Summer Activities For Children with C.S. Alexis

Take the "I'm bored" out of your hot summer days

Children spend so much time being watched and monitered during school season, when summer rolls around and all the newness wears off of getting to sleep in late, life can get pretty rough on parents who hear the dreadfully repeated words "I am bored". That is the purpose of this section of news. Here you will find an assortment of things to do to help kids get creative and have some hands on fun. It should also keep them out of the television room and away from the video games. The articles will offer activities that can be done around the house and hopefully outside in the fresh air.

Make a Handcrafted Bird Feeder

This is a fun project for children as well as adults so feel free to join in the fun making these easy handcrafted bird feeders. Let's start with a list of materials tools and supplies needed to get this project off the ground.

.Thread

.A bowl for mixing fun and imagination

.A bag of popped microwave popping corn

.Sewing needles

Set the children at a table outside with the bowl of popcorn and help them get started. The object is to make strings of popcorn to hang in the trees or bushes or dangle from some elevated observation point.

The kids can use the bowl for mixing up a few bites of popcorn for them as they add pieces to their threads.  Stir this activity up real good and what they will get is a heap of fun. This is a good one and as the birds nibble away the popcorn after it is hung up for them to find, they can replenish the feeding area by stringing more threads of popcorn.

This does not have to be limited to using popcorn. Pieces of apple, raisens, and other small bits of dried fruit can also be strung on the thread. For added fun a piece of cardboard can be suspended from the end of the thread and left to blow in the wind. The childs name can be added to the cardboard as a decoration or it could just be colored with crayons or markers.

Keep them busy longer by having the children make an assortment of feeders to hang around every where. They can even make some as nice gifts for Grandma and GrandPa's house, or one for that favorite Auntie.

Encourage the kids to be creative by using recycled cardboard for the bottom decoration. The bottom piece could also be cut from a plastic lid like the one's from a cottage cheese carton. Creativity comes natural to children and given the opportunity they might just surprise you with what they come up with.

In the end the kids will learn how to handle some common tools like sewing needles. You might also encourage them to listen to the yardbirds sing as they work in their outside atmosphere.

This teaches them to be more considerate of Mother Nature's other children. It is also the beginning to teach them hand crafting and a great way to get them involved with nature. When the popcorn stringing is finished, tie an additionaal piece of thread about two or three feet long to the end where the needle is clipped off.

Double this thread up a few times making it sturdier for hanging. Attach it to the string of popcorn making a loop so the feeder can be easily hung out on a tree limb. Great outdoor fun and it costs less than a dollar to keep up to six children busy for a couple of hours.