Summer Activities

There's no denying that Texans are proud of their state {probably to a fault} but even we can eat a slice of humble pie and say that summers aren't exactly that much fun here. There's only so many days that you can handle 104 degree heat before you're just ready to call it quits.

This is obviously the first summer that I've been dealing with the heat and trying to keep an active baby entertained. When it's cooler (high 80's to low 90's!) we're able to go for a walk to the park and actually enjoy being outside to keep Griff happy,  but even at 9 in the morning, it's just so dadgum hot. I've had to get creative with some indoor activities to keep Griff entertained and thought I would share. Both are easy and cheap!

Cody likes to call this first one my zen garden. Even though it's a toy for Griff, I find myself running my fingers through it frequently too! You'll need a 5 gallon bag of rice, rubbing alcohol, food coloring, and zip lock baggies. Pour two cups of rice into each bag. I made 5 colors and left some rice in the bag that wasn't going to be colored.

Add a generous 3 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol to each bag and as much food coloring as you wish. I wanted to make sure my colors were pretty bold so I emptied the bottle into the rice. I don't know that they were full to begin with, but I did put a lot of coloring in there.

Once your alcohol and coloring is in the bag, seal it up, leaving a little bit of air in the bag. Mix, mix, mix until you can tell that all of the rice is colored.



Pour the rice into a container, spread it thin, then place outside to dry. I used all metal pans to dry mine in because I wasn't sure if it might stain plastic containers! Thanks to the heat, they were dry within an hour tops and ready to be played with!

The colors turned out so pretty and Griff loves digging through the rice.

I was 100% stupid and brought this into our living room for him to play with the first time, which resulted in this:

We now make sure this is only played on a tile floor so it's very easy for mom to clean up!

As for the second activity, I made an easy, albeit it very small, indoor pool for Griff :) 

Just take a 9x13 pan, fill with a small amount of water, add your favorite bath toys and you're set for a few minutes of free time!

Make sure you put a towel either underneath your pan or close by, because they will tip the pan over! I've also done this with ice cubes and Griff enjoys it just as much too!

How are you keeping your kiddos entertained during the summer heat?