Sidewalk Chalk Activities to Keep the Kiddos Busy

Summer vacation is almost here. If you're home with the kiddos, you might be anxiously pinning ideas on Pinterest or frantically scheduling play dates to keep the kids busy. Or you might be in denial. That's okay - ROCmomma to the rescue!

Last summer, we posted a summer's worth of DIY Backyard Summer Camp themes and activities. This summer, we're making the most of things you have around the house (or things you should have around the house if you want to keep the kids occupied).

One thing you need in your summer arsenal? Sidewalk chalk. Oh, the things you can do with sidewalk chalk! Of course there's hop scotch, four square, and drawing pretty pictures…but don't stop there.

Tic Tac Toe - Draw a Tic Tac Toe grid with chalk and ask one kid to collect rocks while the other collects sticks. Take turns tossing rocks and sticks onto the Tic Tac Toe squares; three rocks or three sticks in a row wins.

Corn Hole (Bean Bag Toss) - Draw two sets of targets with chalk; draw different sizes and assign different point values. Grab bean bags or rocks and take turns tossing to hit the targets. Use chalk to keep a tally of points.

Corn Hole/Bean Bag Toss targets

"I got this, Mommy."

Shape Soccer - Draw a goal (large rectangle) with chalk, then draw different shapes that are large enough to stand on. Each shape should be a few feet from the goal, in somewhat of a semi-circle around the goal. Grab a ball and take turns standing on a shape and kicking the ball. If the ball passes through the goal, that player gets one point. Do this at each shape, and use chalk to keep a tally of points. Variations: Swap the soccer ball for hockey sticks and a small ball, or try bouncing a basketball onto the goal.

Here is the Shape Hockey variation.

Obstacle Course - Use chalk to draw spots for kids to hop, run, jump, turn around, zig zag, you name it! Once the novelty wears off, time them. Challenge them to beat their best time. Then have them try to go through backwards. Then while holding hands. Then while singing a song the whole time. The fun never ends!

START! 3 Hops (right foot)

3 Hops (left foot), then Turn Around

Jump Over, Jump Over, then Zig Zag

Turn Around then Run to the Shapes

Hop from Shape to Shape (follow the arrows)

Victory Dance! You made it!

Chalk City - Use chalk to draw streets, stop signs, buildings, a park, your house, etc. Kids can ride bicycles or tricycles through your city.

Of course we had to have Target
in our Chalk City. (and I can't
believe I didn't take more pictures!)

I hope you enjoy these games, and have fun coming up with your own.

How do you play with sidewalk chalk? Post a Comment and let us know. As always, thanks for reading.

Backyard Summer Camp: Pirate Week

We're in the home stretch of summer, so let's make the most of the next few weeks with some more Backyard Summer Camp theme weeks...

Ahoy mateys! Grab an eye patch, a bandana, some gold doubloons, and perhaps a sword (or a cardboard tube from a roll of wrapping paper, as the case may be) and prepare yourselves for a swashbuckling adventure with plenty of opportunities to say, "Yo ho ho." Have fun with these Pirate Week suggestions, and coming up with your own!

By the way, in case you've missed them, be sure to check out Wacky Sports Week, Under the Sea Week, Outer Space Week, In Our Neighborhood Week, Dinosaur Week, Messy Stuff Week, Games Week, and Animals Week too. Enjoy.

Pirate Week

Active Play

• Have a Treasure Hunt. Make a map the night before - indoors or outdoors, depending on the weather forecast - while the kids are sleeping. Hide something fun for the kids to find – bubbles, punching balloons, etc. 
• Make a Pirate Fort with some chairs and bed sheets. Check out this Fort Round-up at the All For The Boys blog.  
• Canon Ball Toss! Use sidewalk chalk to draw a pirate ship for each player on the driveway or sidewalk; fill some water balloons. Have each player stand on their ship and play catch with the water balloons.
• Build a Pirate Ship. Grab a cardboard box (the bigger, the better), some paint, and any other embellishments you can find to make your very own pirate ship. Check out this post on At Home With Ali for some inspiration.  
• Make an Active Treasure Map! If your kids had fun with a regular treasure hunt, blow them away with this variation. Add instructions to any ol' treasure map: hop on one foot down the walkway, walk backward from the back door to the tree, do 10 jumping jacks by the swings, etc., plus add in some letter recognition. Head over to the ReadingConfetti blog for the how-to.
• Panning for Treasure. Fill a large bin or kiddie pool halfway with sand then water; hide treasure – craft store jewels, seashells, or fool’s gold – in the sand, then give each child a sieve to pan for treasure.

Treasure Hunt - we found a clue!

