Summer means sleeping late, relaxing by the lake, and right about now hearing the kids say….”We’re bored,” and “There is nothing to do.” My children did not invent this mentality, as I know for a fact we drove our mom crazy with these words day after day until she told us to go outside or she’d give us housework.
I personally have nothing against child labor, but it is fun to do some things in the summer that you would never do any other time of year. And because I write a cooking column, of course all my ideas surround food of some kind. As you will see below, not all foods are meant for consumption (like zucchini) but for the most part these recipes are easy and delicious.
1. Powder Sugar Fishing
Take powder sugar doughnuts and tie them to a string. Attach the string to a pole and dangle the doughnut over someone lying on his back. The “fish” try to bite the doughnut. We use powder sugar because they are the messiest.
2. Blue Food Breakfast
Make everything blue using food coloring. Blue pancakes, blue scrambled eggs and blue milk. This comes from Zoe’s favorite book No Blue Food. I think the milk is the hardest to get past the color. It just doesn’t seem right.
3. Make a Candy Gram
Using candy bar and treat wrappers to make words on a poster board is really fun. The kids learn to be creative too. The Riesen for this greeting is to wish you a Carefree summer. Don’t go nuts while you are fighting the Mounds of people at the park. Don’t worry about getting Chunky, as there will be Good and Plenty time to worry about that next winter! Hugs and Kisses, your Sweethearts.
4. Whip Cream Cars
A can of whipping cream and matchbox cars are a fun afternoon game. Cover an outdoor picnic table with whipping cream and drive the cars through the “snow.” It will be good practice for next November.
5. Jell-O Shots
Settle down, this is for the kids. Try making your favorite flavor combinations of Jell-O and juice. Just replace the cold water with fruit juice and put the Jell-O into little cups. My favorite is peach Jell-O with orange juice.
6. Gold Fish Trail
This is like Hansel and Gretel following bread crumbs into the forest but I think the orange gold fish crackers show up better. Have one child start the trail and see if the rest can follow it. You might want to take the family dog along to pick up the crackers along the way.
7. Pick Apples and Make Apple Sauce
There is nothing like homemade apple sauce and the kids will actually know that it doesn’t have to come from a jar. Peel, core and slice six cup of apples (try different varieties), place in a pan and add two cups of water, cook down to make sauce, add more water if needed, mash with potato masher and add sugar to taste.
8. Make Celery Roses
If you cut a stalk of celery about two inches from the bottom you will see the part usually thrown out is a perfect rose. Dip in paint and press on paper. Pretty!
9. Oreo Salad
We all have potlucks in the summer and this is the most kid-friendly to make. Better yet, let them make it. Put about 15 Oreos in a Ziploc bag. Smash into small pieces. Mix with a large container of Cool Whip and serve. Whole Oreos on top look good but wait until just before serving, as they get mushy if they sit too long.
10. Cooked Spaghetti Art
Cook spaghetti and dye with food coloring. Using scissors and paper, cut the spaghetti into various sizes to make lines and pictures on the paper. The spaghetti will stick once it is dry.
11. Volunteer for Meals on Wheels
Kids and parents can help deliver food to the community in the summer. Contact the local senior center for more information. This is fun and only takes about an hour out of your day to help those in need.
12. Crumby Car Clean Up
Hand out the vacuum and those little food droppings will disappear like magic from mom’s car. (The family dog in the car for 15 minutes can have the same effect.)
13. Stone Soup
Invite all the neighbors to bring a veggie over and make stone soup. You provide the pot full of water and the stone at the bottom. Peeling, chopping and dicing can be lots of fun when you do it together. In the end you have a wonderful soup.
14. Ants on a Log
Using the leftover celery from idea number 8, cut into sticks and add peanut butter and raisins. If you don’t like raisins use M&Ms, the ants are bigger and they taste better too.
15. Coffee Can Ice Cream
Using 12-ounce and 39-ounce coffee cans you have an ice cream maker ready to go. In the smaller can, add pre-mixed one cup of whole milk, one cup of heavy cream, ½ cup of sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Cover can and tape to hold in place. Place smaller can into larger can then fill with crushed ice and rock salt. Tape large cover in place then roll down the hill for 20 or 30 minutes. Eat immediately because you are hot from all that rolling.
16. Tic Tac Toe
Use cereal and raisins for Xs and Os. Winner eats the game pieces.
