We've cut out characters from old cards and made magnets out those too. DS also has a set of "Cars" characters cut from cards--they look really nice.

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Blessed beyond measure

There is an initial cost for these, but then, it is free fun. We have a croquet set, a Bocce Ball set, and a badmitton set. We play all summer. I think we bought the sets about 4 years ago (and the croquet set was from a rummage sale).

Oh, and if you have a paved driveway or sidewalk, 2-Square is GREAT fun!

Marlene

My kids love to wash the cars! They get their bathing suits on and I give them big sponges and lots of water containers and they go at it. I dont care if the cars actually get clean so its lots of fun for them.

Did anyone mention chalk? Let them draw on the driveway and side walk? Before they wash the cars so after they can just spray water to erase it.

We walk the dogs to the little lake that is by our house.

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Tie Dying is fun
Check out perpetualpreschool.com and they have TONS of activity ideas and recipes for kids all submitted by preschool teachers. I used this site a lot when I first started teaching

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Alicia (Tree-hugger wannabe)
mom to Shawn, Jake, and Toad
"Chick" out the Scrapbooking Forum for great handcrafted Occasion Ideas!!

Making homemade ice cream...with salt and a coffee can, no ice cream maker needed!

go to the library, story times and puppet shows.
scavenger hunt( and all the stuff collected make a collage on bristol board when done)
OUR FAVE...sidewalk chalk. on a driveway ,make roads, houses, bulidings, army base, train tracks,lake, airport, highways and use hot wheels( or other dinky cars)...takes about an hour to do one fully up( and laugh your butt off too adults have to help) and then hours of play with it..we use to do it every week( and if it rained try to make it bigger and better)....miss doing it now but they are too old
lay on the grass and look at the clouds( or stars at night)
picnics at the playground
paint rocks( i have lots of ladybug rocks in my gardens)
go to the dollar store and buy butterfly nets and bug catchers and go walking through a field or along a river..let them go when done.
pinecone gathering, smear with peanut butter( from the dollar store) and roll in seeds( also from dollar store)
jump through the sprinkler( adults too)...water the lawn, plants and kids at the same time.

I get a lot of my ideas from family fun...i love that magazine..One my kids liked last year was that we each made a list of things we want to accomplish over summer...we post it in the kitchen so its readily available, and check things off as they get done...final review in Sept. Some ideas: get a dog; learn to cartwheel; learn to skate; learn to pogo stick; catch a falling star; get a drastic haircut; etc., the ideas are endless when the kids get involved.

Well....mine are older now...but when they were little, one of their favorite things to do was to "WEB the Basement/playroom". I would give each one of them an old ball of yarn and they would walk around the basement weaving the yarn over and under anything that they could find. (important not to do this with breakable things in the room!!). Once they had unwrapped their own yarn, they would switch with each other and try to rewind up the yarn. Now they had to try to figure out all they moves their brother and sister had made!

This was a terrific rainy day thing. My kids are 13 and 15 and they still talk about doing this!!!

Let's see....so many good ideas already

We are in a playgroup and once a month we do a craft which I am in charge of. So far some we have done are:
-ladybug rocks, making the spots out of the child's fingerprints
-"chia pets" using a small clear plastic cup and fill with potting soil and grass seed which will grow and become the hair. We used felt, wiggly eyes and ribbon to make faces on them.
-sparkle bottles. Fill a small plastic water bottle with water and karo syrup, add food coloring, glitter and beads. Glue on the cap. Shake it up. The syrup makes it move kinda like a lava lamp
-for Fathers Day we are doing Grilling aprons for Dad. We got plain white aprons at Michaels and are using fabric paint to put on the childs handprint. It will then say...Let's give Dad a Hand, Cause he's the grilling man.


We go to the zoo and the library alot.


Yesterday our playgroup did a picnic in the park pitch-in. All the moms brought a dish to share and we had a awesome lunch. The kids played forever on the swings and slides.

We also take alot of walks.

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~AMY~