to the list
Calendar:
The calendar section actually has the most parts to it. First, I have a weekly calendar on the left side and a household chores/weekly to do on the right side. After the weeklies, I have monthly calendars because sometimes it’s nice to have it all laid out like that. I don’t have much on there, but you could put in birthdays, holidays, etc. I put all that stuff on my weekly calendar since I’m going to be looking at the weekly a lot more often. At the end of this section, I also have a year-at-a-glance, mostly for things that occur after June that I don’t have a calendar for in this book.
I got the monthly calendars from Organizing Life As MOM e-book. She already had them set up as two pages per month, and in the e-book, they’re fill-ins, so I *could* put info in them if I wanted to before printing.
2011 Weekly Calendar Part 1
2011 Calendar
Back to the list
Errands:
My friend and I came up with this one. It’s just a basic list for when you know you will be going to a store, but not necessarily right away. Simply has the date you think you’ll be going (or are planning to go) and the name of the store, then a place for your list. I hate getting to a store and forgetting half my list because I didn’t write it down or because it was two weeks ago when I thought of something I needed to get there.
Errands
Back to the list
$$$:
I’m not always good at writing down my spending when I get home. We have a big white board on the wall in the stairwell for our expenses, but after I go to the store, I usually forget. So, since this will be going everywhere with me, maybe this will work! Again, we went for simplicity. Date, name of store, description of purchase, and amount.
 Monthly Expenses
Back to the list
Shopping:
Obviously, mystery shopping is something that is specific to a very few people. BUT it’s something that I must keep track of, so I put it in here. I also took a manila envelope and cut it down to size to keep my receipts in it. If you want my tracking sheets for some reason, let me know and I’ll send them to you.
Back to the list
SVCC Preschool:
Another section very specific to me. I coordinate the preschool room at our church for Sunday school, so I needed a small place to keep track of my volunteers and any action items I have for the classroom.
Back to the list
Blog:
I like to have a plan. I don’t always follow the plan, but if I didn’t have one, then I wouldn’t do anything at all! Besides “the plan” I also have a few to do lists and a few pieces of lined paper (they’re at the end of this post).
Blog Schedule
Back to the list
Food:
Another section with several parts. I started out with a weekly menu plan as I’ve been doing for Menu Plan Monday. On the back of that, I have meal ideas that fit within each of my categories. Then I have two pages for recipes to try. I like finding new recipes, but I hate it when I lose them or forget all about them. Next, I have a grocery list that I’ve broken into 9 categories that relate to how my grocery store is organized. Last I have my master Costco list. We go to Costco about every 6 weeks because the closest one is an hour away, so when I run out of something or know I need to get it next time, I’ll just add it to the list.
What's for Dinner
Meal Ideas
Grocery List
Back to the list
Paper:
The last section just has lined paper and blank to do lists. You never know when you might just need a piece of paper :)
Lined Paper
To Do List
Back to the list
So that’s it! I printed it all out (which takes some thinking to get it all double sided the way I want) and took it to OfficeMax to have them bind it. I had them put a clear cover on it too, but I made the *fancy* cover with a few pieces of scrapbook paper :) The binding was only $3.50, and the paper was free for me since I have a ton and I have a laser printer now too. Pretty neat, eh??
If you really want one, but putting together your own seems terribly overwhelming, I would be happy to help! I can put together a custom one for you for $15. Also, I’m happy to share my publisher files (that’s how I do most of them), just email me at theyoungns at gmail.com.
Off to make some more to do lists! ;-)
~S