Summer is finally in full swing and that means no more school (at least for the next few months)! With kids spending time at home and not having to participate in online schooling, that poses the question: What will I do with my kids this summer? Under normal circumstances, this would be when you’d be dropping off your kids at various summer camps. But given that some families are still wary about group or public activities, it’s easy to see how parents can be a bit skeptical about sending their kids this time around. “It’s okay to return to activities at your own pace,” Dr. Natasha Burgert tells SheKnows. “We’ve spent an entire year aggressively protecting our kids from harm, and those feelings are not going to go away overnight. Choosing outside options for activities will always be the lowest risk, which is a great place to start.”
Like Dr. Burgert said, outside activities are a great place to start, and it turns out there are plenty of activities at your disposal (some of which you may have never considered prior to the pandemic) that you can do at-home, in a safe environment with your kids. It may not look like a “typical” summer, but since the pandemic hit, we’ve constantly been reevaluating what “typical” looks like, and there’s nothing wrong with that. So, this summer, spend some extra time with your family and enjoy all it has to offer, starting with trying some of these fun, at-home activities below.
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Backyard scavenger hunts
Looking to pass the time with the kids? A backyard scavenger hunt is definitely the way to go. Next time your kids are itching to get outside, draft up a list of items for them to find. It can be anything from a dandelion or a stick to a feather or ladybug. No matter what it is, they’ll just be happy they’re outside playing and if you really want to up the stakes, make the prize a scoop of their favorite ice cream flavor.
Encourage their inner artists
Let your kid’s inner artist out with a paint project outside. It’s little clean up and doesn’t require a lot of supplies (we’re all for having fun on a budget). There are a lot of ways to go about it, but one of the easiest is to simply get poster board or even use an old, flat piece of cardboard and let your kid’s imaginations run wild. You can even get chalk crayons and have them alternate between painting and drawing.
When the weather sometimes forces you inside, arts and crafts are also a great way to keep kids busy in your home, and can create a much more hands-on, interactive experience. We’re all familiar with gluing macaroni to construction paper, which is always a solid choice, but there are an array of other types of arts and crafts for kids too such as making a watermelon sun catcher, tie-dye T-shirts, or mini paper kites, too!
Build your own first aid kit with the family
During our recent virtual event with BAND-AID® Brand, SK Conversations: Safety Obsessed: Prep for the New Normal, Baby Chick Editor-in-Chief Nina Spears gave us a run down of her favorite products to incorporate in a first aid kit. This may not seem like an obvious activity, but building a first aid kit with your family can be fun and you can even make it into a game with your kids by guessing what each product does and which ones should be included. Target offers an array of products and trendy first aid kit bags, which you can get for free when you build your own kit and buy three items.
And if you’re wondering which items you should have in your kit this season, Target makes it super easy with its “Kids, Pool and Summer” product collection, which includes: BAND-AID® Brand WATER BLOCK® Flex Adhesive Pads, NEOSPORIN® Pain Relief Cream for Kids, BAND-AID® Brand HURT-FREE® Antiseptic Wash Treatment, BENADRYL® Extra-Strength Itch Stopping Anti-Itch Cream, BAND-AID® Brand Star Wars® Mandalorian® Bandages and Children’s BENADRYL® Allergy Plus Congestion Relief.
Make a DIY waterslide
There’s no need to go to a water park or buy a water slide when a DIY one is so easy and inexpensive to make. All you need is a tarp, a hose or sprinklers, and some shampoo to make it slippery and you’re all set. As a side note, it helps if the tarp is elevated on a tiny hill, but if your backyard doesn’t have one, that’s okay! The kids will still appreciate the water fun no matter what.
This article was created by SheKnows for BAND-AID® Brand. BAND-AID®is a registered trademark of Johnson and Johnson.
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