Park Theme-
- Go visit a park, maybe one you have never been to before.
- Participate in the summer park tour challenge.
- Using play-doh create a park or picnic basket/food.
- Let kids help you pack a picnic lunch for the park.
- Make a paper plate lunch- give each child a paper plate, brush glue one, let them find pictures of food from magazines and put on the plate.
- Eat ants on a log for a snack.
- Go to a park and have kids draw a picture of it.
- Find parks with different things, for example, tunnel slide, splash pad, rock wall, etc.
- Have an indoor picnic, lay blanket in living room and eat lunch there.
- Color a park coloring page.
- Make a list of different types of parks (splash pad, amusement park, waterpark, etc.)
- Set up a lemonade stand a your local park.
- Meet friends at the park.
- Start up a kick-ball game at your local park.
Beach Theme-
- Ocean in a Bottle- help kids fill a clear plastic bottle with sand, water and some small beach items (fish, ball, sea creatures, etc). Hot/super glue lid on tight.
- Add sand to your finger paint, gives the kids a new texture.
- Pretty shells- give your kids large past shells and paint to decorate them.
- Sand Dig- fill a tub or bucket wtih sand, hide small objects in it for kids to find.
- Play fish, fish, shark.
- Have a Beach Party- let kids wear swimsuits all day, lay out towels and have a picnic.
- Play Go Fish.
- Play Fish in the Ocean- one child is the shark and the others the fish, if the shark catches a fish you join and try to catch others.
- Add salt to water to make fresh salt water.
- Visit a beach.
- Use play-doh to create beach/sea creatures.
- Make a picture of a beach, use glue to add sand on the bottom.
- Go to a park or your sand box to make sand castles.
- Have a sand castle building competition.
- Make a beach theme cake
- Make twig frames
- Play Owl Search- one child is the owl, others close their eyes. The owl hides and makes a soft "hooting" noise until found.
- Color beach pictures.
- Set up a tent either in your backyard or family room
- Go on a hike to collect wild flowers, pine cones, sticks, rocks, etc.
- Make twig frames
- Play Owl Search- one child is the owl, others close their eyes. The owl hides and makes a soft "hooting" noise until found.
- Go to the library and find books about nature, animals and camping
- Have a campfire, roast marshmallows and make smores
- Make up some campfire songs
- Make binoculars and go on a bear hunt
- Have fishing pole snacks- use a pretzel rod for the pole, tie a piece of red pull and peel licorice to one end and gummi worm to licorice.
- Play Balloon Fish- blow up several small balloons, place in a tub of water and let kids try to catch with strainer.
- Color camping pictures
- Make some trail mix
- Let kids take naps in sleeping bags
Dairy Theme-
Cheese
- Make cheese omelettes for breakfast
- Make a mac-and-cheese mouse
- Buy a variety of cheeses and let kids sample
- Make a list of your favorite "cheese" foods
- Play Mouse, Mouse, Cheese (just like duck, duck, goose)
- Make a cheese ladybug
- Have kids draw/color animals that give milk for cheese
- Visit Chuck E Cheese's
- Color a cheese page
- Wear yellow or a Packer's cheese hat all day
- Make funny face cheese crackers
- Make homemade pizza with lots of cheese
- Play "Where's the Cheese"- let kids taking turns hiding something that is the "cheese" and others finding it.
