Category Archives: Summer Fun

Many families spend time sitting on the sofa and not doing much in the way of activity at all. As a parent, that’s something that you probably want to change, especially because the childhood obesity epidemic is a growing concern. You can spend more time with your kids, have a good time and encourage them to be active. And here are some ways to do that.

Have Regular Picnics in the Park

Going on a walk in the woods or some other kind of green area can be a good way for you to get some laid back exercise and activity with your kids. You can make it even more fun and turn it into a better bonding experience by having a picnic together once the walking is done. It’s a good way to make the occasion more social and fun for the whole family.

Invest in Bikes and Scooters for the Whole Family

Another thing you could do is buy new bikes for the kids or electric scooter for adults. These things make it possible for you to hang out and have fun together as a family. Doing so will be much more appealing to your kids if they have a new piece of equipment to test out. If they haven’t had anything new like this for a while and you want to encourage activity, it’s a good idea.

Plant a Garden Together

Gardening is actually a great form of exercise and that’s one of those things that most people don’t know. If you really get into it, it can provide a great workout. Of course, that’s not the only reason to start planting a garden together with your children. From a parenting perspective, it gives you the chance to teach them new things and have a bonding experience that’ll be fun and meaningful.

Go Camping

Camping is another fun activity that gets your whole family out there and enjoying one another’s company. You have to spend time together when camping because you’ll be cut off from modern technology and you’ll have to spend time in nature, enjoy what it has to offer and generally entertain one another for the duration of the camping trip. Most importantly, it’s a lot of fun.

Start Setting Limits on Screen Time

Speaking of modern technology, it’s probably the best idea for you to start limiting the amount of screen time your kids and your family as a whole has each day. That way, you won’t all be sitting around staring at the TV or at smartphone screens during your free time together. You can go outside and enjoy outdoor activities together instead; it’s something the whole family will benefit from.

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As a parent, it’s only natural that you’d want to spend time outdoors with them. It offers you the chance to be active together and spend real quality time with one another. Both of those things are really important to children and spending time with your kids is vital for the happiness of parents too.

As your children get older, it becomes harder and harder to keep everybody together over the summer break. One or both parents may be working most of the time, and your kids might now be teenagers who are too cool to hang out with you. Of course, you should be encouraging your youngsters to have fun with their friends, but that doesn’t mean the family can’t still get together and do things. However old your kids may be, a family is a family. This helpful guide might just give both parents and children some inspirational ideas as to how they can do things together this summer.

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Set a weekly challenge.

The best way to keep the family on their toes this summer, and to avoid bored children or teenagers, is to set a weekly challenge for all of you to do something together. The best part of this is that it doesn’t have to be a costly activity (especially as it’ll be a weekly affair). Turn it into an ongoing competition of challenges and games; as long as there are no major arguments and tears then it’ll be fun to create a leaderboard and see who wins overall at the end of the summer. You could play games of darts, pool, cards – you could even a game of “who can clean the clothes most effectively?” if you want to take a break from doing all the washing this summer. It’s not a chore if it’s part of a game; that’s what you can tell your kids.

Get involved with what your kids are doing.

Play this one carefully, as you don’t want to be the annoying parent who’s always butting in on your kids’ play time. Get involved naturally if they’re playing a game or doing something that invites the opportunity for extra participants. If they’re having a water fight on the street, for example, then there’s no reason as to why you couldn’t subtly insert yourself into the game by throwing a water balloon at them from the safety of your bedroom window. They’ll be begging for you to get involved then, just so they can have their revenge. Or you could simply watch TV with them if you want to get involved in a less extreme manner.

Get out into the garden.

Money can sometimes be a problem over summer. There’s so much that you want to do every day with the family, but you need to work to afford those things because summer seems to be so expensive. What isn’t expensive, however, is enjoying the sun from the comfort of your own garden. When it comes to having a great time as a family, nothing beats the simple pleasures of relaxing in the garden. Whether you want to relax on the lounger whilst your kids run around with water pistols or you’d like to get in on the fun, it’s a great way to keep the family together. You’ll all see eye to eye when the ice cream van shows up, at least.

