Five Tips for Keeping Your Kids from Getting Bored this Summer
Free from their school routines and extra curricular activities, many kids can get bored quickly with the carefree days of summer. Summers are meant to be a downtime for families, an opportunity to decompress from an often hectic school year, but if left too unstructured, kids can become bored and not so pleasant to be around. So to help every parent out there maintain a peaceful easy summer here are a few tips.
Maintain some type of structure to your child's day. For parents who work outside the home, a day camp might be the best option here. Day camps give kids just enough structure to help maintain routines, but are often relaxed enough for kids to feel relieved from the daily pressures of school and extra curricular activities. For parents who don't work outside the home, maintaining a routine can be a little more of a challenge. Start by keeping bedtimes and morning times relatively the same each day. Allow for the flexibility and pleasures of extended bedtimes, but try and keep them consistent everyday. Plan recurring outings (i.e. the library, swimming, museums, and picnics) for the same day each week. Always make sure you have at least one "do nothing" day built into the schedule. Monday's are often a good day for these because kids are often tired from the weekends and need a little time to unwind.
Arrange for your children to have time to play with kids other than their siblings. Nothing is worse than siblings who have grown tired of one another after only two weeks of summer break. Prevent this by arranging for your kids to play alone with their friends. Swap play dates or arrange sleepovers, or arrange for your children to take a camp with their friends.
Have backup activities on hand as a last minute response to a sudden onset of the summer blues. Craft kits, science experiments, and yard games are all good options. Have the supplies and ideas on hand and stored in a box, so they are in easy access when needed.
Keep them learning with fun relaxed learning activities. Reading contests and challenges are often a good way to keep their minds alert and reading throughout the summer. Check with your local library for one in your area. Summer activity books are another good option. Designed specifically for summer breaks, these activity books help keep the material they learned in school fresh in their minds.
Let them explore their interests by enrolling them in a camp or class. Use the relaxing days of summer to encourage your kids to learn something new or pursue an interest they didn't have time to learn during the school year. The relaxing summer atmosphere is often a good time to try these things because kids often will feel less pressure to succeed and perform.
Summer Boredom Busters – 10 Great Ideas to Keep Kids from Getting the Summer Blues
Keep kids from getting the summer blues with these ten great ideas.
Build an Ice Cream Stand – Find a local ball park busy with little league ball games and set up an ice cream stand. Let the kids build and decorate the stand out of wood or cardboard (old refrigerator boxes work well) and add their menu to the outside. Keep kids involved by letting them be in charge of buying the supplies (large bulk clubs like Sam's Club are great for this) and figuring out how much to charge. Encourage your kids to donate a portion of their profits to a charity or add some fun games for their customers to play while enjoying their ice cream. Keep the ice cream cold by burying it in plastic containers at the bottom of a big cooler filled with ice.
Organize a Summer Playgroup – Ask other parents to join you and your kids at a local park once a week. Play on the playground, organize lawn games, or provide crafts for the kids.
Hold a Treasure Hunt – Write up clues that will lead your kids on a hunt through the neighborhood and to local places of interest. Begin by mailing the first clue to the kids (what kid doesn't like to receive mail?) and letting them figure out where to go. You can spread the clues out over the summer or have them complete the hunt in a day. At the end, have a "treasure" of prizes available as reward for their accomplishments. You can make it interesting by writing the clues on scrolls or by making them educational
Start a Neighborhood Business – If your child is old enough, help them start a small neighborhood business like pet watching, dog walking, mother's helper, or house watching (getting mail, watering plants). Help them create fliers, determine pricing, and of course help them understand how to provide excellent customer service.
Host a Neighborhood Cookout – Encourage your neighbors and friends to take a break from their busy lives by inviting them to a neighborhood cookout. Include the kids by having them help make invitations, plan games, and prepare food. Make it easier on yourself and family by asking your friends and neighbors to bring a dish to share.
Join a Reading Contest or Challenge – Encourage your kids to get lost in a good book this summer by signing them up for your local library's reading contest. Common among most libraries, book challenges are a great way to keep kids reading through the summer and earn prizes and awards for their achievements.
Start a Summer Scrapbook or Memory Jar – Start by saving small mementos from your summer vacations, activities, and trips. Over the summer let the kids add them to a scrapbook or store in a decorated memory jar or box. Make it fun by giving the kids a challenge of finding the most unique memento from their excursions.
Hold a Carnival – Let your kids organize a backyard carnival for friends and neighbors. Kids can be kept busy building a ticket booth, organizing games, planning food, and buying prizes. Let them take charge here; you will be amazed at what their imaginations can do!
Write a Family or Neighborhood Newsletter – Put your kids in charge of writing and publishing a family or neighborhood newsletter. Let them write creative articles and share the scoop on what is going on with friends and family. This is a great way to help them improve their writing skills and keep them busy at the same time.
Start a Puzzle – Pick out a large challenging puzzle and put it in an out of the way place. Encourage the kids to slowly add and complete the puzzle throughout the summer. This is a great one to have on hand when they say "I'm bored".
Jazz Up Your Basement Ceiling - You Can Do That
Copyright 2006 Dennis Watson
I helped a friend of mine finish his basement but he was not sure what type of ceiling he wanted to put in. There are several options like traditional drywall, tongue and groove boards, acoustic ceiling tiles and drop ceiling, so we analyzed each option.
A drywall ceiling required that we relocate most pipes and ducts into the joist cavities, or out to the perimeter of the room. Then we would have to place a wood frame to box in around anything that was still hanging below the line of the ceiling joists. Then we would have to place wooden furring strips where extra strength was be needed. It is necessary to use the furring and the framed boxes in order to provide a solid backing for the finished ceiling treatment. Drywall seemed like a good choice because of the low cost of the material but we weren't to thrilled about taping and sanding it later.
Acoustic ceiling tiles was another option, the tiles are easy to cut and their small size makes them very easy to handle. They are installed by stapling them to the furring strips but again we had to move pipes and ducts in order to provide suitable framing for a nice flat ceiling.
We then entertained the idea of using T1-11 tongue and groove boards, again we would need to move pipes and ducts and the cost was a bit high. After some thought the look of this product just wasn't what he wanted.
We then looked into the standard drop ceiling, it is one of the easiest solutions to covering basement joists but again the thought of hanging and cutting rails did not appeal to him and again the look of this type of ceiling reminded him of an old office building. It seemed that the cost was a factor as well.
And then one day shopping with his family he saw what a store did with their ceiling and that was basically nothing. He asked the owner what they did and he said they basically cleaned the pipes and duct work, primered them and then used an airless sprayer to paint everything one color. It was perfect, we would not have to move any thing, no framing was necessary and to beat all it allowed for more head room.
The one concern we had was that maybe some electrical or gas lines might not be able to be painted, so if you have doubts call a professional or inspector and ask before you paint. I will say that after the project was complete not only did this industry style ceiling cost less it really looked good. Good luck with your project.
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Dennis Watson - Just helping others succeed.
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