- Survey everyone in your family on their favorite ice cream
- Using play-doh make ice cream scoops from different colors
- Make ice cream sundaes
- Let kids become human ice cream sundaes- outside, dump ice cream, chocolate, sprinkles, etc on them
- Visit Sassy Cow Creamery
- Color ice cream coloring pages
- Visit Babcock Hall Ice Cream Store
- Make a paper ice cream cone
- Make your own ice cream
- Have kids create their own ice cream flavor- coloring or writing what it would include
- Play "Pin the cherry on the sundae"
- Pretend to have an ice cream parlor with kids serving up pretend sundaes
- Make chocolate milk
- Milk jug craft
- Make a Milk Jug Bird Feeder
- Color milk pages
- Visit a dairy farm
- Visit Sassy Cow Creamery
- Make a milk shake or stop by an ice cream shop for one
- Rainbow Milk Craft
Fruit Theme-
Berries
- Make a breakfast smoothie with your favorite berries
- Strawberry Dot-to-Dot
- Make fruit shapes out of play-doh
- Visit a strawberry farm and pick berries
- Play "Picking Berries"- cut circles from red paper (they are the berries), hide around the house and have kids go picking
- Make fruit dip and enjoy with berries
- Make a fruit pizza
- Strawberry Puzzle- print and cut
- Read The Red Ripe Strawberry Book
- Eat toast with Strawberry or Raspberry Jam
- Have a lemonade stand- make posters, signs, lemonade, etc.
- Cut open a lemon and let kids taste it
- Lemon Prints- cut lemons in half, stamp onto paper, kids can also dip into yellow paint then stamp
- Lemon Derby- each player needs a stick and lemon- push your lemon to the finish line using the stick
- Make Invisible Ink using a lemon
- Make Lemon-Berry Ice Pops
- Trace the Lemon
- Play Lemon Toss- like an egg toss game
- Drink water with lemons in it
- Lemon coloring page
- Cut open a cantelope or watermelon and let kids explore
- Have a watermelon seed spitting contest
- Make a melon salad
- Sink or Float- have kids predict if a piece of melon will sink or float in water
- Plant watermelon seeds in paper cups and watch over the next few weeks
- Watermelon Art
- Talk about the letter W
- Make a watermelon from a paper plate
- Make a watermelon carving
- Make watermelon popcisles
Garden Theme-
What Gardens Need
- Go to the library and check out books on gardens
- Talk about how things grow and what they need
- Make a list of things you need to grow and a garden needs, color/highlight the ones that are the same
- Play seed, seed, sprout (just like duck, duck, goose)
- Fill a bucket with water and let kids play with straws, cups, spoons, etc.
- Go outside and find the sunny spots and shaded areas
- Make cups of dirt for snack
- Let kids dig and play in the dirt
- Plant some grass seeds in a cup of dirt, place in a window sill and watch grow
- Make a list of vegetables, have kids circle their favorite
- Let kids pick out some veggies at the store, eat for snack
- Plant a veggie garden or tomato plant
- Cut out veggies from paper or cardstock (5 carrots, 5 beans, 5 heads of lettuce, etc), mix up in a pile and have kids seperate and "plant" in rows.
- Try to think a different vegetable for all the colors of the rainbow.
- Visit a local farmer's market
- Color veggie sheets
- Enjoy some veggie straws or chips for snack
- Play Hot Potato
- Place some celery stalks with leaves on in clear cups, add water and food coloring (leaves should turn color in a few hours)
- Watch Veggie Tales
- Eat veggie pizza for dinner
- Cut potatos in half, dip in paint and let kids use as stamps
- Make a foot flower- place child's foot in paint, stamp on paper, let them draw a stem
- Plant flower seeds in styrofoam cups
- Make tissue paper flowers
- Play "pin the flower on the stem"- draw a stem on a big piece of paper, cut paper flowers from construction paper, give each child a flower with tape on the back. Blindfold, spin and let them pin.
- Play flower, flower, bee (like duck, duck, goose)
- Go on a flower hunt around your yard or neighbord trying to find as many flowers as possible.
- Eat Edible Flower Pots- ice cream cone for pot, scoop of chocolate ice cream for dirt, colored ice cream for flower, sprinkles for seeds.
- Visit a garden
- Make handprint flowers
- Visit a flower shop and buy some fresh flowers
- Set up a flower shop- pick dandelions or other flowers and let kids pretend to sell them
- Fingerpaint Petals- let kids dip their fingerprints into paint and use as petals
- Let kids cut pictures of flowers out of magazines for a flower collage
- Start a growth chart marking kids height each week or month
- Make a bubble garden- blow as bubbles in one area
- Flower coloring pages
Building Theme-
- Build a fort using your dining room table, chairs, the couch or a folding table.