Sprucing up your outdoor zone is always a great way to incentivize the family to get out there and have fun. That doesn’t just mean a spot of gardening; your kids likely aren’t interested in pretty flowerbeds and well-mown lawns, especially if they have allergies. The key is to turn your garden into a cozy addition to your home. Maybe you could add some comfy seating and a swish new BBQ to the patio area to encourage the family to all get together for some summer evening barbeques. You could even go one step further and look at options such an Intex pure spa inflatable hot tub for activities to do in the garden during the day; go further than the slip ‘n’ slide this year. Of course, a simple basketball hoop might be enough to get everyone out in the garden on a hot day; it all depends on your family.

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Go on vacation.

This is the suggestion you were waiting for but the one that you might already have considered a thousand times. Perhaps money is holding you back from making a decision, or perhaps a lack of agreement amongst the members of your family as to where you’d all like to go is holding you back from making a decision. Jetting off to a sunny beach somewhere in Europe isn’t the only option available to you, however. Vacations come in all shapes and sizes. The core element of a successful vacation is simply one in which everybody is happy; everybody in the family needs their individual view heard.

Perhaps you already live in a sunny state or the next state over is sunny; in which case, there’s nothing stopping you from simply heading off on a drive for a couple of hours and taking a holiday along the coast. You’ll save money, you’ll get the sun and the beach, and everybody’s happy. Finding a good mix of sun and sightseeing is important if members of your family prefer the two different kinds of vacations. You can have a lazy day on the beach and then an action-packed day in the local town or city; rinse and repeat. Being a family is all about compromising and making sure everybody is heard. Find something that everyone wants to do on this vacation. As long as you do that then it doesn’t matter where you go.

Try something new as a family.

Summer is a great chance to try new things. You have a lot of free time on your hands (or your kids do, at least, even if you’re working), and that means plenty of time to learn things, see things, and do things that you wouldn’t normally have time to do or be able to do at any other point during the year. You could start by teaching your children a brand new hobby or life skill, but make it fun and exciting (they’ve just got out of school, and they don’t want to feel as if they’re returned to it). You could cook a meal together, grow vegetables in the garden, or even wash the car together and let it naturally turn into a water fight.

Of course, there’s room for everybody in the family to learn and try new things; that includes you as the parents. You could all take a class together in something which might be strange and foreign to all of you; pottery, for example. If a certain class or activity proves too boring for the family then you can move onto the next adventure. You don’t want to get stuck doing any one thing over summer.

Cut the ties with tech.

Technology is a wonderful thing but only in moderation. The younger generation and older generation alike are both guilty of gluing themselves to their screens rather than looking at the world around them. This feels almost like a crime during summertime; the sun is out, and there’s so much to do in the real world. There’s so much to do outside of an electronic screen.

Encourage your kids to cut the ties with technology and limit their usage of their devices during summer. Encourage them to come out on a walk with you. It’s good for them to ease off on the constant stimulation and enjoy something which seems “boring” on the surface because it’s just nature and not the internet. Over summer, the more you take your kids off on back-to-basics adventures, the more they might find that they actually enjoy the outdoors just as much as their technology but in a completely different way.

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Camping.

This is the pinnacle of family activities. There’s something simultaneously cozy and adventurous about camping. You can explore the great unknown but do so in a snug little tent, eat marshmallows around a fire with your loved ones, and tell scary ghost stories. Of course, if you’ve already blown a good portion of the family’s summer fund on endless activities and vacations then you might not have enough money to afford another trip away. The beauty about camping, however, is that you only need a tent to do it. You could camp near to home or even camp in your backyard. You’ll be right next to home in case you need any emergency supplies, the campsite is free because you own it, and you probably don’t have to worry about wild animals (other than a few squirrels, perhaps).

The zoo.

The final suggestion on this list is a classic family favorite which is always guaranteed to go down a treat. Hitting your local zoo (or even a zoo you’ve never visited before) is a great way to keep the whole family happy. Everybody has a certain animal that they love, and there are plenty of snack stands to keep the family content and their bellies stuffed to the brim. When it comes to keeping the family together over summer with an activity that the kids don’t find boring (or the parents, for that matter), the zoo is the perfect solution.

