Summer of Family Fun

A Summer of Family Fun. Dedicated to our #Adventures4Eddie

This post is all about Summer Fun with your family! There are a few highlighted Saints to join you on your journey. I'm not sure I could cram this all into one summer, but instead I plan to come back to this list year after year to find a new adventure. Please comment with any links or ideas you have, too! I want this list to grow and be shared, because we're all in this together.
 
We have 8 children, currently ranging from ages 5 months to 17 years old, so it was important that the activities incorporated all age groups. In 2017 we lost our 5yo son, Eddie, in a tragic back yard accident. He loved being outside, creating, and spending time with the family. He often reminded us in his own way when it was time to step away from our tasks and just have fun. Since then we've gained a renewed spirit about letting go of the excuses and fears that keep us from having adventures with our children. We're visiting new places, trying new things, and continuing the focus on our faith and family - but with much more vigor than before. Sure, there are days I let the excuses be the reason we just stay at home without any pressure to go big, and that's good too. A good read-aloud, family rosary, card game, or a puzzle can satisfy our interests.
Every time I write up a list, lesson plan or take pictures of our family activities, I am thinking someone out there would enjoy this too. Thank you for your encouragement as you join the conversation with your comments. Check out all the ideas and lesson plans on this web page, and join my daily sharing of ideas and inspirations on  www.facebook.com/HomegrownCatholics .  You can follow our family's adventures on  FB Adventures4Eddie as well as the St Brigid's Academy blog  If you have 4 or more children and homeschool, join the conversation on our Facebook support group: Homeschooling a Largely Blessed Catholic Family .

I'm keeping things short - so I can get back to my family! I'm praying for you, dear families and friends, that your lives be full of JOY and ADVENTURE as you take this journey towards our eternal home.

STAYCATIONS & LOCAL ACTIVITIES
- Blanket Fort Sleepover
- Family Bike Ride, check out a new trail
- Rent a Pontoon to cruise, fish or swim
- Go Geocaching!
- Visit a New Playground each week
- Attend your church summer camps
- Grandma's Day Camp
- Attend your Parish Festival & City Fun Days
- Visit a Theme Park
- Visit a Working Farm or Zoo
- Check out your local movie theater's summer kids club
- Attend a Parade, or better yet be in one!
- Visit your local Farmers’ Market. Check if they have a kids program.
- Any road trips must include sing-a-longs, car games, audio books, and roadside picnics and pitstops!
- Create Chalk Villages and Homes
- Raise Butterflies
- Build a Puzzle together
- Frisbee Golf
- Host a Teen Extreme Game Day
- Mini Golf
- Make a Home Video or Commericial
- Field Sports
- Relay Races
- Play Flashlight Tag
- Get Artsy

- YOU GOT THIS!

SPECIAL CHALLENGES
*Garage Sale Challenge: Everyone gets $10 to spend. Awards for Best Deal, Most Unique, Silliest Outfit/Costume, etc
*Photograph Scavenger Hunt: Capture a scene from a unique angle; a unique subject; or choose a theme (boredom busters, my city's highlights, sunrises, little & unnoticed, chores before & after). Share your collage!
*Fly Over My Favorite Place: Paint a morning or evening sky. Decoupage an image of a famous monument or place. Add a painted image of a hot air balloon. Paint or decoupage an image of you in the air balloon!
*Senior Moments: Design inspirational and colorful placemats to bring to a senior home. Choose a short story or selection of poetry to read aloud to seniors. Sing to them. Play chess, cards, help with crafts, etc. Whatever your talent, share it with the elderly.

We do this as part of our #Adventures4Eddie 
and you can see this, our story, and more activity ideas 
*Adventure Rocks: Paint Inspirational Rocks and leave them on trails, near geocaches, or at different places you visit.  (Tag your pictures with our hashtag!)


READING CHALLENGE
- Have afternoon tea with storytime.
- Library’s Summer Program
- Create a Lego Scene for each book you read. Photograph it.
- Create bookmarks using a cutout photo of yourself, friends or family.
- Find a new book at a thrift store, or library’s free shelf.
- Video chat with a friend, reading a book aloud to one another. Be dramatic!
- Memorize a Bible verse. Make a poster and hang it up where you’ll see it often.
- Draw the characters of a book that is not already illustrated.
- Host or Join a Book Club
- Redesign a book cover. Print and recover your book.
- Create "Blackout Poetry:" Photocopy a page of a book. Blackout words leaving only those that create a poem. Black out completely, or intertwine a corresponding image.
- Read to a sibling, friend, elderly, hospitalized, or a pet.
- Read one whole book of the Bible, or do a Bible Study.
- Pick a book of Saints and write a personal prayer, asking for the intercession of your favorite Saint.
 
