24 Summer Games for Family Fun

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You will have so much fun playing these summer games! The warm weather means lots of time outside, the kids home from school and being able to slow down to spend more time with family. Make your summer the best ever with these awesome games.

 

24 Summer Games for Family Fun

These summer bicycle games are a fun way to stay active and have fun with friends.

Don’t just have a water gun fight, have a water gun race! This looks so fun. via Made From Pinterest

Turn your evening stroll around the block to a learning experience with this letter scavenger hunt.  via What Did You Do Today

Have the most epic water balloon fight with these easy  DIY launchers! via Kid Friendly Things To Do

Scavenger hunts are so  fun, take the kids outside and let them discover nature with this printable game.  via The Taylor House

This sponge toss is also super cheap to make and is fun for kids of every age. via Passion For Savings

Make a fun obstacle course for toddlers with pool noodles.  via Developing The Whole Child

These pool noodle  sprinklers will keep your kids cool when its hot. via Ziggity Zoom

Use  hula hoops  to make your own backyard croquet game! via The Crafting Chicks

Grab some supplies at your local dollar store and make a  carnival  in your backyard!  via Morena’s Corner

Don’t throw out that empty box  before checking out this ring toss game.  So much fun! via My Fab Land

Play Yahtzee or other dice games in the yard with these huge homemade dice. If DIY isn’t your thing, you can buy a set here. via Blue I Style

Or make your own backyard  Scrabble game.  via Constantly Lovestruck

Or extra large  Ker-Plunk!  This one is so much fun! via All Parenting

Mind strengthening games like matching are great for kids, now you can do it outside with this backyard version. via Studio DIY

Make your own bean bag toss game for the kids to play. This is one of our favorite summer games.  via Brit+Co

Giant Jenga is a blast! via A Beautiful Mess

Kids will have so much fun playing  gnome lawn bowling.   via Make Zine

This ice  treasure hunt will keep your kids interest plus  there is a fun  surprise when they are finished. via Macaroni Kid

Try this bingo game while searching for things in nature like flowers and butterflies.  via Bitz N Giggles

No need for going to putt putt when you can have a golfing station in your backyard or kitchen!  via Squarehead Teachers

Now you don’t have to be on television to play Plinko!  via Happiness Is Homemade

The hottest days call for a game of pass the water – you will be soaked after this one! via A Girl And Her Glue Gun

A water balloon pinata is another funny way to keep cool. via Milk Allergy Mom

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Wooden Spoon Garden Craft

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This Wooden Spoon Garden Craft is perfect for kids with a green thumb. It looks adorable in potted plants or in the garden and is very easy for children  to make independently.

Wooden Spoon Garden Craft

Kids will love surprising someone they love  with a beautiful plant and a handmade wooden spoon garden ornament. Plain wooden spoons can often be purchased in packs of 5 or 6, making this craft perfect for groups of children at home or school.

Supplies Needed:

• Wooden spoons
• Googly eyes
• Permanant markers
• Pipe cleaners
• Felt
• Tacky craft glue
• Yarn
• Buttons

This craft is so fun to make outside! Spread out a large blanket and the craft supplies, then  invite children to apply googly eyes to their spoons. Diverse  sizes, shapes, and colors are fun to choose from!

RELATED: Crafty Garden Critters

Now it’s time to get even more creative!

Kids will have a blast deciding what their spoon should  look like! Green hair? Large pink lips? Striped? The possibilities are endless!

Felt clothes, yarn hair, and pipe cleaner arms are easy to attach to the spoons with tacky craft glue.  Last, add details like lips, eyelashes, or polka dots with the markers.

Aren’t they cute? What a fun craft for kids!

You May Also Enjoy:

If your kids like making decorations for their garden, they may also enjoy crafting adorable Ladybug Stones (pictured below).

Ladybug Stones

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19 Incredible DIY Stain Removers

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These stain removers are a total life saver. With small kids, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve frantically had to find a way to get grape juice out of our tan carpet. I love these homemade ideas because I can go in the kitchen in an emergency and whip something up without having to run out to the store in a panic.

19 Incredible DIY Stain Removers

2-Ingredient  Carpet Stain Remover – This genius idea gets out any tough stain quickly with two things you already have at home.

