What to do with the kids when school is out!?!

put them to work in a community garden! we love little hands at ours!

or bike rides... you can get a trailer for the little one and take day trips to local destinations to check out different kinds of ecological settings. also little mini-hikes with the one on your back and the other exploring. for example, here we have a couple kind of unique areas that have very specific plants and wildlife. there are even programs at these parks specifically for kids to learn to identify plants, frogs, toads, turtles and birds.

check the libraries to see if there are any day trips scheduled for summer. if you have an audobon society nearby, they usually have many day-hikes set up.

i work with an after school program in the summer, too, and we set up field trips for the kids so that the parents can have a day to get stuff done. last year, we took the kids on a river boat ride along the old mill line and talked about how the water used to be very polluted but over the last few decades, people have been working really hard to get it back. they could see all kinds of river life and connect with nature in an experiential way.

we also took them to a food museum so they could see all the tools that people used to use before electric machinery; we took them to local parks & playgrounds and a working 18th century farm. so look into a public school summer program, too. they're usually very inexpensive.

Go hiking with them maybe, nature walks. Bug collections, start a garden and let them seed, water, pick flowers. Fly kites, make mud cakes and castles.

I can't wait to hear some ideas, mine are 9 and 11, I've been known to make them go outside and then lock the doors so they can't get back in and pester me....oh wait, that's probably not the best idea!! lol

Haha what you describe in your "if I allowed it" post is pretty much what I did EVERY summer growing up. But that was probably because video games, in my family, were a family thing. I played with my father, step-mother, and little brother, and if they were playing one thing, I'd either watch, play along, or play something by myself. (edit) Oh and most of my friends were online gamers, so we'd sit on the computer for hours playing together online talking through a messenger, or through the games chat system.

Things I can suggest though... hmm

Bike riding, roller skating, build a small flower or vegetable garden.. when I was about his age I would go to the mall with friends and hang out at the arcade watching people play DDR, and just walk around window shopping with my friends. Without really knowing what's close and available to you it's hard to tell really.

Also 30 miles doesn't seem far to me, but that's because I'm from Texas and to go anywhere fun from where I used to live was at least a 15-30 minute drive, or if we wanted to go somewhere really fun it could be anywhere from 2-8 hours of driving to get there depending on where we were going. Hahaha.

Love the ideas thus far. Any community pools nearby? Hiking trails? My son's last day of school was 5/18. We've been out nearly 2 weeks and it took a few days to find a balance. If I go to the gym, he goes to Kid's Quest (climbers, inflatables, etc.) and then we swim together. Other ideas are roller skating, bike rides, or yard work. Maybe you could ask your son to watch your daughter while you get yourself a workout in at home if you're not comfortable leaving.

My boys are 3 years apart (6 and 9), we sucked it up and bought passes to the local pool. They swim all day and are pretty tuckered out by the time we come home (6-8pm). Also we made video games into a privilege only to be played after they have played outside for a reasonable length of time AND they have had good behavior. I may be bribing my kids, but it's working so far. We shall see how that continues throughout the summer.

Check with your local parks department or agricultural center. Our ag center has 4H day camps that don't cost much and keep them busy exploring and doing all kinds of things. Last year my daughter was in an art camp, drama camp, she learned archery, they had a small pet camp. All kinds of things.

Archery? That's sweet. I would have loved a camp like that when I was growing up.

I put mine to work, lol Seriously. My son works for me 3 days a week. No harm in making them earn the oney to buy the things they want!! A little sweat never hurt me as a kid.

I tell my kids they have to play, just the 2 of them 11 & 13, for 2 hours together. Then they may call a friend to play with, play video games, watch a show, etc. Often, the 2 hour limit is up, and they are having so much fun they don't realize it:)

I just tie them up in the basement and just throw food and water down there.....They manage okay:laugh:

Totally kidding....I work and they stay with my mom!! We live in a lake community with beaches and a pool a short walk down the road:) They will be there with my mom most of the summer, I'll even head down there to hang with them for a little while when I get home from work!