August is here and it’s still Summer… if your family is like our families, then you were going strong at the start of the season but with camps finished, vacations completed, and energy diminishing… you’re looking for ways to keep your kids entertained. Even when we’re tired and losing steam, we can still make the remaining weeks of Summer fun before focus is fully switched to the schoolyear.
FIELD DAY
Everyone loves a good friendly competition. One way to keep the kids entertained is to create a twist on classic outdoor games we love. Make teams within your family or round up some friends and neighbors for a field day. What is great about a field day is that it can be as easy or as challenging as you think the group can handle and you can use sporting equipment that you already have. We used some baseball bats, tennis rackets, soccer balls & soccer net, and reusable aqua drenchers balls to create a simple obstacle course. For any items that you might not have, Dick’s Sporting Goods is a great spot for all your field day and sporting needs. We love that the local stores always have a great assortment of items and when we can’t find it there, their online store is great too!
Here is a sample of what we did for our stations. Each person had to run through it one time and then tag the next person relay race style. You can set it up in your yard or at a local park.
- Dizzy bat – spin with your forehead touching the handle, 5x around on the bat
- Run straight – create zig zag pattern with cones while carrying aqua ball or water balloon on a serving spoon. Drop the ball and you have to start from the beginning of cones again.
- Flippin’ Out – Take a tennis racket and hit a tennis ball. Alternate sides back and forth while ball is up in the air five times
- Score! – Set up a soccer goal and the person must make three goal.
- Run back and tag the next person
COOKING CHALLENGE
My kids always want to help, which can be amazing but also time consuming… so I love to turn meals into challenges. From baking to cooking, and making pizza is the most fun. I challenge everyone in the family to create a pizza using only the ingredients aka “leftovers” in the fridge. Like we have chicken breasts and BBQ sauce, great combo, shred that meat and load it up. We have black beans and avocado and lettuce, great Tostado pizza, I see you… or even sweet, like we have nutella and mini marshmallows, that deliciousness doesn’t even need a name and so on and so on.
This summer we took our pizza cooking challenge to a new level with our Gozney Roccbox, this is a restaurant-grade portable pizza oven for your backyard! Yes, it’s real. And, you can cook a neapolitan pizza in 60 seconds. It has a patented rolling flame technology that allows us to experience wood-fired goodness regardless of the fuel used and the high, domed ceiling shape also means that flames are further away from your food so the Roccbox will consistently cook our pizza toppings to perfection.
With a stone floor and thick layers of insulation, the Roccbox can reach up to 950°F and retain that heat for longer, so we can cook pizza after pizza without a drop in quality or a having to wait for the oven to heat back up. And since I have kiddos, I really like that it has a Silicon SafeTouchTM jacket to protect wandering hands from getting burnt, making this Gozney pizza oven the perfect family-friendly backyard gadget.
Our pizzas have never tasted better, my kids are engaged, the leftovers are used and everyone is full of smiles and delicious pizza!
CREATIVE SUMMER COLLAGE
Perspective often helps us shape our attitude so reflecting on summer break highlights is a must. So bust out the art supplies and get crafting, a DIY collage of the summer that is sure to become your favorite keepsake. We had the kids create a piece of art, book or collage on their favorite things they did this summer. Have them use stickers, markers, photos, crayons, and more. Then once they are done creating, have them share it with the family. This helps everyone reflect on the fun memories and also helps them to develop a heart of gratitude for the things that they did. We love using Faber-Castell art supplies and the Creativity for Kids little books give you a great jumpstart too!
