Works for Me: Fun for Kiddos

I am super excited about this week's edition of Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by We Are THAT Family. Everyone who links in will be posting their ideas of how to keep your kids busy over the summer. If you are looking for tons of fun ideas on how to have great, quality time with your kids, go check this out!!!

Here are some ideas of my own, many of them inherited from my amazing mom, who always made summer interesting and delightful for my sis and me.

1. Fingerpaint with pudding. Cover your table (inside or outside table) with wax paper. Tape it down well. Have the kids put on their bathing suits, to make clean-up easier. Put a pile of pudding on the table in front of them. They can fingerpaint and eat as long as they want. When they are done, take them out and hose them down, or let them run through the sprinklers.

2. Read to them! I cannot stress enough the benefits of reading to your children. With your little ones, grab a pile of picture books and read together for a half hour...or as long as they stay engaged. For older ones, read good literature to them. Let them work on handwork projects or coloring while you read. For good read ideas, visit this post from last summer.

3. Teach them the basics of cooking. My 6-year-old daughter is able to prepare a basic breakfast for the family, and can bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch, entirely by herself (except for the oven part). Start with measurements. Let them play with measuring cups and spoons, and experiment with how the measurements work together. It's okay to get a bit messy...just make sure you teach them how to clean up, too.

4. Paint with water. Give your kids some old paintbrushes and a bucket of water. Make sure they are house painting brushes, not art brushes. Let them paint with water on the patio, sidewalk, or driveway. You'll be amazed at how long this will delight them! And there's no clean-up at all!

5. Watch the clouds go by. On a day where there are good clouds, lie on a blanket in the yard with the kids. Look for shapes in the clouds, and talk about the clouds with the kids. I love to do this with my kiddos. The clouds have led to some deep conversations about God, and have also sparked Snapper's interest in meteorology.

Enjoy these precious days and make memories with your kids. They will remember for a lifetime.