Summer Activity Jar

*** UPDATED – Ive made an updated list for 2012 that can be found here.

Every summer I have great intentions of doing tons of cool and fun things with my boys… before I ever get organized the summer is almost over. This year I decided to make a jar of 50 things we can do for fun during the summer. Some require my attention others are more simple and just remind them of something cool they can do on their own.

I cut all 50 ideas out, folded them, and put them into a jar I had. I glued a little piece of leftover fabric on the top and then made a little tag and modge podged it onto the jar. It took me all of 10 minutes to put together.

Each night I had them take turns pulling an idea out of the jar for the next day. Here is our list of 50 for this year:

1. Organize a bike Parade
2. Paint rocks
3. Water balloon fight
4. Nature scavenger hunt
5. Make art for an evening art show
6. Wash the car
7. Build a fort
8. Play dough
9. Squirt bottle water fight
10. Jump on the trampoline with ice cubes
11. ‘Stained Glass Windows’ – Cover the sticky side of contact paper with several colors of tissue paper, make sure to leave about an inch edge all the way around so it will stick to the window
12. Flashlight tag
13. Write a letter to cousins/grandparents
14. Backwards Day – Have dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner, eat dessert before lunch
15. Paint a picture with lemon juice on white paper and hang it in a sunny window and see what happens in a few days
16. Hold a bike wash
17. Make a map of your bedroom, house, or neighborhood
18. Plan an imaginary trip around the world, where would you want to go?
19. Practice your soccer skills
20. Create a mosaic
21. Sponge Tag – get 2 or 3 large car sponges and several buckets of water. Whoever is “it” grabs a sponge and gets it wet. If you are hit with the sponge, you are it.
22. Do a hidden picture from the highlights website
23. Organize a game of Dodge Ball
24. Make up a code and then write a letter
25. Create a sand art picture
26. Tic Tac Toe
27. Use binoculars
28. Play catch
29. Plan and create a picnic for your stuffed animals
30. Learn magic tricks, plan a magic show
31. Make bookmarks
32. Build something fun with legos – our house, our town, Disneyland, Sea World, Space ships, the Temple….
33. Math games
34. Visit a farm
35. Decorate a shoe box for all your summer treasures
36. Cut open old record covers from good will and make a card to mail to a loved one
37. Make cookies and visit a Grandma in the neighborhood
38. Plan a lemonade stand or bake sale and donate the money to a good cause
39. Make a collage from magazines
40. Create a Hot Wheels obstacle course
41. Visit the fire station
42. Invent your own board game
43. Letterboxing
44. Tie-dye some t-shirts
45. Have a paper airplane contest
46. Freezer Baggie Ice Cream
47. Plan dinner and help cook
48. Re-decorate your room
49. Design your own roller coaster with kinex
50. Draw a mural on the wall in chalk

It has helped make for such a FUN summer!