Summer Morning Challenges!
I figured, if the Elf on the Shelf can do it, than so can I!
Every morning when the kids wake up, I have an activity laid out on the kitchen table. The idea is that it gives the boys something to focus on when they get up (instead of computer games), lets us sleep in a bit, or get a bit of work done!
It’s been a lot of fun coming up with something every day! As this is our second year, the bar has been set pretty high to come up with interesting things!
We managed to do an activity most days!
Here is what we’ve done:
Day 57: Blindfolded Drawing
How good are you at giving directions? How good are you at listening? We took turns being blindfolded and gave instructions to each other (go left, go up, diagonally) to draw a picture. It worked out a lot of the time! Great teamwork!
Day 56: Video Games
What else do you do on a rainy day? Introduce the kids to new websites for their favourite things: Pokemon and Hot Wheels!
Day 55: Solar Oven
Today we made a solar oven and attempted to cook Smores. I found a fantastic video on Pinterest! It contains a step-by step process.
For some reason, our oven didn’t reach hot enough temperatures, but we had fun trying!
Day 54: Bottle Target Practice
I hung a couple of bottles tied to a rope from a tree. They had to see how far away they could be and still hit the bottles!
You may want to watch carefully, because it wasn’t long before this contraption was turned into nunchucks!
Day 53: Hot Wheels Builders’ Challenge!
We are a bit Hot Wheels obsessed in this house and have a lot of track pieces. Today, I challenged them to come up with a multiple chain reaction track.
They came up with a creative square!
Day 52: Secret Messages
The boys love this activity! Write a message on white paper using a white crayon.
Then have the kids paint over the message using water paints and the message will appear. Here, I told them where to find a special treat that I had hidden.
Day 51: Clothespin Games
We tried two funny games with clothespins. First, we had to put the clothespins between our knees and walk to the end of the deck and drop them in a bucket. The boys also experimented with other body parts!
Next, we moved the buckets a distance away and saw how far away we could throw them into the bucket.
Day 49 and 50: Ceramics
This activity took two days to complete! We had a ceramic mold kit from the dollar store. On the first day we made the molds.
On the next day, we painted them!
Day 48: Mystery Eggs
Today we were going on a special adventure! I wrote up the information on a piece of paper and cut it out like a jigsaw puzzle.
I then hid each piece of the puzzle in a plastic Easter egg and hid them around the lawn. The kids found the eggs, and put the puzzle together to read the message.
Day 47: Hot Wheels Rockets
Today we decided to turn our Hot Wheels into Rockets!
Place a straw inside a balloon and tape the whole thing to the back of a Hot Wheels car.
Blow up the balloon through the straw. Watch it fly across the room!
Day 46: Bowling for Bottles
Daniel said that this was one of the most fun activities of the summer.
Take empty cans and bottles and stack them in the driveway. It is easier if this is infront of a wall or the garage door. Then, give them a ball to bowl with!
You can make some fancy stacks, too! It’s a lot harder than you think!
Day 45: Balancing Forks on a Glass
This is an impressive trick that the kids will love!
Take two forks and intertwine them and place a toothpick up the centre. Balance the entire contraption on the edge of a glass. Then, burn the toothpick! This YouTube Video show it perfectly.
Just watch their expressions!
Day 44: Target Practice
I made a few paper bullseye targets.
Then, I pinned them to the clothesline and had them shoot them with water guns! They may have sprayed each other, too. And me.
Day 43: Bird Feeders
Today we made two different bird feeders using peanut butter.
First, we spread peanut butter on a toilet paper roll and sprinkled it with bird seed. Then we tied a string to it to hang.
We ound these wooden ornaments and drilled a hole in the top of each one and strung a piece of string through it. Then, covered it in peanut butter and bird seed.
Day 42: Hot Wheels Race with Squirters
Today we tried to race Hot Wheels down the road while squirting them with spray bottles.
Even thought it was fun, it was an EPIC FAIL and did not work. The boys had more fun squirting each other!
Day 41: Follow a Bug
We found an ant in the driveway and traced its path. It’s a lot harder than it sounds! Be careful not to run over it with the chalk!
Day 40: Rock Polishing
The boy love rock collecting and we happen to have a rock tumbler. The boys went through their collection and picked the ones they wanted to polish. Stay tuned for the results.
Day 39: Car Ride Bingo
We had a long day in the card, so I printed off these Bingo sheets that I found on Pinterest! We had a blast trying to fill in the entire card!
Day 38: Hand Shadows
I found this idea on Pinterest and printed off the sheets. We found a dark space and tried to make these animals on the wall. Some were really hard! We had a lot of fun making up our own, too!