 St. Jerome & St Catherine of Alexandria, Patron Saints of Librarians, Libraries, Teachers, Archivists

WHERE WILL YOUR FEET TAKE YOU?
- Plant and Tend a Mary Garden of flowers
- Plant and Tend a food garden, learning about food preservation
- Take a barefoot beach walk
- Get a pedicure at home or a spa, or gift a pedicure to someone you love.
- Footprint painting
- Game: Find objects in a tub of Orbeez with your toes! Race a friend.
- Shopping with friends, find a unique/fun pair of socks!
- Go for a nature walk. Bring a journal and pencil along.
- Draw an architectural sketch of a space on grid paper, using your footsteps to measure it.
- Decorate flip flops with tying on fabric scraps.
- Join a summer track team.
- Nature Scavenger Hunt
- Build a Sandcastle
- Learn dance moves online or in a class
- Host a Field Day with friends


St. Servatus, Patron Saint of Feet
St. Christopher & St. Archangel Raphael, Patron Saints of Travelers

WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR
- Invite neighbor friends over to have a Driveway/Sidewalk Chalk-Fest. Eat popsicles and get creative! Watch “Sidewalk Artists” online to get inspired.
- Neighborhood Fun: 4-Square, Catch, Biking, Playground, Tag, Human Knot, Kickball…
- Setup a Neighborhood Picnic/Potluck
- When mowing the yard, offer to mow your neighbor’s lawn.
- Write a Pen Pal
- Offer summer babysitting service.
- Everyone enjoys a good Smore over a campfire!
^Click image to visit our homeschool blog

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:31

THAT’S SEW INTERESTING
- Sew crafts for future gifts or donations
- Weave items from nature on a stick and string loom.
- Make Daisy Chains with dandelions, clover or other flowers.
- Sew your own clothes and accessories: skirt, dress, boxers, hair tie, bowtie, library tote, adventure satchel, makeup case…just to name a few ideas.
- Sew many ideas and patterns online. Visit www.pinterest.com/HGCatholics/needle-arts-for-kids/
- Embroider a set of dish towels or napkins
 
 St. Anne, Patron Saint of Housewives

YOU NAILED IT
- Build a: balance board, corn hole game, washer toss game, bike ramp, picnic table, lap desk, yard dice, mini golf course, a new invention.
- There are many Shop Class & Engineering ideas online. Start looking here www.pinterest.com/HGCatholics/shop-class/
- Learn woodworking in simple steps from peeling carrots, to carving soap blocks and creating stamps from potatoes, to whittling a walking stick, to cutting using a jigsaw and arm saw, and then onto bigger projects.
- Pick a few engineering projects to create using things around your home.


St. Joseph the Carpenter


WATER WEEK
- Homemade slip n slide using a large sheet of plastic, landscaping stakes. and a hose. Add soap to slicken the run.
- Make homemade popsicles! Our favorite silicone mold can be found here: Popsicle Mold Link
- Create a watercolor nature study of your favorite summer places
- Have a Squirt Gun Fight
- Fill waterguns with watercolors or watered-down tempura paint, and spray a canvas
- Have a rainy day spa day (inside or outside!)
- Have a carwash in your swimsuits
- Visit a local pool, lake, waterfall, river, waterpark or splashpad
- Go fishing, boating, canoing, or other watersports
- Blow bubbles, creating homemade wands
- Water Balloon Fight
- Run through your sprinklers 
St. Nicholas, Patron Saint of Sailors
St. Adjutor, Patron Saint of swimmers and boaters
 
Bl. Peter Gonzales, Patron of sailors


You can write out this list on your calendar (schedule in the fun), or perhaps create a Summer Countdown with a display like this:



Thank you for visiting my post. I hope to add to my growing list of family activties, so your comments are helpful. Check out all the ideas and lesson plans on this webpage, and join my daily sharing of ideas and inspirations on Facebook  www.facebook.com/HomegrownCatholics

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