Simple Sustainability – Summer ideas for school-aged children

by Sky Trombly –

As the school year ends, parents find themselves once again trying to keep their kids busy – and, let’s face it, usually on a budget. The following ideas are meant to ignite your imagination for some clean, cheap fun!

5 Great Summer Resources to Check Out

1. Get to know what your local library has to offer

From books, DVDs, games, toys, reading sessions, book clubs, crafts and more, the library is the place to go for hours of free fun!

2. Check out the local parks

Community parks provide the equipment for your kids to get out and stretch their limbs before they start bouncing off your walls. They may meet other kids there too. Some local parks have amenities like community pools which can help beat the summer heat.

3. Picnics.

Reinvent meal time by eating outside. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy just pack it up and bring it out.

4. Check out State and National Parks

If you’re a resident of NYS, then getting an Empire Pass (a seasonal pass that allows you access to state parks) is well worth the money. Depending on the state park, you’ll get access to trails to hike, swimming areas, play areas, basketball hoops, grills, picnic tables, and so forth. Camping overnight (which is an additional cost) can be a relatively cheap way to go on vacation. If you’re traveling in NYS, you could stay at a park near to your destination more cheaply than staying at a hotel.

5. Garden with your kids

If space allows, try setting up a garden with your kids, even if all you have is a deck, you can get some big pots. Kids love learning to tend to plants, which is a great life skill, and they’re more willing to try veggies that they grow. What other family activity rewards you with “free” food?

5 Ways to Infuse Variety At Home

1. Cycle Toys

If you have a lot of toys, you can separate them into a few even piles, box them up, and cycle through the boxes each week. This keeps toys feeling fresher than if they had access to an overwhelming number. (Plus, it’s easier to keep clean.) Make sure you leave out special toys, though, don’t try to squirrel away Mr. Teddy.

2. Toy Choice

When choosing toys, try and pick toys that are open-ended with a wide array of ways to play. This gives you more toy for your buck. Our household favorites include: Legos, Wooden Train Tracks, and Imaginext brand toys (figurine-based play).

3. Don’t disregard the dollar store

Sure, the toys are typically this side of junk, but the craft aisle is worth a look. PomPoms, glue, googly eyes, some construction paper and you’ve got a kit for kids’ entertainment. They even sell containers. Don’t spend a ton of money on pre-packaged “craft kits”.

4. Invite some kids over

While having more mayhem might seem unappealing, you might find that inviting other kids over actually calms your kids down and freshens up play.

5. Home school

Not in the traditional sense, unless that appeals to you and your kids, but there is literally no end to things you can teach your kids. Teach them to sew and get a head start on their Halloween costumes, make rockets to launch, teach them to sweep, cook, fix bikes, bake bread, tie their shoes, play an instrument, learn a language, whatever your skill level, time, and their development allows.

Closing Thoughts

This article came about because my husband and I felt the need to strategize our upcoming summer (which, with 3 kids 5 and under, we weren’t looking forward to).

Kids can seem like an intensive, exhausting task, for sure. Especially when they’re  cooped up and told “no” too many times. It is my hope we’ll all benefit from these ideas.

Happy Summer!

Sky has been something of a sustainability nerd for most of her life. Her goal is  to empower herself and others to live in a way that is congruent with personal values – and intimately linked to the Earth.  You can join her in her wanderings through the quagmire of sustainable living in every issue of Owl Light News, and on her blog  – talkwalking.org