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We tend to think more about doing maintenance on our homes in preparation for winter when weather conditions make it more likely that something will go wrong, but actually, we should be scheduling home maintenance tasks throughout the year if we want out properties to be in good condition. Since summer is fast approaching, I’ve put together some summer him maintenance tips for you to think about…

Check the AC

When summer rolls around, you’re going to want to know that you’re air conditioning unit is working perfectly, which means that now is the time to have your air conditioner tuned up. If you’re good at DIY, you can probably take out your toolbox and do this yourself, if not call in a professional and have them check the fan, coils, and wiring, not only to ensure that it will work when you need it, but also to ensure that it is safe from the risk of fire.

Plumbing Check

Although your plumbing is more likely to go wrong in the winter when pipes are prone to freezing, it is still important to check your plumbing heading up to summer, because it is traditionally the time when many people go on vacation, and there’s nothing worse than coming back to find that your home has been flooded. Calling out plumbing services to check that slightly leaky tap or that pipe that’s making a fun noise now just makes sense.

Inspect the Roof

Again, Fall and Winter are the times that are more likely to give you roof trouble, thanks to the increase in rain and wind, but it’s a lot safer to check the status of your roof, which you should do once a year, in summer when the conditions are stable, and you’re at less risk of slipping or being blown off the roof.

Clear the Gutters

For the same reasons that checking the roof is the ideal task to do in the summer, you should also think about cleaning the gutters. Getting rid of any leaves, twigs or dirt that is clogging up the pipes will help to ensure that you don’t face any problems in the Fall due to flowers, seeds, and blossoms, which are so predominant, and which can get stuck in the guttering, during summer.

Check the Windows

When summer shows her beautiful face, you want to be able to feel the sun on yours, even when you’re inside, which is why you should think about thoroughly cleaning the windows inside and out. Not only that but if you want to be able to enjoy the summer breeze, you should check that your window latches and hinges are working perfectly. The last thing you want is for them to seize up and you be unable to open the windows on those warm summer evenings.

Maintain the Pool

When the first rays of summer sun beat down on your garden, you want to be able to jump straight into the pool, which is why now is the perfect time to get your pool summer ready by cleaning out the dirty water, leveling it off and checking that the pump is in good working order.
What’s on your summer chore list?

Frugal living is a lifestyle that not everyone completely understands or appreciates, but it’s usually more noticeable during an intense period such as summer where we constantly have the air conditioner on. Leaving our appliances on to cool our home can be expensive, but it’s almost necessary to beat the heat—or is it?

There are plenty of frugal practices you can pick up if you want to save money on your utility bills this summer, and this article will go through a bunch of different ideas and tricks that you can use to cut household costs.

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Stay hydrated

Buying bottled water can eventually get expensive. If you aren’t used to drinking tap water then it might be time to start filling bottles with tap water and simply chilling them in the fridge. Staying hydrated is incredibly important during the summer and your body temperature is far more important than the temperature of your home. If tap water isn’t potable in your area, then consider investing in a cheap water filter instead. Check this article at https://wellnessmama.com/8079/water-filter-options/ for some reviews on common types of water filters.

Make use of your fans

Fans are far less electricity-hungry than an air conditioning unit and can even be powered using solar power or simple batteries. Handheld fans are great for cooling off your face or neck, and your ceiling fan is a low-cost way to circulate cold air around your home. There are plenty of companies that sell quality ceiling fans, such as https://www.mylightingsource.com/store/categories/1480/Casablanca-Fans, if you don’t already have one. They also work great in the winter if you simply turn the switch on the fan itself so it pushes air up instead of down.

Use doors wisely

Hot air spreads around your home very quickly, so it’s a good idea to keep your doors closed so that you don’t encourage it. In fact, if there are cool areas in your home that are protected by shade, then you should consider keeping the doors to those areas closed. You can then use those rooms to cool off since hot air isn’t invading them. Once the sun sets, you can open the door to these chilled rooms to allow the cold air to escape and lower the temperature of your house.

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Cook outdoors

If you have an unused grill laying around, then brave the heat and go outside to cook instead of staying indoors. Not only does it give you an excuse to start a summer garden party, it also ensures that the heat from your oven and stove don’t spread around your home and heat it up. Grilling outside allows the heat from cooking to dissipate into the summer breeze, ensuring that it stays well away from your home.

Close the blinds
If the sun shines directly into certain rooms, then it can help to close the blinds so that sunlight can’t get in. If you have thick curtains then this works especially well to keep those heated rays away from your home. It might darken your home a little, so another option is to install a film on your windows that specifically blocks out the heat.