It's "oFISHially" summer!!

For anyone who is already bored with your kids, this post is full of ideas for you!  These things don't take long so you can even do these in the evening or late afternoon, if you're looking for some fun. Teachers, there may even be something in here for you to use during the school year!

Last week's theme was "it's oFISHially summer"!  We (the girls and I) decided that we were going to have different 'days' during the week this summer:

Monday = science day

Tuesday = arts and crafts day

Thurs = field trip day

Fri = cooking day

Monday we were off with a science experiment.  Now, I kind of had a little trouble finding a science experiment that had to do with fish.  Not real fish either.  I found this experiment on Pinterest: Fish Ice Experiment.  I don't have fish ice molds so we just went with the old fashioned kind.  Which kind of made our fish look like whales.  Or submarines.  It's ok, my kids are used to having to use their imagination.


The chemical reaction between the vinegar and baking soda caused the "fish" to move or "swim".  The girls loved watching their fishes move around, even if they did look like regular ice cubes.  I was kind of surprised at how much they were into it!  They sat there until the very last one melted!

For arts and crafts day, we made portholes, an idea I got from this pin here:  fish porthole  I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures as we went, but here is the end product.  They were so cute, my oldest decided to give hers to Dad for Father's Day!  My girls are so creative!

That's Team Holmes in Mermaid form!  

For our field trip, of course we took a trip to the beach!  (Are you suspicious that I came up with this theme so I could go to the beach last week?  You should be!)  My poor baby wiped out on her bike just a few days before we went so we spent a lot of time on land!

Very un-fish like!

We are really lucky to be so close to the beach.  I count myself fortunate every time we are there!

I believe in finishing strong, so Friday could be no slouch!  We finished the week with fish cupcakes, found here:  Fish Cupcakes

It was a great excuse to try out the new Blue Velvet cake mix we saw.  (It was delicious, by the way.)  All you need are some iced cupcakes, m&ms and eyeballs (found in the cake decorating section of Kroger)!  They loved making them almost as much as eating them!

2 fish for the price of one!

How cute are these?

We even got some vanilla Goldfish in on the action!

Last but not least, we made some Sonic Ocean water!
Very easy and the girls loved this last little fishy trick up my sleeve! They had these with their dinner, which of course we ate while watching The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo!

Recipe is here:  Sonic Ocean Water copycat

I would like to state that all these things were:
1.  cheap
2.  easy
3.  didn't call for a lot of supplies I didn't have

Sometimes it's all in the presentation.  My girls played with ice cubes for 30 minutes.  How cool is that?  I doubt if I said, "Who wants to play with ice cubes?" that anyone would have been interested. I do not spend my whole summer trying to entertain them.  We do little things each day.  It's fun for all of us, breaks up the monotony of the day and I am not stressed out trying to do all these complicated things.  Because really, they don't care how hard or easy it is for me to plan.  They just want to have fun and do things together.  They want to make memories.

Hope you are oFISHially inspired to try something fun with your kiddos!  I will keep bringing you each week's activities all summer long!

Get out there and make some memories!!
K