The kids have enjoyed their last day of school, stayed up late, slept in late, watched TV all day, and now you hear the dreaded words……I’M BORED! My kids don’t say this to me often because they know it usually means they’ll end up doing chores or other things around the house.  But what can they do when all those things are done and your house is immaculate??  We posed this question to our employees and they shared some wonderful ideas to help beat the summer blues!  I enlisted the help of my children Blake (age 13) and Bella (age 7) to try out some of the ideas.  We had a lot of fun!

Kyla in Hagerstown, MD, and Lauren in Lititz, PA, told me about different obstacle courses.  Lauren’s 3-year-old son loves taking different toys and furniture from around the house and setting them up so he can climb, jump over, and weave in and out of them over and over again!  My kids loved Kyla’s idea of taking red string and taping it up in the hallway like a laser beam.  They took turns trying to climb through without being “zapped” by the laser beams.

Maybe you’re looking to get out and away from the house.  Why not try the free Chocolate World tour in Hershey, PA, and enjoy your free piece of chocolate at the end of the ride like Sarah from our Boyertown, PA office suggested?  And along the way play the “Cow Search” game that Terry from our Loan Center in Hagerstown plays with her family.  They make teams and watch out the window counting the number of cows they pass along the way.  If a cow is in a creek in the pasture, they double the amount of cows counted there, but if they pass a cemetery, the cows you counted are “dead” and you start over at zero.  The team with the most cows when they reach their destination wins!

You can also sneak in some educational things like a nature walk at a local park or trail like Claudia in our Lititz operations center suggests.  How about some science experiments like laying a dark colored piece of paper out in the sun with ferns, plants, or rocks on it.  Remove the items the next day as Donna in State College, PA suggested and you’ll have a print from where the item was!

I like to keep my kids reading over the summer just like Paula in our Williamsport, PA office does with her kids.  They even started a summer reading group with their friends that meets once a week over the summer and celebrates at the end with a picnic party and swimming!  Daminga in Reistertown, MD also suggests taking your kids to the library to pick out a book that they would like to make come to life.  They write the story, create characters with speaking parts, make costumes and props, have “rehearsals” and at the end of the summer put on a production for the family.  You can also involve friends and neighbors and have ALL the kids put on an end-of-summer production.

Donna in State College and Christine in Chambersburg, PA both suggested making stepping stones.  Stepping stones can be made easily by buying quick drying cement (follow the instructions for mixing it), pouring it into an old Frisbee or a drip tray for under planters.  Once it begins to set, you can decorate it with stones, by making hand prints, or taking an old pen or pencil and writing or doodling in it.  It’s a great craft to give to grandparents or mothers, and it can be displayed indoors or outdoors!  Christine also suggested duct tape crafts, and my daughter has already started picking out duct tape for her project. (You can find directions/ideas for these crafts on the internet.)  If your kids have mini Webkinz®, you can do what Kayla at the Lititz office and her niece did and decorate a shoe box to make a house for them.

My daughter Bella and I personally love to do what Sharon in our Halifax, PA branch and her granddaughters do…..have a SPA day!  We do each other’s nails, hair and makeup and dress up to “go out.”

So, next time your kids say “I’m bored!” what will you suggest to them?  Have any ideas of your own?  We’d love for you to share them with us so we can try them out!

(Webkinz is a registered trademark of Ganz, Ontario, Canada.)