Making the Most of Summer Sanity Savers

If you're looking for more great FREE things to do with your children this summer, you can also check out my previous blog posts labeled SSSS (summer sanity savers series.)  Be sure to click read older posts to see all of them.

Extending the Fun

Very often, a trip to the park or a walk around the neighborhood or a stroll through the woods can be enough to keep kids entertained and active for a few hours.  We scatter these kinds of activities in with our "field trips."  Some of the trips listed in the previous post can be turned easily into activities that get kids thinking, using art, science, math, and reading skills without even realizing it.

Here are some things that we do to make our trips more meaningful.

Before the trip:

• Predicting.  This is a great critical thinking skill for children to practice.  Maybe you're going to the same park you've been to a million times, maybe you're trying out a new place for the first time.  Either way, you can teach or practice predicting skills on the way.  Walking/driving/riding bikes--it doesn't mater.  This can be as simple as asking the kids "What do you think you'll see?"  It can be as complex as having the kids pre-write in a journal predicting what will happen on their trip.
• Pre-planning.  Why should you have all the fun?  Ask your helpers to pre-plan the trip.  What do you need to take (sunscreen, hats, bat and ball)?  What do you hope will happen along the way?  Shall we pack a picnic?  What do we need to wear, based on the weather?  What mode of transportation should we take?  Again, this can be a short discussion before you leave or a writing or drawing project days before.

During the trip:

• Don't forget that the getting there can often be as fun as the final destination.  What can you do along the way to make it more fun?  
• Scavenger hunts are great fun.  You can make a list of things that you think you might find along the way.  This can be done as another pre-activity by the kids, or you can make up a list of your own or find one on the internet.
• Don't want anything that structured?  Give the children bags and tell them to try to collect 10 items along the way.  
• I Spy--we play this a lot.  It's more of a visual scavenger hunt, where we try to point out things that we see.  We also sometimes do themes--birds, animals, flowers, specific colors.  Ask everyone to find the letter C on something, then move to something else once it's been found.
• Notebooks can be fun tools for extending the fun.  My older one writes a little "journal" of her activities, the little one just draws or scribbles.  I buy up tons of notebooks in the clearance section after school starts, and Target has cute little notebooks in their dollar spot.
• Another way to track your activities is with a digital or disposable camera.  Allow the kids to borrow yours if you're brave, or buy a tougher kids' version of a digital camera.  The photo quality doesn't have to be great, but it sure is fun for them.

Post Trip/Summary:

• These activities are great for a winding down activity or even to be saved for a rainy day or sometime when you don't have anything else planned.
• On the way home, ask "what was your favorite part?"  Ask some leading questions, have them summarize the trip for a parent who couldn't come along, or call or write a letter about it to a grandparent.
• Make a photo book.  These can be done with a few pieces of scrap paper or notebook paper stapled together.  Kids can draw or write about the activity and what they learned, what was new to them, what was their favorite part.  You can also use some of the great photo deals that are posted in order to make hardbound photo books printed out for use later, small photo albums or "brag books", and there are even blank book forms you can draw or paste pictures into.  These can be independent projects for older kids, cooperative projects for groups, or something you do for them if they are too young to do it themselves.
• This is one we really like.  We use photosensitve paper and place the found items on the paper, then place it outside for a few minutes (longer if it's cloudy). The resulting "art" takes up a lot less room than keeping all the rocks, leaves, and pine cones. This kit is under $10 and has enough for several collages.

I hope this post can help with ideas to keep your children active, having fun, and learning all summer long.  Do you have a favorite activity?  I'd love to get more ideas from readers here. 

May Amazon Grocery Deals

We'll start with the "clippable" click coupons.  They're always listed in my Amazon post on top, but I'll include them here as well.  I understand people in NY state may not get as many as those of us in other places.  The key here is that the coupons change when you refresh, so if you don't see one that is mentioned, refresh till you do.

The Managers' specials are HERE.