Day 37: Pokemon Math
My boys are obsessed with Pokemon! Daniel took the “Health Number” and learned how to do basic multiplication while Thomas added the “Health” and “Damage” together to learn how to add in columns!
Day 36: 5 Senses Hunt
We spent the day hiking and decided to use our 5 senses. We recorded our favourite sights, smells, tastes, sounds and touches for the day!
Day 35: Egg Hunt
It doesn’t have to be Easter to enjoy an egg hunt! I filled the plastic eggs with #Golfish crackers and other treats for them to find.
Day 34: Follow the String
I tied a piece of yarn to their chair and told them to follow the string.
At the end of the string was a bag full of treats. I filled it with “road trip essentials” for our car trip, but any prize would do!
Day 33: Paint a Picture
Bring out their inner Picasos by putting out paint and a blank canvas!
Sometimes things might get a bit creatively messy!
Day 32: Paper Airplanes
What kid doesn’t love making paper airplanes? Get out your paper, Google some designs and see whose can fly the farthest!
Day 31: Stacking Cups and Knocking them Over
We gathered all the plastic cups in the house and took turns building pyramids. Then, we had fun knocking them down with a water gun! We tried to see what elaborate cup designs we could build!
Day 30: Bake Cookies
Besides the joy of baking, it helps kids to learn about math and teaches them a great life-long skill. The end result didn’t last long enough to get a picture!
Day 29: Make a Card
We had two cards to make today: a birthday card and a get well card for a friend. But, you can make a card for anyone. A “thank you” or “glad you’re my friend/neighbour” card always brightens someone’s day!
I laid out the craft supplies and let the kids do whatever they wanted!
Day 28: Let’s Make a Collage
An easy craft/activity! I just put the flyers out on the table and had the kids pick a theme to collage about. Daniel picked “things found in a house” and Thomas did “red things.” We’ve also done collages of the 4 food groups which is a great learning activity, too!
Day 27: Orienteering
It’s great for kids to learn basic compass skills! I set up a list of directions for the boys to follow. We talked about how to find North and about the degrees around the rim.
At the end of the walk, there was a treat for both of them!
Day 26: Cook Supper on a Coffee Can
We used to do this at Girl Guide camp. Read the full blog post about this activity. Basically, you make a bunson burner out of a tuna can and cardboard and use it to heat a coffee can to cook your supper!
Day 25: Lighting Fires with a Magnifying Glass
What little boy doesn’t like to light things on fire? We stressed the importance of only doing this with an adult present!
Stand in the direct sun and tilt the magnifying glass until it casts a circle of light on the object.
Day 24: Planting Seeds
We happened to have some of that paper with seeds embedded in it, so we decided to plant it! Stay tuned to see if it grows!
If you don’t have this type of paper, try planting regular seeds and watch them sprout!
Day 23: Rock Candy
I’ve grown salt crystals before but never sugar ones! This is a great scientific and yummy experiment.
I found easy instructions online.
Basically, you boil water and dissolve sugar in it creating a super-saturated solution.
Then, you pour it into jars
And put a string across the top, tied to a pencil, and wait for them to grow. Report back in to see our progress!
After 2 weeks, the candy is ready! YUMM!
Day 22: Puzzlemaker
Puzzlemaker is a great website where you make all sorts of puzzles from word searches to crossword puzzles. Enter your own list of words and clues and then print them off. And, it’s free! I made a puzzle with clues about each boy’s life. Great for a rainy day.
Day 21: Sponge Fight!
I got this great idea from my neighbour Sue! This turned out to be one of their favourites!
Hang an old shower curtain or bedsheet from the clothesline. Place a bowl of water at each side.
Give each child a pile of sponges. The object is to hit each other with the wet sponges, but you have to stay behind the curtain! It’s pretty hard and a lot of fun!
Day 20: Solar Kits
I bought a solar kit for the boys from Dollarama. Remeber, you get what you pay for! This kit was really tricky to put together (thank goodness my husband did it!) but it really worked. The kids enjoyed helping to assemble it and learning about solar power.
Day 19: Stalking Game
We had a camping sleepover with our friends so played this group game in the morning. Start by teaching the kids how to stalk in the woods and walk quietly toe to heel. Once they have practiced that and have it downpat, you can play the game.
Blindfold a child and put them in the centre of the circle. Give him a water gun. In front of him place a bag of candy.
The leader points to another child who then tries to stalk up and steal candy from the bag. If the blindfolded child hears something, he shoots the water gun. If the stalker get hits, he goes back and tries again.
Make sure that the blindfolded child is not shooting willy-nilly or someone else gets a chance!