17. Pop “Real” Popcorn
Buy the kernels and show the kids popcorn doesn’t always come out of a microwavable bag. Don’t feel bad, my kids just saw this a month ago. The smell is awesome!
18. Pudding Paint with Sprinkles
Nuff said!
19. Corn Starch Sidewalk Paint
Mix cornstarch, water and tempera paints. I use a muffin pan to make lots of colors. Use brushes to paint on the sidewalks and cement. When it dries the colors are brilliant.
20. Visit the Farmers Market
Lots of locally grown, locally made products. You might even find something for your Stone Soup.
21. Make Frozen Fruit Cups
Blend berries and bananas in blender. Spoon into Dixie cups and put a Popsicle stick in the center of each cup. Freeze. Remove paper and enjoy.
22. Apple Bobs
Tie strings to apples and hang them in a row on the clothesline at mouth height, with hands behind your back you must eat the entire apple. First one done wins an apple.
23. Make Dinosaur Food
Ingredients: 1/4 cup dirt (cocoa), ½ cup swamp water (milk), two cups crushed bones (sugar), ½ cup fat (softened butter), 2½ cups grass (uncooked quick oats), ½ cup squashed bugs (crunchy peanut butter) and one teaspoon muddy water (vanilla). Mix first four ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil for one minute. Remove from heat and add grass, bugs and muddy water. Drop by tablespoon onto wax paper, wait for the ice age (let cool) and serve to the cave men.
24. Pass the Orange Please
Oranges are passed back and forth between teams of two six times, then the team peels and eats the orange. The first team done wins an orange.
25. Banana Logs
Peel and cut bananas in half. Insert a stick into the end, dip in glass of Hershey’s syrup and roll in Rice Krispies. Yum!
26. Pick Raspberries
Pick from your favorite patch or visit a local raspberry grower and pick the reddest, juiciest berries. Then buy some lemon sherbet on the way home. This combination of berries and lemon is unbelievably good.
27. Have a Picnic
Pack a picnic and head out to your favorite park. Don’t go to the same park you usually frequent try a different location and discover new trails. Sandwiches taste better in the great outdoors.
28. Potato Stamps
Using large baking potatoes, cut in half then draw a design on the bottom of the potato, carefully cut around the design then cut away the potato from the edge leaving the design raised on the end of the potato. This then makes a great stamper with any kind of paint.
29. Carrot Catcher
Drop baby carrots into a mason jar while standing with your hand at least 24 inches from the top of the jar. Person with the most carrots in the jar wins carrots.
30. Fruit Kabobs
Using skewers, make kabobs with all kinds of fruit like bananas, oranges and strawberries. The best fruit dip is made with 7 ounces of marshmallow cream mixed with 8 ounces of cream cheese.
31. Graham Cracker Cookies
Honey or chocolate graham crackers with homemade frosting are delicious. Mix one cup powder sugar with one tablespoon milk and ½ teaspoon vanilla to make the frosting.
32. Hot Dog Mummies with Cheese
Slice hot dogs the long way but not all the way through put 1/4 of a slice of American cheese into each cut. Then roll a refrigerator biscuit into a long snake, wrap the hot dog like a mummy and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes or until golden brown.
33. Apple Schmear
This is played with tennis rackets and old apples. The pitcher tosses the apple to the batter, who using the tennis racket schmears the apple everywhere. Hint to pitcher: Wear old clothes.
34. Make Octopus Spaghetti
Cook spaghetti noodles and use blue food coloring to make the “water.” Cut hot dogs 3/4 of the way into eight legs, leaving one quarter not cut at all. (This is the head of the octopus.) Boil hot dogs about three minutes and serve on top of the water.
35. Baby Food Tasting Contest
Buy several jars of baby food and remove the labels after you have numbered and recorded each jar. Have your friends try to identify the baby food flavor first by sight then by smell and finally by taste. The winner gets baby food?
And finally – Zucchini Boats
This of course is the only good thing you can do with a zucchini. Carve the center from the biggest zucchini you can find. Don’t buy one; just grab one from the post office where the zucchini growers dump them once they have run out of neighbors and friends to give them to. Feel free to add a mast or decorations. You may even wish to christen your boat with a name. Then send it off down a river, stream or lake. Smile as it disappears like summer will all too soon!
Thanks to my sister cousin for all her help with these ideas. She is very clever. (Love you, Dawn) And thanks to all of you who read and enjoy the column. Have a wonderful rest of summer!
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