School's Out...Now What?: 5 Fun Summer Activities for the Kids

Summer's here, the school buses are parked, and moms and dads everywhere are at wits end with what to do with the kids. Don't fret! You're covered with these fun kid's activities:

Volunteer. Visit your local rescue squad or fire department and ask if there is anything you can do to help out your fellow rescue workers. You could help clean up the firehouse or help wash the ambulances. Your kids would probably get a free tour of the station with demonstrations of the equipment and tools that these brave men and women use everyday to save lives. You could have a yard sale, a bake sale, or a kids' concert to raise money for your local volunteer heroes. Host a cook out in hopes to raise money to donate to the squads. (Check out Angela Harris' article titled Best Woods to Use to Smoke or Grill Foods to make sure you cook some crowd-pleasing foods!) In doing so, you found more things to do with the kids! (And, they may have discovered their career goals in the process!)

Make a Band. Get the kids in the neighborhood together with their musical instruments and let your kids form a band. If some of the kids don't have instruments, help them make some out of things you can find around your house (bowls, pots & pans, old boxes with rubber bands tied around them for a guitar, etc.). Let all the moms take turns supervising weekly "practice sessions" in which the kids get to hang out and have some laughs trying to play music. Plus, you get an hour or two to relax. Better yet, have the band meet at the local park or playground so the mom-on-duty can enjoy the fresh summer days and they can have an audience!

Lie on the grass and look at the sky. Watch the birds fly by and see who can find the most interestingly-shaped cloud. Is that a llama? No, it's an umbrella! Lying with your kids and letting them use their imagination with no boundaries can be relaxing and educational as well.

Play a game. Tag, Kickball, Hide-n-Seek, Red Rover, Dodge ball, whatever you can think of. Teach your kids the games you played when you were a kid. Help your kids create a new game with rules on how to play; what's in, what's out, the goal of the game, how the points are divvied, etc. Even creating a back yard game can teach your kids argumentative and debate skills (but don't tell them that!).

Be a tomboy. Go dig up some worms in your backyard. Find lizards hiding under warm rocks. Play in the mud. Run around in the rain. Get dirty. So often we worry about staying nice and clean so we don't ruin our clothes or some other such nonsense. Wear old clothes and plan on getting messy. (And when you're done, read Sophia S' article titled The Best New Summer Beauty Products Under $10 to revamp your pretty locks and shimmering summer glo!) Be a kid. That's what the summer is all about.

There are all sorts of activities that you and your kids can enjoy over the summer. For more great summer fun ideas for the kids, take a look at Kristina Jones' article titled 7 Outdoor Summer Activities for Kids. The most fun activities are the ones that you make up all by yourself! Let your kids go crazy with their imaginations. Summertime is the best time to make new fun games to play and to create treasured memories that will last you and your kids a lifetime.