- Let the kids color on a large cardboard box.
- Use toys or around the house items to build towers.
- Blocks, lincoln logs, marshmallows and toothpicks, straws, legos, etc.
- Go to the library and find books about building machines, towers, houses, etc.
- Visit a construction site.
- Look at pictures of the world's tallest buildings.
- Color a picture of a house.
- Have kids pretend to build something using a pretend tool set.
- Give kids craft sticks and glue, let their imagine go wild.
- Play in the sandbox making towers and castles.
- Watch Handy Manny.
- Draw blueprints using blue paper and white crayons.
- Read the story of the 3 Little Pigs.
- Have kids draw a picture of your house.
- Give your kids a ruler or tape measure and let them measure rooms, furniture, etc.
Animal Theme-
Farm Animals
- Read books about farm animals, go to the library and check some out
- Visit a farm
- Animal Sounds Game- make an animal noise and have kids guess which animal
- Chicken Dance- play the chicken song and teach kids the dance
- Animal Sort- cut animal pictures out of magazines, some farm others not, help kids sort out the farm animals
- Make a cotton ball sheep
- Eat pigs in a blanket for lunch
- Taste Test- set out a variety of dairy products (cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, goats milk) for kids to taste
- Sing "Old McDonald Had a Farm"
- Talk about different animals people have has pets
- If you have a pet talk about where they were born, look at pictures, how you take care of them
- Visit a pet store
- Play "Good Dog"- have kids pretend they are dogs, tell them to sit, let them drink out of a bowl, give them treats
- Vet Play- use a toy doctors kit to work on stuffed animals
- Make puppy chow for a treat
- Use play-doh to make pets and pet food shapes
- Set up a pretend pet store- a dog section, cats, fish, birds, etc. Help kids make signs and cages then use stuffed animals.
- Watch "Clifford the Big Red Dog"
- Make a lion mask
- Penguin Race- have each kid put a ball between their legs, then let them waddle to the finish
- Bear Cave- using blankets make a little cave, kids can pretend they are bears sleeping
- Obstacle Course- create a course with some obstacles and have kids pretend to be monkeys trying to make it through
- Talk about your kids favorite zoo animal
- Draw and color zoo animals
- Visit a Zoo
- Play Barrel of Monkeys Game
- Eat bananas like a monkey
- Use play-doh to make zoo animals
- Build a zoo using blocks
- Eat animal cookies for a snack
- Play Zoo Keeper Says... (just like Simon Says)
Color Theme-
Red Day
- Wear red clothes
- Finger paint with red
- Line up all the red...tractors, cars, blocks, etc.
- Make red jello
- Put red food coloring in water, milk, macaroni, etc.
- Go on a hunt for red flowers outside
- Make red play-doh
- Wear yellow clothes
- Go outside and pick yellow dandelions
- Fill a plastic tub with water and yellow rubber duckies
- Make lemonade and yellow food for lunch
- Macaroni
- Bananas
- Pineapple
- Cheese and crackers
- Lemon pudding
- Yellow Paper Hop
- Lay pieces of colored paper on the to form a path throughout the house. Have kids only hop on the yellow ones or hop up and down 2 times when they get to a yellow paper.
- Let kids help you make popcorn using yellow kernals
- Go to a park that has a yellow slide
- Wear green clothes
- Plant grass seeds in small cups, leave in a sunny window sile and watch the green grass grow
- Build a tower with only green blocks
- Go to the library and find books on green animals (frogs, turtles, snakes, bugs, etc)
- Paint or color a turtle or frog picture green
- Cut a circle out of red paper and one out of green- when you hold up the green circle kids run toward you, red they stop
- Make guacamole
- Have a picnic in the green grass