Miracle Laundry Stain Remover  – This remover can be used for any stain on your clothes  and truly is a miracle worker!  via My Frugal Adventures

DIY Bleach Pen – This works better and costs much less than the store bough bleach pens. via One Good Thing By Jillee

Rust Stain Remover  –  Finally something to get rid of those rust stains on my kitchen utensils.  via Fabulessly Frugal

Super Stain Remover  – I love being a baseball mom, until I see my sons pants with all the stains. This stain remover is perfect for that.  via Green Child

Gentle Cleaner  – This remover is tough on stains but gentle on clothes, so could be used for the little ones outfits. via Live Simply

Better than Shout  – I’ve always used shout, but this DIY is much cheaper and actually works better. via Rebekah Dawn

Mattress Stain Remover  – Having kids, means you probably have some stains on your mattress from bed wetting accidents.  That’s okay, this stain remover will get your mattresses looking like new again.  via Austin Moms Blog

Hard Water Stains  –  This scrub will make those hard water stains in the sink disappear in no time.

Armpit Stains  – This DIY is perfect for sweat stains you just can’t get rid of.  via Hello Glow

Yellow Stains on Collared Shirts  – When you wear white it can get dingy fast, but this stain remover will take care of it.  via All Day Chic

Stainless Steel  – Freshen your sinks plus remove that rust stain in the corner and on the faucet. via Passionate Penny Pincher

Water Stains  – Wooden tables are so hard to clean when they have water stains, but this DIY gets rid of them.  via Sweet Parrish Place

Pet Urine  – If your pet has had an accident on your woood floors, ust this great stain remover. via Step by Step

Leather Handbags  – Get any purse clean with this homemade concoction. via La Vie DIY

Salt Stains  – Winter can be rough on your shoes and this will help make them look pretty again. I can’t believe I didn’t know this hack. via Cleaning Ideas

Upholstery Stain Remover  – If your chouch is looking dirty then use this simple four-ingredient mixture that works amazing. via Couponing to Disney

Oil Stains – Once something gets an oil stain it seems impossible to get it out, but not anymore. This is one of my favorite DIY stain removers ever. via Northern Belle Diaries

Pet Stains – This incredibly simple trick gets pet stains out every time. via One Good Thing By Jillee

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Easy Mother’s Day Card Idea

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Mother’s Day is just around the corner!  Kids can make  mom, grandma, or their  motherly role-model feel special with a simple hand-made card. This easy mother’s day card idea uses basic craft supplies and  recycled materials. Perfect for caring, eco-savvy kids!

Easy Mother’s Day Card Idea

Every week, my family tosses vitamin bottles, medicine bottles, and milk and juice jugs into the recycling bin. The colorful caps from those bottles are often perfect for children’s crafts.

For our card, we decided to transform our collection of bottle caps into sweet flowers for Mom!

Materials Needed:

• Plastic caps from empty bottles
• Markers
• White  card stock
• Glue

First, instruct your child to fold the card stock in half.

Next, glue a bottle cap to the card stock. If your child wishes to create a bouquet of flowers, glue many bottle caps to the card stock. It’s fun to use a variety!

NOTE: Some bottle caps can be small. Please supervise small children around bottle caps.

Draw the shape of flower petals around the bottle cap. Kids love getting creative with this part!

Color in the flower petals. Make  sure to add stems and leaves to the flowers.

Invite your child to add more detail to their picture. My child chose to add a sun and grass! Then of course, he wrote “Happy Mother’s Day” at the top of his card.

Simple, sweet, and made with love!

More Easy Mother’s Day Ideas

Pair this card with a beautiful Mother’s Day DIY  for the perfect gift!

DIY Vanilla Sugar Scrub

Mother’s Day Paper Flower Bouquet

Mother’s Day Garden Stone Cookies

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Paper Straw Bracelets

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Do your children love to make bracelets?  Mine sure do! But sometimes, craft supplies  can be expensive. That’s why I love to find ways for them to be creative without breaking the bank.

These simple Paper Straw Bracelets  fit the bill! Colorful paper straws can be found in dollar sections of large stores  or in bulk at party supply stores. They come in a variety of colors, patterns, and have many crafty uses!

Paper Straw Bracelets

For this craft, you will need string, scissors,  paper straws, and a few smiling  participants.

Invite children to carefully cut the paper straws into beads of all sizes.

Next, cut a piece of cotton string or yarn to fit your child’s wrist. In fact ”cut several! These bracelets look best  in pairs.