Now for the coupon codes and markdowns!  Remember there's already the 15% with Subscribe and Save, so the coupon code is just added to the per cent off.  You can see all the deals right here .

This month is gluten free month, with TONS of markdowns and deals on gluten free grocery items.  I've been dabbling a bit in gluten free, so I now can see what a good price many of these are.  Here are my favorite:

• Tiger Tiger rice noodle bowls, they are $20 for 8 bowls, then save 15% with subscribe and save, and an additional $1.50 with the coupon.  That brings them down under $2 per package.

• Rise Bars in various flavors, 5% off with subscribe and save, and an additional 10% off when you click this coupon.  This brings many down to around $1 each.
• Urban Pantry bean mix, three large jars or organic beans, go from $20.25 to $17.21 with subscribe and save, then take $3 off with coupon.  That makes these beans under $5 per jar.

Check out all the deals, though!  These are just my best buys.

Where to Find Summer Sanity Savers

If you're looking for more great FREE things to do with your children this summer, you can also check out my previous blog posts labeled SSSS (summer sanity savers series.)  Be sure to click read older posts to see all of them.

 For me, the best part of summer is all the great trips you can take.  Sure, there are grand, two week vacations in the Bahamas or going off to Disney World or the beach or a cabin in the woods.  Many times those are unattainable for many different reasons.

When I have the kids home for the summer, we often do 2-5 small "field trips" throughout the week.  These can be as simple as going to the library, park, or even a little nature hike around our neighborhood, or we can go as a family to a festival a tank of gas away.  I'm making this a more general focus, because I put up a lot of free local activities in my calendar on the right side of the blog.

Where to find your adventures

I used to travel for a living, visiting many large cities and small towns locally and throughout the country.  It's amazing to me when I meet a person from somewhere and mention that I love something in their town, only to hear that they have never heard of it.  One of the first things I do when I get to any city or town is find the Chamber of Commerce or visitor's center and start looking for something fun.  Nearly every town, regardless of size, has a museum or attraction of some sort.  You just have to know where to look.  Make it your mission to discover all that your own town has to offer.

Free or low-cost everyday activities:

• Local city parks are free, fun entertainment.  Walk to the park, and you've extended your fun.  Pack a picnic snack or lunch.  Even the most basic lunch is more fun when you're eating it outside.  Some have free or low-cost wading pools for extending the fun even more.

• State parks have more wildlife, and often swimming or fishing opportunities.  Have you tried Geocaching yet?  It combines some modern technology with hiking and exploring, and can be the perfect outdoor adventure.
• Local farms are so much fun!  We have many small farms in the area that allow people to come and take tours.  I've posted before about the awesome small farms that do Sample Sundays where they have free samples and fun activities for all ages.  Our local berry farm allows people to come in and pick their own fruits.
• Zoos, petting zoos, and aquariums.  This doesn't have to be your giant metropolitan zoo to be fun.  Hand feeding a few goats or sheep can still be fun for young adventurers.

• Local city or county museums can be great fun for children and adults alike.  Take a look around your own community and the ones surrounding it--I live in a town of 6000, and we have several museums.  I've been to smaller towns that have some incredible historical places.  Even better--most are either free or such a low cost as to be negligible.
• Take a bus tour of your town.  If you have bus service, make a plan to get on the bus and ride somewhere with the kids, even if it's just to do some shopping or another necessary errand.
• Go to the fire or police station.  Be sure to call ahead and ask, but many will take kids on an impromptu tour.  Join together with a few other families to make it more like a real field trip.
• "Tour" a local pet store.  We have Earl May, and when I need anything for the garden we go and visit all the pets.  It's like a small, free zoo.  They even give the kids popcorn in some garden stores in our area.
• Work on a garden.  Even if it's a small container garden on your porch, what better fun?  They get to dig in the dirt, play with a watering can, and watch something transform from day to day.

