This guest post from Kelly Wilson should have been a Homeschooling Notes post! I am planning to use a couple of her ideas this coming school year! Be sure to welcome her and visit her site to show her how wonderful my readers are. 
~Kelli
By: Kelly Wilson
Teaching Resource Center
Fun and Easy Outdoor Activities With Kids
Kids will often claim to be bored during the summer, but that phrase may mean that they’re ready to spend some time with you. Here are a few fun activities that not only give you and your kids time together, but also teach them a little about the world around them.
Bubbles
Gather your bottles of bubble solution and all of your bubble-blowing tools. Start by adding a couple of drops of food coloring to the bottle or dish of bubble solution and shake or stir. Blow some bubbles and check to see if they’re clear or if they have taken on any color. Slowly increase the amount of food coloring, keeping track of how many drops you put in and if the bubbles are colored or not.
Chart The Sun’s Travels
Choose a spot on your driveway or patio and mark a large “X” in a space that gets regular sunlight. At about the same time each hour, have your child stand on the “X” and trace his/her shadow with sidewalk chalk, writing the time of day next to it. At the end of the day, take a look at your unusual artwork. The following questions can help you and your child discuss the change in the shadow’s length:
- What happened to the shadow in the morning? In the afternoon?
- What time was the shadow the shortest? What time was it the longest?
- What does this shadow chart tell us about the sun?
Water Balloon Test
This is a fun activity for those unbearably hot days.
If you can, buy a few different brands or sizes of water balloons. Fill them, making sure to keep the brands or sizes separated.
When the water balloons are ready, choose something to throw them against, like the side of the house or the driveway. To make this test fair, the balloons need to be thrown the same way every time.
Keep track of which water balloons bounced and which ones broke right away. Use this information to plan a water balloon party with friends and strategize which water balloons will get everyone soaked the fastest.
These three easy activities should provide some fun with your kids during these warm summer days!
Kelly Wilson is an editor with Teaching Resource Center, a trusted source of high-quality teaching supplies.
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About Kelli
Great tips, I especially like the Water Balloon Fun!
I like the bubbles activity,i love to watch my son blow bubbles.i always have to capture these fun moments on camera.
Thanks,Shannon
shannpf1977 at yahoo dot com
I also love to do the bubbles activity, it brings so much fun to my kids. It’s also great to do some artworks with them, they especially love butterflies and would often want to do some butterfly wings. I promise you, it’s just so fun!
Yet there are many things that we can enjoy it with our kids and those times gives us a lot of pleasure too. Having a balloon ride is also a good way to spend sometime with your family and to see the world from a birds eye view which is totally out of this world. Thanks for posting.