Summer days can be looong when you have kids at home, so I did a bit of research on Pinterest and came up with a 31-day plan to keep us occupied. I think you’ll agree that it is both educational and accurate. Enjoy!
Day 1 Start summer scrapbooks! Prepare to cherish these memories forever! Celebrate by treating your kids to whatever they want at the ice cream truck!
Day 2 Neighborhood scavenger huuuuunt!
Day 3 Handmade apology notes to neighbors whose gardens were trampled/gnomes toppled by your kids during neighborhood scavenger hunt!
Day 4 Recycle everything kids collected during neighborhood scavenger hunt as punishment for fighting over who actually won the scavenger hunt because everything has to be a contest to them!
Day 5 Visit local farm for berry picking! Make your own juice and ice pops from fruit you picked! Calmly tell the kids “No” when they hear the ice cream truck, because you just made cold treats!
Day 6 Make your own stain-remover to save the clothes worn while working with the fresh fruit! Teach the art of folding and putting away clean laundry!
Day 7 Break out the stickers, markers, and glitter to add the first week’s activities to the scrapbook!
Day 8 Remove/black out all incriminating evidence the kids put in the first week’s entries in their scrapbooks!
Day 9 Nature walk! Forget to bring enough water, so agree to buy stuff at ice cream truck even though you’re a little surprised to see one out there in nature!
Day 10 Pajama day while you all recover from Poison Ivy contracted during nature walk!
Day 11 Look up at-home science experiments & try some at home! Turn up the radio when you hear the ice cream truck approaching!
Day 12 Look up Sew-Your-Own Eye Patch online and everyone can make one for the kid whose eye was damaged during the “At-Home Volcano” incident yesterday!
Day 13 Make your own chalk, then decorate driveway, then calm crying kids when passing summer rainstorm washes it all off the driveway before dinner!
Day 14 Use remaining homemade sidewalk chalk to decorate this week’s page in scrapbooks!
Day 15 Make tie-dye shirts for the whole family. Let them use their own money at the ice cream truck when it comes by as you bring the shirts outside to dry.
Day 16 Field trip to the mall to buy everyone in the house new white underwear and tee-shirts because the tie-dye stuff turned everything you washed last night a blotchy pink.
Day 17 Open summer care packages from Grandma filled with toys, books, and other activities.
Day 18 Dump bins full of toys into garbage bags and bring them to a donation center since the kids prefer to play with empty boxes rather than the toys, books, and other activities inside them.
Day 19 Beach day! Of course there’s no way to avoid the ice cream truck out there!
Day 20 Spend the day cleaning sand out of car, garage, mudroom, hallway, kitchen, laundry room, 10 towels, 6 swimsuits, 3 changes of clothes per kid, the closet, living room, and bedrooms.
Day 21 Break out the scrapbooks again for updating. Search house for a couple pencils and a sticker you got at the grocery store yesterday, since the art supplies have gone missing.
Day 22 Print out kid-friendly recipes, then go to Farmer’s Market for ingredients. Spend the day in the A/C teaching them to cook.
Day 23 Order in pizza while the kids clean out the fridge: at least two of them woke with a snotty summer cold, and you just know all the food they made yesterday is seasoned with infectious boogers.
Day 24 Go to Target with gift cards your kids have collected from birthdays. Let them buy whatever shutuppery they want. Discreetly flip off the ice cream truck as you pass it on the highway (IS IT STALKING YOU???).
Day 25 Take the kids to the park. Leave park after 400 rounds of “It’s too hot,” “I don’t like my sandals,” and “I want snack—no, not THAT snack,” and toss them all into the playroom while you hide, rocking in a corner.
Day 26 Turn on sprinklers. Drink while kids ruin the lawn. Stare at ice cream truck with the burning Hellfire of Eternal Hate when it stops at the edge of your lawn, causing your kids to freak the freak out until you give in.
Day 27 Spend the day at the movie theater. Feed your pain over how long this month has been with Junior Mints and popcorn.
Day 28 Remember it’s scrapbook day. Go back to bed while kids do…whatever. I just don’t care anymore.
Day 29 Watch TV all day. On separate TVs. Egg the ice cream truck when it dares drive down your street again.
Day 30 Dig out all the iPads you hid 4 weeks ago. As long as the game is free, allow kids to “buy” as many as they want as long as they stay quiet.
Day 31 Pay whatever it takes to get all your kids in camp until the first day of school.
Happy summer, everyone!
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Kim Bongiorno is an author, full time freelance writer, and the blogger behind Let Me Start By Saying. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter, hire her to write for you or speak at your event, or buy her a cherry Icee because they are delicious.
Love it!! Our ice cream truck always comes about 5 min before dinner, no matter what time we eat! Hate that guy!
The ice cream truck coming right after making cold treats….how do they know?? HOW DO THEY KNOW???!!!