Summer in the City ~ Starts NOW!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend.... This month I've been working on Summer Plans for the kids. For those of you don't know I have a very very small "daycare". OK, it's more of a shared nanny between 2 families. I have a 3.5 year old girl who is FINALLY getting past her tantrum stage and getting better in control of her behavior and will start prek 2 mornings a week this fall. Then I have a 9.5 year old boy who I love as though he's my own. He is a super neat kid (ok, both of them are). This year for the first time in 3 years I have kids who are both old enough to have fun doing the many busy activities I have planned & we don't have to work around a strict nap schedule (I hope!!!).

I thought I'd share some of the activities on the calendar in June/July & you all are welcome to steal some of them for your own family.... Basically what I do is list everything I think they will be interested in and then let them take turns choosing which activity they want to do.

1) Both families are providing YOUTH memberships to the YMCA this summer. Youth memberships are $15/month and right now until 5/31 I believe the $49 registration fee is being waived. Check with your local YMCA to make sure it's still available and take advantage of the opportunity for summer swimming. Otherwise, they have open swimming for $5 most days. We are planning to swim 2 times a week so the Youth Membership is the best option for us. http://metroymca.org/find-my-y/ (search by zipcode to see where a Y is in your area)

2) The library here in Omaha offers an amazing summer program - be sure to check in your area. This years theme is Build a Better World. There are all kinds of STEM related activities - science, math, reading, mazes, robots, building, etc and most of it's for 4 but I think Gianna (3.5) will get to do quite a bit. We also get to go to Shakespeare on the Green and the Planetarium for Storytime & there's stuff for the grown ups too! Activity Guide: bit.ly/2qnWxxa

Also, the Public Schools here have the Sherwood Public Library Program. The kids get to do crafts, electronic learning, storytime, and receive a free book each week. We've done this for the last 5 years and I will call the schools directly if I can't find info on it. The kids love it!

3) Kid's Stewardship has a great Summer Vacation Survival Kit available for $6.99. It's designed by 2 teachers and provides 20 activities for the kids to work on without an adult telling them what to do all the time. I think this is something we'll use on rainy days and those few days I don't have anything on the calendar. Learn more at: http://bit.ly/SumSurvivalKit (Affiliate Link)

New Playground at Hanscom Park, Omaha, NE

4) Lastly: we always take bikes to the playground to ride, find new playgrounds (Omaha has hundreds of them), there's Hummel Park, Zorinsky Lake, Fontenelle Forest, the NEW Hanscom Park playground (above), etc... picnics, free movies at Regal Theatres, both Kids Bowl FREE and Kids Skate FREE programs, and there is so much more!

June Calendar - amazing huh? This just shows the library schedule nothing else!