For younger children, it’s helpful to tie one straw bead to the end of the string. This will prevent beads from sliding off the string and onto the floor.

Then kids can simply string their paper straw beads! Stringing beads is a great fine-motor skill. Kids can experiment with creating patterns.

When children are finished stringing their beads, tie off the end with a double knot.

I chose to snip off the extra “base” bead to create a completely round shape. Then I tucked the knot into a bead to hide it.

These simple bracelets for kids are quite adorable! Best of all, since paper straws are so inexpensive, kids can make new bracelets for different holidays and seasons.

If the bracelet gets ruined, simply remove the string and toss the beads into the recycling bin.

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The Journey of my Joybird Sofa – Just look at it!

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We are in the process of moving.  It isn’t a surprise.  In fact, it is something we have been planning for a year or more.

Because our new house is smaller and our old house has larger scale furniture that we have had for 11 years (think 3 boys, multiple pets and general LIFE), I have been doing some furniture shopping.

 

My style has changed in 11 years too.  I am obsessed with mid-century modern and all things clean, bright and simple.

When searching for furniture for our new house, I came across a collection or two of mid-century modern furniture that I loved.  There always seemed to be a problem — the sofa was the wrong dimensions, it was a weird color, the one I wanted was out of stock, the price was crazy-high, etc.

Enter Joybird.

Oh my goodness! So many things to love!  AND you can create your own sofa – any fabric, any frame.  The sectional selection was amazing and it gave me the ability to get a bigger sofa than I expected I could use in our family room because it tucked into a corner so perfectly.

If only there wasn’t so much selection…

Our family room has been functional with a series of left-over pieces of furniture and a ridiculous number of bean bags, but it hasn’t been “adult-friendly”.

After waffling between several amazing sectionals, I settled on the Calhoun Armless Corner Sectional.

Isn’t it beautiful?

I had my sectional selection.  Now all I had to do was choose a fabric.

If only there wasn’t so much selection…

Luckily, Joybird sends this amazing sample package with a ton of choices…you can choose to receive different color packages.  Since I was completely undecided, I asked for a bunch!

There was one set of fabrics that I was most excited about.  They are called Safeguard Fabrics and they are “soft, stain-resistant, durable, and most importantly, easy to clean.”

 

Did I mention 3 boys & a dog…?

Decisions!  Decisions!  After rearranging the furniture in my head multiple times, I chose the Cody Pacific color Safeguard Fabric and a Coffee Bean colored leg and placed my order.

And then the fun began!  I started getting update emails about what was happening with my sectional.  For instance, the build progress series includes frame cutting, frame assembly, fabric cutting, sewing, upholstery, quality control and then shipping.

By the time my sofa was on its way “home”, I felt like I already knew it!

I got a call scheduling the delivery a few days before it arrived and then a confirmation on the day.  The truck arrived on time and started to introduce me to my new sofa.

My sectional came in three very large boxes.  They were carefully taken off the truck and then opened in front of the house.

I nearly squealed when I saw the color.  It is so beautiful!!!

Down the sidewalk, over the porch, through the front door and up the stairs…

Yes, up the stairs.

The final resting place for this amazing sectional is our family room.  The boys use this room to do homework and play video games.  The family hangs out and watches TV there occasionally or play a board game.

The delivery guys were great.  They brought the sectional pieces up the stairs and then attached the legs.  The Joybird sectional pieces are held securely together with a metal latch.

This keeps the pieces close together and moving as a unit.  Oh, and isn’t the fabric amazing?

The sofa looks so good in the room.  It is the perfect fit.  I love it so much!

And it is big enough to hold an entire family or 2 sleeping boys without them even touching (which is extremely important).  

How do I know this?

It wasn’t long before there was a sleeping boy on my brand new sofa!

It looks so good in the room.

It functions exactly as I hoped…

It is a perfect fit.

I love it so much!

I love it so much that I want it in my living room.

{insert my husband’s groans here when he realized that he was going to have to help move it}

BUT in my defense, when I pleaded my case, he agreed, “That sofa is just too good not to have in the living room.”

Just when you thought my sofa’s journey was over!  I promise to post a picture here when it gets to our living room…

Here is a fun video I did about my sofa’s journey on Quirky Momma:

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Joybird. The opinions and text are all mine.

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