Growing Boys - It's Not like a Garden!

So every parent's yearly dilemma has started. What to do with the children now that school is out. I have three boys between the ages of 5 and 9; needless to say, they need to be kept busy. I've got one going to a weekend camp, one going to a 3 day day camp, and the youngest broke his arm. Here are some of my other unique suggestions for anybody out there that may have come to their wits end.

My first suggestion may be modified to fit your area. My husband and I are using the snow plow to plow out some grass and create a baseball field. We have 90 acres, so we are doing a regulation Little League field. I remember as a kid though using my parents backyard and imagining it as Tiger Stadium. Feel free to change the dimensions, use trees, air conditioners and swing sets as bases. That's what we did as kids. We even had to use my mom's clothes line as home plate one year when she forgot that's where the batters box was.

My second suggestion may be a bit harder, but it'll be healthy for the whole clan. How about making it a goal to take a certain amount of steps through out the day? Get the kids a cheap pedometer from Wal-Mart and make it a daily challenge to come up with the amount of steps that they need to make. They can walk the dog, walk themselves, race up steps, race around the yard, only their imagination can limit them. How about a prize for the one with the most steps each week? The prizes don't have to be much, just a dollar store toy, or an extra dollar or two for the allowance that week. Just keep increasing the amount of steps for the goal and see how healthy everyone is at the end of the summer.