Summertime is a very exciting time for kids. With school being out and the weather at it's warmest, kids are itching to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. Unfortunately - Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate, so not everyday is all blue skies. When you end up with the kids stuck inside on a rainy summer day - pulling out a fun, hands-on craft project for them to complete is a great idea. With these simple craft projects, you can keep kids busy for the afternoon even if they are stuck indoors.
Keeping craft projects simple can be extremely helpful to both you and the kids. Kids love to decorate and personalize their own items, and any craft store can supply you with tons of blank, customizable items. Since our project is summer themed - choosing a plain white visor or baseball hat (available for a very low cost at any craft store) and purchasing fabric markers, glitter glue, and even small gemstones will give kids the opportunity to create their own custom headgear to wear out on the next sunny day. Craft stores often have big seasonal sales, so when it's nearing the end of a season, you can usually stock up on supplies like these to have in the house in case a rainy day comes along. Things like fabric markers and glitter glue can work for a number of different projects, so having them in the house already can save you a trip to the store in the future.
Toy Organizer Bin
If you have a little bit of time on your hands as a parent, a fun activity that you can do for the kids is to create a scavenger hunt in the house. Giving them an incentive to complete the hunt is also a great idea. For example, give them a list of summery things to find in the house (i.e. a flip flop, a bikini top, suntan lotion, a beach towel with blue in it, etc...) and when they bring all of the items back to you, they'll get lunch or an afternoon snack. If you have younger kids, making the list short and sweet will help them from getting too frustrated with the project, but if kids are older - making the list longer and more specific will help them to the take on the challenge. Giving kids a pillowcase to take along on their search will help them from losing anything during the hunt. Keeping the scavenger hunt summer themed will let kids enjoy the season even when they can't play outside.
On the contrary, if you do have a nice day on your hands and you're still looking to keep the kids entertained, both of these projects can be taken outdoors. Setting kids up at an outdoor table to create their hats will allow them to immediately wear the finished product whenever they're done. You can easily transform the scavenger hunt to cater to both indoors and outdoors by adding items to the list like "a pink flower" and "a sandbox toy". Keeping in mind all of the items in and around your home will ensure that the kids will be able to find everything that's on the list.
So whether your kids are young or old, they will enjoy partaking in a fun, creative, hands-on project for the afternoon. Giving these ideas to a babysitter is also a great idea since keeping kids busy while you're out of the house is important, too. Take a look around your house and see what type of craft supplies you already have. By adding items to the mix that are already in your craft storage bin, you can spice up these projects even more. By allowing your kids to have some fun and be creative - they'll enjoy themselves even if their perfect summer day is compromised by the rain.