5 Things: A Summer Summary

My first grader is quite excited to have homework of her own, now that she is a "grader." (I'm tempted to get some video footage of her homework enthusiasm so I can show it to her in 10 years). One of her assignments this week is to gather 5 things that represent what she did over summer vacation. As we gathered seashells, arcade tickets, carabiners, and more, I thought about what 5 things I would choose to represent my summer.
After giving it some thought, I decided that finding actual objects would be too ambiguous for me, so I chose 5 images, with words to accompany them, instead.

carousels (lots of them)

ice cream (lots of it)

initials (lots of them)

sand (dunes of it)

                                                    sisters (just two)

What To Do

We're only a few days into summer vacation, and I have found myself scouring my favorite blogs and sites, looking for crafts to do with my girls a few times already. Turns out, there is a ridiculous amount of brilliant ideas and resources out there—tutorials, recipes, suggestions, and even more lists of things to do. Jackpot!

I've compiled a list of my favorites for you and me :

Paint a fresco (FuoriBorgo)

Make your own bug catcher (Shivaya Naturals)

Craft up some clay suns (Twig and Toadstool)

Make some Custom Drawn kid stationary (Just Something I Made)

Have your kids make their own ink Blob t-shirts (Vintage Chica)

Make mobiles from found drift wood and beads (Wise Craft)

Try some corn syrup painting (The Crafty Crow)

Make a moss terrarium (Poppytalk)

Learn block printing: tutorials Part I & Part II ( from me!)

fold up some Origami paper wallets (Future Craft Collective)

Squeeze some fresh orange juice and make sun eggs (GardenMama)

And more lists to pour over!

The Long Thread's round up of 50 Summer Crafts for Kids (check out the Stone Dolls from MayaMade)

list of great games to play with kids over at Mommy Coddle

List of outdoor summer activities at 5 Orange potatoes

list of Artful Books for Children from Quince and Quire

and this list of resources for nature-based summer learning, from The Snail's Trail

This Week

School vacations are perfectly timed. Just as the daily process starts to get weary, a chance to change up the routine saves the day. And, though we did we did not escape to the mountains, or go anywhere for longer than a day, we took the opportunity to flip the days on end. There were a couple of days the girls never got out of their pjs, there was a trip to the Museum of Science, and a ride to Cape Cod. We had junk food for breakfast one morning, and a breakfast with the works the next. The girls have been staying up late, watching the Olympics with us, and cheering on team USA (we are serious Olympics geeks).

The calendar for this week was blank—not a single note or appointment scribbled down. It's only natural that a week like this would spawn a few creative undertakings. Take a peek into our house this week:

A set of custom pins, nearing completion (more on this soon)

Thumb print art, with Ed Emberley's Great Thumbprint Drawing Book.

A stash-busting work in progress

And a bedroom makeover, apparently

But we're not done yet. We will be squeezing as much as we can into the final few days before we return to the grind. What have you been up to?