BEST Summer Fun for kids

The ABC’s to the BEST Summer Fun for Kids

What are your fondest memories of summer? Do they include the city pool? Putt-putt golf? Late night talks with your best friend on the porch? If they do, then you’re like me. There are songs I hear today that bring back the smell of chlorine and visions of lifeguards. Those are my BEST Summer Fun Memories. So what are some easy ways to add fun to your kids’ summer?

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“B” is for Best Friend

Some of my favorite memories are of hanging out with my best friend (who[ happened to be my neighbor). We would ride through the neighborhood planning all the amazing things we were going to do for the summer. We would stay up late and get up early. The summer was ours and would last forever (or 2 months).

Summer memories hanging out w/ my best friend~the summer was ours & would last forever (or 2 mos). Click To Tweet

One of these memories was of making Monkey Bread. She taught me the fundamentals of monkey bread…biscuits, cinnamon, butter, and sugar. Oh man, I can taste that sugary goodness right now. Here’s the perfect kid-friendly recipe from The Pioneer Woman.

And, as evidenced by this photo, monkey bread is well-loved (even as a swim break snack!).

Great for: all friends

Price: Supplies only

“E” is for Empathy

Last year I purchased Smile on a whim. It turned out to be one of my daughter’s favorite summer reads. This year we added Sisters to the collection. This New York Times bestselling set follows middle school grade Girl Scout, Raina, and her little sister, Amara through the trials of growing up. If you have sibling daughters, like I do, this is a great book about the importance of life-long relationships.

Great for: Elementary – Middle School, especially sisters!

Price: $12-15.00 (down from $21.98) and includes Smiles & Sisters

“S” is for Sowing Seeds

Gardening is such a wonderful activity (so says my mother). I personally have a hard time with nature. We don’t always get along and my gardening efforts often end in death. RIP little tomato! (Channel your inner Veggie Tales here).

My kids joined a Garden Club this Spring in our local homeschool group. Their first harvest was a radish that we immediately had to take home and cook up! Since June is also National Fruits and Vegetables Month, this kit is a cute kick-off to a vegetable garden. It comes with a basin with drainage reservoir, grow mix, plant identification labels, root markers, growing chart, three packets of seeds, 16-page booklet, and (my favorite part) a planting box with acrylic window for students to observe plants and roots develop as they grow! (Not to mention it doesn’t involve me going out into nature and accidentally killing it.)

Great for: Ages 5 and up

Price: $20-25

“T” is for Tall Tales

Some of the best times we have is during our family read-alouds.  The Chronicles of Narnia, Dr. Seuss, Percy Jackson, any J.K. Rowling book, and we are hooked! My kids love to read Tall Tales all summer and weave some of their own, too. These two great reading logs from The Notebooking Fairy and Starts at Eight are great tools for encouraging summer reading fun. Add the books and start encouraging each other to succeed with regular check-ins. (Maybe with some of that Monkey Bread!)

Great for: All readers (and those being read to)

Price: Free

I’ll leave you with this BEST summer fun quote from novelist Henry James

Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.Henry James