Day 18: Gummy Experiment
We received packages of Dare Candy Co. REALFRUIT gummies to sample, so we turned it into a science experiment to learn about gelatin. For a full description of how to run the experiment, click on the blog post.
Day 17: Volcanoes
I gave the boys their own bottle of vinegar and box of baking soda to make all the volcanoes they wanted! What a mess! What fun!
Day 16: Scavenger Hunt
Happy 8th birthday, Daniel! To celebrate, we had a scavenger hunt. At the end, wa sone of Daniel’s birthday presents, and a small treat for Thomas.
The boys love doing scavenger hunts. I started a few years ago as a means of getting Thomas to practice reading. We do them so often that I just keep all the clues and mix them up. At the end is sometimes a small present, or an afternoon snack.
Day 15: Magnetic Sand
A few years ago we took a family vacation to Grand Manan off the coast of New Brunswick. At Red Point Beach you can find magnetic sand! We brought back a vial. Because the kids don’t remember the trip, we got it out for them to play with.
Don’t have any of your own? Try making some by following this video!
Day 14: Ball Collection – Teamwork Style!
This was one of my favourite activities that I did last year. I took 10 balls and taped a piece of paper to it numbered 1 through 10. I then hid the balls around the yard.
I tied the boys together and told them that they had to collect the balls in order, while working together. It tested their teamwork and their memory skills!
Day 13: Math Challenges
Math is so much more fun when you do it with sidewalk chalk! I wrote a set of equations for both boys in the drive way for them to solve.
Day 12: Rescue in Ice Land
This by far was the favourite activity from last year – I even did it twice! Take a baggie and fill it with random toys. I used balls, rocks, Lego figures, plastic animals (making sure that the back for each boy was the same!) I froze it in the deep freezer for a few days. Then, I left a note out for the kids, and when they were ready, got the bags from the freezer, cut off the bags, and let them shoot the ice with water guns until they melted!
Day 11: Measuring Water
This is an activity that Daniel came up with and really wanted to try! How many different ways can you make 1 Cup of water? It got a bit messy, but was a lot of fun. He figured out that there were 7 Tbsp in 1/2 a cup, therefore, there would be 14 in a cup!
Day 10: Let’s Learn about Japan
I used to live in Japan so every once in awhile, as a special treat, I get out some of my toys and treasures for the kids to play with and to help them learn about Japanese culture. There also happened to be a Japanese display on at our local museum, so we went there today as well!
Everyone else – maybe pick a country to learn about and find it on the map!
This is a traditional lantern. They would catch fireflies to put inside.
Day 9: Breakfast Treat
Sometimes we just need a break and a special treat to start the day!
Day 8: Measuring using Hot Wheels
Capitalizing on Thomas’ love of Hot Wheels, we had a morning of measuring things!
We talked about estimating and then actually calculating the length.
Thomas was 17 Hot Wheels long.
Daniel was 20 Hot Wheels long.
I was 23 Hot Wheels long.
And, Jelly Bean the degu was 2 Hot Wheels long.
Day 7: How Old is the Tree?
During hurricane Arthur we lost a huge linden tree in our back yard. Never wanting a good learning opportunity to go to waste, we created a morning challenge!
It turns out that the tree was approximately 48 years old, so we guess it was planted the year the house was built.
It was a great chance to talk about how weather patterns affect the tree ring growth, too!
Day 6: Electronics
When we were young, my dad would give us an old typewriter and a pile of screwdrivers and let us go to twon taking it apart. There is nothing more fun than to figure out how electronics work, by taking apart these old broken bits!
Day 5: Turn on your Light Switch
I read in an article about the 6 life skills that kids need. It had some great suggestions for activities inluding getting kids to turn on their light switch without touching it or without being in the room. The boys were up for the challenge and figured it out rather quickly!
Day 4: Little Passports
We received a kit in the mail from Little Passports (see full blog post). This is a series of activities that teaches kids about geography. We decorated the suitcase and talked about what countries my husband and I have visited and what countries they would like to visit. Then, we found them on the map!
Day 3: Summer Bucket List
We made up a list of all the things we wanted to do this summer. Swimming, bowling, the drive-in, waterslides all made it to the list!
Day 2: Parachute Jumpers!
These jumpers can be found in the dollar store. I took the screen out of Thomas’ bedroom and let them throw the men out the window. They also attached a bucket to a piece of rope so that the men could be quickly pulled back up.
Day 1: Happy Canada Day!
I hid the pieces for our giant floor puzzle around the house. The kids found the pieces and then put the puzzle together and had to write down the names of the provinces and territories.
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