Ideas for keeping kids busy

Summer's here. For some, this conjures images of trips to the park, picnics, evening walks and family dinners outside. For others, it just scares the heck out of them.

How do you keep school-aged kids busy? Omahan Laura Hensley looks forward to summer with her four girls, even though there's more time to fill. Taylor, 7, likes to ride her bike and draw with chalk (she's known for making hopscotch diagrams and writing out numbers — to 100!). Sara, 6, likes to play outside and ride her scooter. The girls — which also include Amanda, 3, and Maria, 11 months — take swim lessons, go to the zoo and the Omaha Children's Museum and play at home with a sprinkler and small swimming pool.

Laura and Dave Hensley also take the girls on a vacation within driving distance each year. They've been to Kansas City and Minneapolis. Summer is nice, Laura Hensley said.

“I try to plan out different activities each week,” she said. “I enjoy having them home. Summer vacation, for many moms and dads, means more work planning activities.

Here are a few ideas:

Plant a garden

Use the ground or make a small-scale garden in a plastic baby pool. Poke holes in the bottom and on the sides for drainage. Find a spot that gets direct sunlight and some shade. Fill your pool with equal amounts of top soil and organic materials. Grow lettuce, carrots, basil, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and green beans.

Have your children draw pictures of each of the vegetables and glue the picture onto a Popsicle stick. You can place a sandwich bag over the pictures to protect them from rain.

Plan a picnic

Each week, pick a day for a picnic. Find an inexpensive basket or beach bag. Use a twin bed sheet for your picnic blanket and have your kids decorate the sheet with pictures of summer things.

Try a new park each week. Take bubbles, sidewalk chalk or a kite. Document each picnic spot with a picture and put it into a summer scrapbook.

Go on a scavenger hunt

Make fun scavenger hunt lists right on your computer. Find images of items you can copy and paste to make a “picture” list of things that you may see at a park, zoo, restaurant, swimming pool, grocery store, car ride or even in your own backyard. Put a blank line next to each picture for them to mark an “X” as they find each item.

Tie an activity to a book

Read “Not A Box” by Antoinette Portis. Save your big empty boxes, and after reading this fun book about using your imagination to transform a box, encourage your child to make something with his or her own plain box. Or read “Chicks and Salsa” by Aaron Reynolds, and make guacamole, salsa and tacos.

Take an Omaha adventure

Cut paper into squares and write on separate pieces all the things your family would like to see and do. Then, when your family has time, have your child draw one of the pieces of paper out of a jar for your surprise activity. Visit www.omahaadventure.com for info on discounted admission to local attractions.

Make your own slime

Here's what you need:

Elmer's School Glue

Borax (or Tide powder detergent)

Water

Food coloring

Here's what you do:

1. Mix one cup of water with one cup of glue.

2. Add food coloring to glue and water mixture.

3. In a separate container, mix ½ cup water and ½ teaspoon of Borax or Tide.

4. Add detergent solution to glue mixture.

Plan a bubble day

Visit www.ocm.org for Professor Pocket's brilliant bubble recipe. Then try some of these fun ideas:

»Use things from around the house to blow bubbles: plastic funnels, six-pack soda rings or plastic cups with holes punched through the bottom.

»Make bubble art by pouring some bubble solution into a cup and adding a few drops of food coloring. Blow rainbow bubbles into the air and try to catch them with a white sheet of paper. Put on finishing touches with crayons and markers.

»Make a bubble sculpture by pouring about ½ inch of bubble solution into a pie plate or shallow tray. Use a straw to blow a bubble that rests on top of the solution in the tray. Carefully remove the straw. Wet it in the solution, and then insert it into the top of the bubble at a 45-degree angle. Now you can blow a bubble inside the first one.

Be a researcher

Wikipedia lists many areas of Omaha, but some areas are missing information. For example, the page with Omaha parks lists all the parks but not much else. Wouldn't it be cool to be the person who adds the information on what is at each park? With a digital camera, a child could even take the picture of the park and add it to Wikipedia.

Sources: Sarah Smith and Aimee Ward, owners of Imagine and Explore Preschool; Tom Simons, Omaha Children's Museum; Barb Gilman, third-grade teacher, St. Margaret Mary School

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