Quiet Play

• Make paper pirate ships & decorate them.
• Make a LEGO pirate ship.
• Make a Play-Doh pirate ship.
• Read stories about pirates.
• Go through the costume bin and dress like a pirate.
• Make a pirate snack! Create a Pirate Island using your kids' favorite veggies: corn for the sand, sugar snap peas for palm trees, zucchini slices for a hammock, and cherry tomatoes resting on the hammock. Yum!
• Write a story together about your adventures on a pirate ship. Let kids illustrate.

Pirate Island Veggies

Shiver me timbers!

Field Trips

• Visit the beach to dig for buried treasure (sea shells).
• Rochester Area: visit the Palmyra Pirate Weekend, August 9-10, 2013.
• Go to the library for books about pirates (e.g., Olive's Pirate Party by Roberta Baker, Follow That Map by Scot Ritchie, Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC by June Sobel, How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long & David Shannon, On a Pirate Ship by Sarah Courtauld & Benji Davies, Captain Abdul's Pirate School by Colin McNaughton, Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke, No Bath, No Cake!: Polly's Pirate Party by Matthias Weinert)

Aye aye, cap'n!

We hope you enjoy your Pirate Week! As always, thanks for reading.

Backyard Summer Camp: Animals Week

Backyard Summer Camp...Camp Mom...Keeping Them Busy...whatever you call it, this series is designed to provide some ideas to keep you and the kids busy with games, crafts, and field trips all focused around a theme for the week. These are a starting point; you and your kids can use your imagination and creativity to come up with your own ideas.

This week's theme is animals because almost every kid loves animals. Have fun with these suggestions, and coming up with your own!

By the way, in case you've missed them, be sure to check out Wacky Sports Week, Under the Sea Week, Outer Space Week, In Our Neighborhood Week, Dinosaur Week, Messy Stuff Week, and Games Week, too. Enjoy.

Animals Week

Active Play

• Animal Moves - take turns naming an animal, then everyone acts like that animal and makes that animal’s noise
• Backyard Safari - make a list with two columns; in the first column, ask the child(ren) to name all the animals you typically see in your backyard (or at the park, etc.) such as chipmunks, squirrels, deer, birds, etc.  Leave the second column blank to tally the number of each animal you see on your “safari.”  
• Feed the Animals/Bean Bag Toss – print a coloring page with a picture of your child’s favorite animal; secure to an empty cardboard box and cut a hole over/near the mouth; give your child a bean bag (or other soft object) as the “food” for the animal to throw into the animal’s mouth. Be sure the hole is large enough for the beanbag. 
• Zookeeper Says – Just like Simon Says, except the caller says things such as , “The Zookeeper says hop like a bunny,” “The zookeeper says walk like a crab,” or, “The Zookeeper says slither like a snake.” 
• Animal Obstacle Course – set up an obstacle course outside where kids can go over, under, around, and through anything you have on hand; the catch is that they must crawl on all fours, hop, or slither through the course. 

Backyard Safari (at the park)

Animal Obstacle Course

Quiet Play

• Pinecone Bird Feeders (Materials: pinecones, bird seed, peanut butter – or substitute seed butter for any allergies, plastic knives or spoons, string to hang the bird feeder)
• Popsicle Stick Animal Craft (Materials: craft sticks, paint, googly eyes, buttons for noses, glue, craft feathers, pipe cleaners, etc.) 
• Make animal sock puppets & have a puppet show
• Toilet Paper-Tube Farm Animals – paint toilet paper tubes and decorate with pipe cleaners, buttons, pom poms, shape stickers, markers, etc. to make your own farm. 
• Animal Tracks Painting – dip plastic toy animals into paint and make tracks across the paper; add background scenery with paint, markers, or crayons 
• Draw an Animal - Clip magazine photos of animal faces; adhere to paper and ask the child(ren) to draw the rest of the picture 
• Watch animal videos on http://www.sandiegozoo.org/videos
• Play animal games online 
• Make LEGO animals
• Read stories about animals
• Write a story together about what it would be like to have your favorite animal as a pet. Let kids illustrate.

