Summer Fun Idea For Kids

Because it's summer, and because I'm always trying to keep my children from saying the dreaded "B" word, (Bored) I try my best to keep things fun around here.  I also try to say "yes" to my children as much as possible when they ask to do things that won't cause bodily harm or property damage.  In the last two days my children have built forts, caught crawdads and frogs, ran through the sprinklers, baked cookies, made Jello, made play dough, created bracelets, gone for bike rides, all in addition to their usual routine.  I also did something with my kids that was a big hit, so I thought I'd share the idea with all of my readers that have kids.

When my kids woke up this morning, I handed each of them a piece of paper that led them on a Photography Scavenger Hunt.  They each grabbed a digital camera (my son got a Kodak Easy Share for Christmas, and my daughters used our old digital camera).  Then I gave them a list of things to find around the property.  When they found the item, they would take a good picture of it.  I had a total of 20 items on the list and they included the following things:
A pink flower, something rusty, an insect, a feather, something soft, an animal, a ball , a vegetable, something wet, something ugly, something heart shaped, something with a hole, something very old...etc, etc.

The kids had a blast taking pictures, and combining their detective skills with their artsy side to find and shoot the perfect picture.  And the best thing about it was that it was all free and occupied them for a good 2 hours.  That's like a double accomplishment in my book.  Plus, we all had a good laugh when we viewed the pictures on the computer screen.  If you've got a camera that you trust your kids with  (not your new Nikon or Canon DSLR) then it might be a great summer activity for the family, and it will make great memories.