• Tour a garden.  We have wonderful botanical gardens with indoor and outdoor facilities, perfect for rainy or sunny days.  Many cities have interesting gardens for tours.

• Free bowling!  Even if your own local bowling alley isn't on the list of free ones HERE, a day of bowling is a pretty inexpensive outing.  Many places now have bumpers and automatic scoring, so all you have to concentrate on is having fun.  Call ahead and ask about what time they have leagues or free days.
• Free movies!  Again, there are a few different places offering free movie days for kids.  Ask at your own local theater.  Also, I've posted about it before, but Family Video has free kids' movie rentals all the time.  Our library has free movie showings on certain nights, and your local library usually has movies that can be checked out. 
• Roller skating or ice skating.  If you still have that sort of thing in your area, or just put on your own skates and skate around the park.
• Community theater.  In our area, there is a children's theater group that does productions a few times a year.  It's very inexpensive admission, and very fun for everyone attending.  Come home and encourage the kids to put on their own production.  A few empty boxes and some markers make the sets, then raid the dress-up box or closets for costumes.
• Small town fairs and festivals.  This is our absolute favorite thing to do.  We try to find at least one festival every weekend.  Most of these are free to enter, with lots of free activities.  Eating the fair food is a fun change for us, but you can also pack a picnic lunch for a free (except for the gas) fun day.  Where else could you watch people haul big cheese wheels or have tractor rodeos?

 Next post will be how to make the most of your experiences, preserve memories, and add some educational value to the fun.

May Casey's Pizza Coupons

Since this is such a popular post each month, here are the Casey's Pizza coupons for May of 2012. They've got large taco pizzas (my favorite!) for $13.99 this month, and the new coupon is $1 off a dozen donuts. Click here for the printable coupon.

Here are all their May specials:

• Buy 2 get 1 free on Powerade.
• 2 for $2.22 Stride gum
• 99 cent Wonka candy
• and many more!

Summer Sanity Savers

We're getting so close to summer vacation! Have you made your summer plans? I run my summer with the kids like a summer camp. We have a loose schedule that looks fun but also keeps them learning. I have done the Summer Sanity Savers Series (SSSS) before on my blog, and I often tag posts with SSSS even if they aren't technically in the summer. You can click that label in the tag cloud on the right, and it will bring up all the posts I've previously written on the subject.

This will be the first post for this summer, and I'm just going to touch on the basics today--how do I make my schedule, how do I plan our time. I expect to have several more posts on this topic throughout the next two weeks.

Your schedule can be as loose or as regimented as you'd like. I like to have a basic idea of what we'll be doing every week, and I make it easy by having the same schedule each week. We do this as cheaply as possible, and it absolutely can be done for free or just the cost of gas in your tank.

We like to go somewhere EVERY day, even if it is a walk around the neighborhood. As my kids get older, we can walk or bike further, and we can stay out longer without naps and meltdowns.

Monday is usually our stay home day.  We play in the yard, ride bikes, do gardening, but we rarely venture outside of our property line.  This is also an opportunity to relax, write in journals, and catch up on chores.

Tuesday we love to go to the Family Craft Story Time at the Ames Public Library in the morning.  We plan to meet friends for a picnic lunch or go out somewhere for lunch occasionally. 

Wednesday--in our town, there is always a cool afternoon activity at the public library.  We like to pack a picnic lunch and walk to the library, stopping to eat at one of the local parks.  We trade out our library books and do the summer reading program.

Thursday is our park day.  This can be a local city park or a hike around in a state park.

Friday is our "big" field trip day.  We generally stay in our town or the one next to us all week long, but on Friday we plan a longer drive.  For ideas on where to go, you can click on my wandering label. 

As you can see, this is a very loose schedule.  We rarely have firm plans, except that we know we will go somewhere and we will include lots of reading opportunities.  You may need an hour by hour thing, or maybe you don't even want something this strict.  It's up to you what you do with your family.  For us, we won't always get out of the house if we don't know at least roughly what we are doing.