Kids Activities

Scavenger Hunts for All Summer Long

Summer vacation is right around the corner, are you parents ready to entertain your kids all summer vacation? Or maybe your a homeschooler and you want to keep learning fresh during the summer. These scavenger hunts can help.

Have them reading in a fun way, making them get outside to play.

Scavenger Hunts for All Summer Long

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I made up these scavenger hunts that your children can do separate or together. From kindergarten on, or at least reading.

I will be lamenting our copies so that they can be reused all summer.

I have included scavenger hunts for when you head to the pool, to the beach, or even camping. All of them are to hopefully encourage you and your kids to be outside. Because being outside is part of the summer fun.

Click on the image below to download your scavenger hunts.

DIY Christmas Ornaments Your Kids Can Make

by Ashley Mullen

My girls love making Christmas ornaments for their grandparents. The love that goes into each piece makes them special. Pulling out the ornaments to hang on the tree is one of my favorite parts of holiday decorating and Christmas traditions.

But that it’s even better when those ornaments are handmade, especially those my kids have made. Remembering back to the holiday season in which we created them always makes it special.

DIY Christmas Ornaments Your Kids Can Make

*This post may contain affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

Up-cycled Wrapping Paper Christmas Ornaments from This West Coast Mommy

DIY Christmas Bulbs from Forgetful Momma

Popsicle Stick Rudolph from Tales of Mommyhood

Homemade Christmas Tree Ornaments: Salt Dough from Everything Unscripted

Make Scented Pine Cones from The Koala Mom

Salt Dough Magnets from The Koala Mom

Beaded Christmas Ornaments from The Koala Mom

Homemade Snowy Christmas Ornament from Thrifty Momma’s Tips

Or maybe you are more like me and you are more of an Amazon Prime mom and would just rather order everything neatly in on box. I have you covered there too:

Magic Color Scratch Reindeer Christmas Ornaments

Oriental Button Wreath Ornament Craft

Paint Your Own Ornament Set

Disappearing Color Science Experiment

by Ashley Mullen

Disappearing color sounds a little like magic, for your kids, especially if they are young, it will probably be magic. This is one of the easiest science activities you can do at home. It is a bit like magic, this chemical reaction between two things. We love science experiments like this.

Disappearing Color Science Experiment

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You only need 3 things: water, food color, and bleach.

If you have ever cleaned with bleach you know just what it does, it bleaches, it removes color. Just ask the t-shirt I was wearing the other cleaning my bathroom, thankfully I was smart enough to change out of my new black sweater.

What you need:

a jar
water
food color
bleach

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How to do a Color Changing Experiment

Simply fill a clear container, a jar in my case, with water. I did use water from our reverse osmosis tap, it was out of habit, regular tap water works just fine as well.

Add some food color, stir it if you’d like, but it is not necessary.

Grab some bleach, I used an old dropper to avoid spilling, or water and bleach splashing back out. Add a bit of the bleach to your colored water.

We added a tablespoon of bleach to start, and added a tablespoon at a time as we went.

A tablespoon of bleach was added into our jar and after a few minutes the bottom half of our jar was colorless.

Or the color of the bleach, you can see that there is a hint of yellow. Add more and see what happens, maybe give it a little stir.

Be careful. Parental supervision is a must.

I can’t stress how careful you and your kids need to be. Bleach on skin can be painful, in the eyes horrible.

Also once you have bleached the color of something there is no getting it back, so we don’t want to have a spill.

Maybe take this outside to avoid it getting spilled in the house.

It’s cool to watch, but what’s really happening?

What’s Happening:

Bleach contains an oxidizer. It reacts with the color molecules in food coloring. Although the pigment molecule remains, its shape changes so that it can’t absorb/reflect light the same way, so it loses its color as a result of the chemical reaction.

Try It:

Try adding some more food color into your jar now that all the color has disappeared. It won’t act the same way it did in the beginning.

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Disappearing Color Experiment

Yield: 1

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Active Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 12 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: $1

Science Experiment using colored water and bleach.

Materials

Bleach
Water

Tools

Food color
Jar

Instructions

Simply fill a clear container, a jar in my case, with water. I did use water from our reverse osmosis tap, it was out of habit, regular tap water works just fine as well. Add some food color, stir it if you'd like.
Grab some bleach, I used an old dropper to avoid spilling, and add a bit to your colored water. We added a tablespoon of bleach to start, and added a tablespoon at a time as we went.
A tablespoon of bleach was added into our jar and after a few minutes the bottom half of our jar was colorless. Or the color of the bleach, you can see that there is a hint of yellow. Add more and see what happens, maybe give it a little stir.

