DLTK's Crafts for Kids
A Mid Summer Night's Fun

You don't have to read Shakespeare to enjoy a mid summer night's fun.  Mid summer officially falls on August 22nd but any time in August will do.

Surprise your kids with a mid-summer night family party.  There are many things you can do - from roasting marshmallows and stargazing to singing songs or playing games late into the night.  The best thing about it (as summer holidays come to a close) is staying up late.
 

SING SOME SONGS

Have a mini-camp out in your back yard.  You can just lay out a picnic blanket and have a BBQ picnic or you can go all out and set up a tent!  Mary Flynn from Songs4Teachers has kindly provided us with some simple camping songs to learn.
 

EAT SOME FOOD

Here are just a few really yummy campout meals to help keep up the fun level at the end of summer

• Campfire Conies
• Campfire Doughnuts
• Campfire Popcorn
• Hot Dogs in Togs
• Melting Moments
• S'Mores
• Sparkling Fruit Punch
• Trail Mix

MAKE SOME CRAFTS

Well, this is DLTK's Crafts for Kids after all *grin*.  Check out some of the crafts in our summer section.  There's a lot to chose from, including bug crafts and coloring, rainbow crafts, coloring and activity sheets and ICE CREAM ideas!  Our personal favorite is Willie the Watermelon (you can follow up family craft time with a juicy watermelon snack).
 

PLAY SOME GAMES

I always liked Hand Clapping and Jump Rope games during the summer.  My daughters are both intrigued by all the "odd" things mommy comes up with when standing in line to get ice cream -- the other kids in line seem equally wowed by the show.  I've even ended up with a couple of other nostalgic moms pitching in and strutting their stuff!

• Blue Shoe (similar to eeny meeny miney moe)
• Miss Mary Mack (Hand Clapping)
• Say, Say My Playmate (Hand Clapping)
• Spanish Dancer (Jump Rope)
• Teddy Bear (Jump Rope)

HAVE A BLACK OUT

Have you ever noticed that the power never seems to go out at a convenient time -- that is, unless you plan your own black out!

When I was young, my family used to have "black out nights".  We turned off everything electrical -- the stove, the lights, tv, radio, computers -- EVERYTHING!

You can cook supper on the BBQ or go to your local park and roast weiners.

After supper, the family can sit down together and do a wide variety of (in my daughter's words) "old fashioned" summer things either indoors or out.  Some ideas include:

• look through photo albums
• play board games -- you can introduce your kids to monopoly and they can teach you whatever the latest craze is.
• play catch, basketball or soccer

When it gets dark outside, light some candles (BE SAFE!) and tell ghost stories (The Cremation of Sam McGee is a good one for kids who are a bit older) or tell some " take turn stories".