Ideas to Keep Your Children Entertained During Summer Vacation

School ended on Friday. The kids are thrilled because they have no more responsibilities and no more homework. No getting up early for three whole months.

By Monday you are already hearing them complain about being bored!

Now I'm a big believer in kids helping out around the house. But what do you do when the house is clean and the yard work done? Well I have put together some ideas that may save your sanity the way it did mine!

First of all, look to your local Parks department. Even in a community as small as mine they have various activities for the kids. Plan to take advantage of as many of them as your children are interested. Also look into summer softball and baseball leagues for your children. Many libraries also have programs for children. Look into whatever your community has to offer.

After all that you will have to get creative.

The Readathon!
My local library has a summer reading program that awards prizes for the most books read. I'm aware that not all libraries do this, but you can! Pick a day of the week to be library day. You take back the read books and pick up new ones. Create categories and award prizes to whoever read the most books in those categories. If you have three children, have three categories. Yes, every child will get a prize.

The Garden Plot
Even if all you have are pots, give one to each child and have them grow something that is all their own. My kids actually loved eating vegetables that they grew themselves. Some easy ones are Tomatoes and Bell Peppers. They can grow flowers or herbs as well. If you have enough room, give the child a spot and let them try out their thumbs for greenness!

The Rainy Day Movie Marathon
It's pouring down rain. Go to the video store and rent as many movies as you have children. Put their names in a hat to see which movie you are going to view first, second and so on. A variation on this is to let them take turns picking a theme and then have the children each pick a movie that fits!