Notes

What is Happening:

Bleach contains an oxidizer. It reacts with the color molecules in food coloring. Although the pigment molecule remains, its shape changes so that it can't absorb/reflect light the same way, so it loses its color as a result of the chemical reaction.

Resources for this activitiy

Let Kids Be Kids Outside

by Ashley Mullen

Kids hear often enough that they need to use quiet voices and walking feet in the house or in the school. When we get kids outside let them be kids! Let them run and yell, and be kids.

They need to get that energy out. That’s part of the reason why recess is so important in school. Once they get to be kids outside: having fun, yelling, running, etc; they can concentrate a lot better.

Let Kids Be Kids Outside

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Tag – Let them Run

Tag is so much fun when you can run as fast as you want. The energy they burn off now will also help their bodies to still calmer at the dinner table or sleep more soundly at bedtime. There are a lot of different versions of tag too. Introduce them to some of them, it will keep the game fresh.

Mud Pies – Let Them Get Dirty

Let them make mud pies with some extra things from your kitchen. A container that you lost the lid to will make the perfect mixing bowl. A spoon that you won’t miss from the drawer.

Hide and Seek

There are so many places to hide outside when your a child with an active imagination… and when you think you can hide behind the truck of a tree.

Chalk – Let Them be Creative on the Sidewalk or Rocks

The great thing about chalk is that it washes away with just water. It doesn’t matter what your kids draw on – sidewalk, trees, toys, etc. Let them get creative where ever they get inspiration. I just washes away with water.

Visit a Playground

We like to go to the playground at least once a week, in the summer, very early in the morning, because the local playground equipment can get really hot. But any time that you can visit a playground is the best time.

Remember to Just Have Fun

My biggest piece of advice here is to let your kids be. Remember how much you loved the playground as a child and let your children love it too. Hubby sits back and cringes as our kids play, but he remembers how much he loved it, and how much they love it.

As a parent it can be hard to let your kids do things that you know can hurt them at some point, but they need to be kids.

Other things for to do outside:

Soccer. Baseball. Kite flying. Science experiments (really get their minds working). The possibilities are endless.

Summer Sun Screen Protection Activity

by Ashley Mullen

We are already applying sunscreen here, and as of mid May, we have gone through three bottles! Have your kids ever asked why they need sunscreen? This is the perfect way to explain it to them with this sun protection activity. Most kids learn from seeing and doing, so grab sunscreen and a piece of construction paper and get outside.

Sun Protection Activity

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Once you are outside and have this going, enjoy being outside as a family with some other fun experiments like making a lava lamp, or maybe something a little more messy like a mento and pop eruption.

What you need:

What you do:

spray the balm of your hand
press it onto the paper before it dries
set the paper out in the sun

Before:

How long you leave it out is up to you. Try to keep it for the length of time that you spend outside. We left ours out for two hours, the recommended time to go before reapplying. Sooner if you are in water, whether swimming or jumping through a sprinkler.

After:

You can see the difference, the purple of the paper without sunscreen is much more faded. When you look at the very first picture in this post, you can see where the rocks with holding our paper down in the wind to get to a better idea of how much it faded.

What does sun damage look like?

When your skin gets damaged by the sun’s rays, it makes even more melanin to try to protect your skin from being damaged even more. That causes the skin to change color:

Dark-skinned people usually turn darker brown, or tan, when they go in the sun.
Light-skinned people usually turn more red, or burn, when they go in the sun.

Make sure that you talk about the importance of sunscreen and protecting yourself from the suns harmful rays.

What are the top five reasons you believe everyone should wear sunscreen?

The ozone layer is depleting and your body needs shielding from harmful rays.
Skin cancer rates are on the rise and sunscreen has been proven to decrease the development of skin cancer.
It helps to prevent facial brown spots and skin discolorations.
It also helps to reduce the appearance of facial red veins and blotchiness.
It slows down the development of wrinkled, premature aging skin.

I’m the mom that loves spray on sunscreen, I can’t help it! The ease of applying it to three active kids every two hours makes it my favorite.

Kids Activities

Scavenger Hunts for All Summer Long

Scavenger Hunts for All Summer Long

DIY Christmas Ornaments Your Kids Can Make

DIY Christmas Ornaments Your Kids Can Make

Similar posts that you may be interested in:

Disappearing Color Science Experiment

Disappearing Color Science Experiment