Summertime is so much fun! There are so many fun things to do with your kids during this time. Here in Tennessee the weather is MUCH different than in Washington which is where Josh and I both grew up and lived until about a year ago. Adjusting to the weather was at first hard but I think we are starting to get the hang of it. The humidity and heat don’t make us instantly sweat like it did last summer. Here it feels like winter time is really from the end of December until February, spring is from March until May, summer is from June until September and fall is from October until December. This isn’t correct school wise because summer for kids in school is all of June until the beginning of August. Summertime is also when the biggest thunderstorms happen. When it rains in the summer is a hard rain but doesn’t last too long. There can be weeks when there is a thunderstorm every day for like an hour though. So when planning our summer activities I have to make sure there are things for being outdoors in the morning when it’s not too hot, being outdoors when it’s really hot, and being indoors when a storm is happening. I have listed below some of my favorite things to do with Avery in the summer so hopefully this inspires you because we most likely only have 18 summers with our kids and that’s nothing!

1. Finger painting outside. (Get a roll of paper and go crazy!)
2.  Camping in the backyard. (We tried doing this Fourth of July weekend thinking it would be fun but in Tennessee July is way too hot to sleep outside but Avery still loved watching a movie in the tent and getting it all set up)
3. Farmers market. (You can’t ever go wrong with some fresh produce and baked treats!)
4. Painting pottery. (On those stormy days)
5. Go to an arcade. (Avery LOVED this! She got the most tickets at the end of it all on her own!)
6. Go to the Fair. (Rides and treats! Yum!)
7. Find a free kids class at Home Depot, Lowes, Michael’s, etc.
8. Photoshoot. (Find a cool location and play dress up!)
9. Go to a bookstore and read every book your kiddo finds!
10. Build a fort and sleep in it. (Letting go of our sleep routine every once in awhile is fun!)
11. Go to swimming pool or splash pad. (In the South this is a must!)
12. Make a hand print stone and letting your kids decorate it.
13. Lemonade stand. (We build our own for Avery and she loves it! She uses it for pretend store all the time too)
14. Go to a baseball game. (We are taking Avery to her first MLB game in a couple weeks!)
15. Make a pouring station. (It’s so fun for kids to play with water and pour it in all sorts of containers)
16. Berry picking (messy but fun!)
17. Drive-in movie (this has to happen at least once a summer!)
18. Make yummy recipes. (Avery’s favorite is homemade banana pudding!)
19. Go outside! (Anything outside is Avery’s cup of tea! Going on a walk, getting the pool out, read outside, play barbies outside, rock on the rocking chairs, ect. ANYTHING outside!)
20. Crafts! (We love doing crafts in our house. We make our own binoculars, paint rocks, paint wooden things, make windmills, make paper and popsicle stick butterflies, make sensory jars, etc.)

And that’s 20 things we love to do in the summer time!!