July is summer fun month. Whether you homeschool year-round or break for the summer months, your children are sure to have uttered the infamous words, “I am bored.” These resources may help to, not only entertain, but also educate your students.
1.1 Article: “Keeping Teen Daughters Encouraged & Growing Spiritually“
1.2 Engaging the Entire Family
1.3 Educational Play for Preschoolers
1.4 Summer Creativity
1.5 Crafts and Productivity
1.1 Article: “Keeping Teen Daughters Encouraged & Growing Spiritually“
June Fuentes shares her method for encouraging her daughter to grow spiritually. Ms. Fuentes reviews the book A Young Woman’s Walk with God by Elizabeth George.
http://raisinghomemakers.com/2015/keeping-teen-daughters-encouraged-growing-spiritually
1.2 Engaging the Entire Family
Having kids tap into their creativity is an excellent way to keep the summer fun going. These 100 drawing projects for all ages could spark their inner artist.
http://artforkidsandrobots.com/100-crazy-cool-drawing-ideas-for-kids
When summer begins to slow down a bit, the temptation is to grab an electronic device. This list of screen-free family activities may stave off that temptation.
www.spicemylife.net/home/100-simple-screen-free-activities-for-kids
You can conquer summer doldrums by planning for and looking forward to a future event, whether it is an upcoming family vacation or one of the family-themed nights from this list.
www.creativelyhomespun.com/2015/10/29/40-at-home-family-nights
These two lists are full of things to do this summer with your family.
http://justcallmechris.blogspot.com/2014/06/summer-list-updates.html
Reading a great book aloud can be an enjoyable way to spend family time during the summer. This list from Focus on the Family is broken down by age groups from preschool to adult. If you are unsure about a title, search the Focus on the Family’s book review database which gives an analysis of popular books.
http://media.focusonthefamily.com/topicinfo/summer_reading_list.pdf
Focus on the Family Book Review database.
www.pluggedin.com/book-reviews
For an example of the positive impact a family read-aloud time can have, here’s a link to a clip from an old movie, I Remember Mama, based on the true story of a young Norwegian girl growing up in San Francisco during the early part of the last century. (You’ll have to endure a bit of advertising before the clip is shown.)
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/1069383/I-Remember-Mama-Movie-Clip-The-Tales-From-Two-Cities.html
1.3 Educational Play for Preschoolers
Sidewalk chalk is a staple of the preschool years. You can reinforce preschool learning with these sidewalk chalk activities.
www.thebestideasforkids.com/sidewalk-chalk-ideas
Little ones can keep up the summer fun by playing with bouncing bubbles. You can use this non-glycerin, non-corn syrup, bouncing bubble recipe to create sturdy bubbles and lots of fun.
http://alittlepinchofperfect.com/homemade-bouncing-bubble-recipe
Summer time is the best time to occupy your smallest students with outside water games and activities.
http://myboredtoddler.com/water-play-activities-for-babies-and-toddlers
Books are always a great way to encourage creative thinking and learning. This reading list is a great place to start to find summer-themed books.
www.tipsfromatypicalmomblog.com/2015/05/summer-book-list-for-preschoolers.html
1.4 Summer Creativity
Continue their education with these 101 sidewalk chalk activities. The activities are grouped into the categories: Letters, Words, and Reading; Numbers, Counting, and Math; and Colors, Shapes, Science, and More; Imagination and Creativity Boosters; and Active Activities and Games.
http://whatmomslove.com/kids/sidewalk-chalk-ideas
Art projects are a tried and true boredom buster. You can try these guided art projects or use them as inspiration to create your own.
This colorful wax crayon print should be an easy project for your older elementary students.
http://krokotak.com/2017/06/colorful-wax-crayon-prints-2
Elmer’s glue and chalk pastels are all that are needed for these self portraits.
www.kitchentableclassroom.com/glue-drawing-with-chalk/#more-569
Black glue and watercolors combine to create these ocean-themed works of art.
www.thebestideasforkids.com/black-glue-crafts
Your children can create endless cartoon characters with these facial elements. Your student can choose eyes, a mouth, a nose, hair, and a facial shape. They can then combine the features together in a drawing to create a character of their imagination.
https://sarahrenaeclark.com/2016/how-to-draw-your-own-cartoon-characters-free-resources
For more in-depth art instruction, you can sign your student up for a week of free online art classes. This class has a Facebook group that will allow you to upload your student’s art to share with members of the group.
http://howtohomeschoolforfree.com/free-online-art-lessons-tutorials
This list of 15 activities includes art projects, do-it-yourself yard games, outdoor water play activities, and instructions to create a PVC Backyard Water Park, among others.
www.passionforsavings.com/summer-boredom-busters-kids
For the Lego enthusiast, you can use these 25 Lego activities to challenge and occupy your brick master.
www.merakilane.com/25-lego-activities-for-kids
Here is another challenge for Lego architects – a Lego mechanical puzzle. Have your student build this puzzle from the pictures on this web page, or you can use the link provided for an instructional video.
http://frugalfun4boys.com/2015/08/24/make-a-lego-mechanical-puzzle
Scavenger hunts are a great way to have your children exercise their observation skills, play a game, and learn at the same time. You can download and print out scavenger hunt pages from the Resourceful Mama, and Buggy and Buddy.com.
www.theresourcefulmama.com/summer-scavenger-hunts-free-printables
http://buggyandbuddy.com/30-free-printable-scavenger-hunts-for-kids
These science activities can keep your students busy and learning.
Create a steam-themed “bored jar” with science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics activities for your students to explore. You can print out the list, cut out the activities, and place them in a container to be drawn out and investigated.
http://leftbraincraftbrain.com/steam-bored-jar
You can also plan a science camp for your students with this resource from the What We Do All Day blog. These resources are designed to do two activities for each of eight weeks, but you can schedule them to suit your needs..
www.whatdowedoallday.com/diy-summer-science-camp
These reading activities encourage reading all summer long. You will find reading logs, summer reading programs, scavenger hunts, as well as suggested book lists.
www.kcedventures.com/blog/17-summer-reading-rewards-book-logs-with-free-printables
1.5 Crafts and Productivity
This printable list of boredom busters might encourage your teenage girls to try a few new things or pursue their interests.
http://onecreativemommy.com/summer-boredom-busters-for-teens
This list of summer boredom busters is geared for teenage boys. There are exploding paint bombs, tie dye pillow cases, and a do it yourself backyard angry bird game.
www.kristendukephotography.com/9-summer-boredom-busters-teen-boys
Summer is a great time to take up a new skill such as knitting because there is time to devote to mastery.
http://faithfulprovisions.com/knit-get-started-knitting
Arm and finger knitting have become popular recently. You will find the instructions and a few projects to try at the In the Loop Knitting blog.
http://intheloopknitting.com/arm-knitting-and-finger-knitting
Bullet journaling is a way to document and organize your schedule. Your teens could spend the summer learning how to create a bullet journal to organize their school year.
www.gurl.com/2016/09/08/tips-on-how-to-make-the-most-perfect-bullet-journal-ideas
If your student has a bent toward art, these instructions on colored pencil techniques will teach them how to create detailed drawings.
https://menloparkart.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/colored-pencil-techniques
Summer time is a great time for high school students to get a jump start on college entrance exam preparation. U.S. News has significant resources on preparing for the SAT, ACT, and other college entrance tests.
www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/test-prep