Making LEGO Duplo Animals

More LEGO Duplo Animals

Field Trips

• Visit a zoo (Rochester Area: Seneca Park Zoo, or day trip to Buffalo Zoo or Syracuse Zoo)
• Visit your local humane society (Rochester Area: visit the barn, the walking trail of farm animals, and the domestic animals inside Lollypop Farm in Fairport, NY)
• Visit an animal sanctuary (Rochester Area: check out Wild Wings at Mendon Ponds Park in Honeoye Falls, NY: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, or Friday)
• Visit a local farm (Rochester Area: say, “Hi!” to the animals at Wickham Farms in Penfield, NY: Tuesday = $2 specials on mini golf; Friday = story time at 11 a.m.)
• Feed some animals (Rochester Area: feed the chickens, deer, sheep, goats, alpaca, pony, donkey, and rabbits at Powers Farm Market in Pittsford, NY)
• Go to the library for books about your favorite animals: The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen, The Underpants Zoo by Brian Sendelback, Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann, If You Give A…series by Laura Numeroff, the Pigeon books or Elephant & Piggie books by Mo Willems, or the Llama Llama books by Anna Dewdney

Feeding goats at
Powers Farm Market

The lions at Seneca Park Zoo!

We hope you have fun with your own Animals Week this summer. Be sure to Post a Comment and let us know what activities you did. As always, thanks for reading!

Backyard Summer Camp: Messy Stuff Week

Last summer I scoured Pinterest for ideas and created a Messy Backyard Fun Week for my boys. They had such a blast that they still ask to "do messy stuff" on a regular basis. I suppose that was the impetus to all the Backyard Summer Camp theme weeks this year.

When I was brainstorming theme-week ideas, I had to include a Messy Stuff Week once again. It was just too much fun. Most of these can be done outside to minimize the clean up. Trust me, the mess will be worth it for the smiles on your kids' faces!

By the way, in case you've missed them, be sure to check out Wacky Sports Week, Under the Sea Week, Outer Space Week, In Our Neighborhood Week, Dinosaur Week, and Game Week too. Have fun!

Messy Stuff Week

Active Play

·      Color volcanoes (food coloring, vinegar, baking soda, plastic cups)

·      Sock bubble-blower (cut off the bottom of an empty water bottle and secure a sock over the cut opening; dip the sock-end into bubble solution then blow through the other end)  

·      Make sponge balls; play sponge ball tag (cut three sponges into six strips each; pile the strips and tie in the middle with a piece of string; fluff pieces out into a ball) 

·      Jackson Pollock painting. Materials: drop cloth; poster board; washable tempera paint; old kitchen utensils, sticks, rulers, etc. for flinging paint. Instructions: Place poster board on the drop cloth and have kids dip the utensils/rulers/sticks into paint and then splatter to their hearts' content.

Color volcanoes

Jackson Pollock painting

Quiet Play

·      Make Jell-Doh Materials: 1 c. flour, 1/2 c. salt, 1 Tbsp. oil, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1 c. water, and 1 pkg. Jell-O mix. Instructions: Combine and cook all ingredients on medium heat, stirring until thickened. Cool, then knead until dry to touch.
·      Make Lava Lamps. Materials: empty plastic bottles, oil, water, food coloring, glitter, and salt. Instructions: Fill bottle 3/4 with water; add food coloring and glitter. Fill almost to top with oil; let separate. Pour salt into jar and watch the lava-lamp-like bubbles!

·      Bubble wrap print Materials: bubble wrap, paint, brushes, white paper. Instructions: Paint directly on the bubble wrap, then press clean paper on top to make a print.

·      Microwave Ivory soap Materials: paper towel, Ivory bar soap (no substitutes, or it won't work). Instructions: place bar of Ivory soap on paper towel in microwave; heat for a couple of minutes, until it "grows." Remove your soap blob and play!

·      Dissolving egg shells & bouncing eggs Materials: eggs, vinegar, water, clear jars. Instructions: Place eggs in vinegar and observe. Leave eggs in for 1 week, then observe; remove and bounce them. Bonus: put vinegar-eggs into corn syrup for a few days then observe.

·      Milk Art Materials: dish, whole milk, food coloring, dish soap. Instructions: Pour milk into a dish; drop in food coloring. Then add dish soap a few drops at a time and watch the colors dance!

·      Blow Up a Balloon with Yeast Materials: empty bottle, balloon, ½ cup warm water, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 packet active dry yeast. Instructions: In the bottle, mix warm water and yeast; swirl around to dissolve then add sugar and swirl again. Stretch out the balloon then place over the top. Let sit in a warm place for about 20 minutes; observe.

·      Read science books

·      Write a story together about a crazy science experiment. Let kids illustrate.

Field Trips

·      Visit a science museum (Rochester Area: check out the Rochester Museum & Science Center)

·      Go to the library for science books: Science Experiments: Shiny, Slimy, Stinky, Shocking by Steve Parker; 60 Super Simple Science Experiments by Q. L. Pearce; A Moldy Mystery by Michelle Knudsen;  Crazy Concoctions: A Mad Scientist's Guide to Messy Mixtures by Jordan Brown.

Have fun getting messy! As always, thanks for reading.