Addding a Bit of Calm Fun

Jules here-

Summer is in full swing in New Hampshire-- beaches, lakes, ice cream shops, and playgrounds-- we are having a blast! The kids have been crashing to sleep at night from all the physical exertion during the day, but sometimes I am trying to slow them down a bit on the really hot afternoons.  James, especially, becomes very easily overheated in the sun, and I try to force him to take breaks to cool off.

If we aren't swimming, I try to do some quiet activities during the afternoon to chill them down, protect them from the inevitable Irish-sunburn, and give me a few minutes of peace.  A few simple tweaks on some "normal" fun games can make them super special:

• Candy Land with REAL CandyI fished out the remainder of our Easter candy and some other fun treats from my candy and interspersed real candy on the Candy Land board. The girls LOVED seeing if they landed on one of the treat squares! We played two rounds to get all the candy-- and James was on my "team" so he got all mine.  You could use any candy, chips, marshmallows-- whatever you have on hand. 

 

• Shaving Cream PaintO.k. well, this isn't exactly super quiet-- but the kids had a great time revisiting one of our favorite bath tub activities: shaving cream paint!  Instead of doing it inside, however, I let them get in their bathing suits, and paint stuff outside on the deck.  They brought plastic (waterproof) toys outside and decorated them-- and themselves.  They even painted the deck (which admittedly took some scrubbing to remove-- so be forewarned).  Afterwards, I hosed them down to much giggling and screaming!

Our little artists...

All you need is dollar-store shaving cream and some food dye!

•  Books!
  Reading is a staple in our house, even in the summer.  I usually have the girls take an hour "book break" in the afternoon.  All the summer-reading is fun- and since I recently went to the FANTASTIC library book sale, the girls are loaded with new material.  We still do our weekly (or bi-weekly) library trips and we are signed up for the summer reading program there.  The program encourages the children to read (or be read to) 15 minutes every day.  We easily read 60 minutes plus-- but the kids love "charting" their progress towards great prizes.

All of these books... $4 (over 50 different items)

Love having a kid who can read to James!

 Hope you are enjoying all the sunshine this fantastic season! Though the days may be hot, I am not complaining-- I did enough of that this winter.  And for those of you down south-- I miss Rita's Water Ice!!!

 Easy Rule #8970-  Make sure your kids have some quiet time in the summer--keeping them cool is a bit easier when they aren't running around.

Easy Rule #980- When you really can't cool down-- eat ice cream.