Monday, July 2, 2012

My Genius Idea

At the beginning of the summer I had this genius idea. Okay, so maybe pinterest had this genius idea and I just tweaked it some. In May pinterest was inundated with Summer Leap Lists or Summer To Do Lists. I really liked the idea so Sweetie (that's what my three year old calls her "babies" when playing house) and I sat down and made a list of 100 things we would do this summer. It was not an easy task and I even realized later that I had written Watch a Parade twice. Below is a copy of our list:


o    1 Make and decorate cookies

o    2 Turn on music and dance around

o    3 Sidewalk paint

o    4 Make s’mores

o    5 Camp in the backyard

o    6 Go to a water park

o    7 Go to the zoo

o    8 Go to the Treehouse Museum

o    9 Draw a pic for Gma ******** and mail it

o    10 Draw a pic for Great gma ******and mail it

o    11 Draw a pic for Gma **** and mail it

o    12 Draw a pic for Great Gma ******* and mail it

o    13 Have a picnic outside

o    14 Have a picnic inside

o    15 Fly on an airplane

o    16 Go to a party

o    17 Have a BBQ

o    18 Draw an outline of your body on big paper

o    19 Go to the drive in

o    20 Go to a movie theater

o    21 Eat a snow cone

o    22 Make ice cream

o    23 Eat an ice cream cone

o    24 Play in the sprinkler

o    25 Go to a pool

o    26 Play in your blowup pool

o    27 Make sand pudding

o    28 Tie dye a shirt

o    29 Go to a children’s museum

o    30 Go to a dinosaur museum

o    31 Go to an aquarium

o    32 Go to Las Vegas

o    33 Sleep in a hotel

o    34 Play at a new park

o    35 Make popsicles

o    36 Go for a walk

o    37 Make a pet rock

o    38 Feed ducks

o    39 See a baseball game

o    40 Watch a parade

o    41 Eat fair food

o    42 Take silly pictures

o    43 Ride on Clifford at Wal-Mart

o    44 Fly a kite

o    45 Paint in the bathtub

o    46 Go to Temple Square

o    47 Make rock candy

o    48 Paint with squirt bottles

o    49 Make bouncing bubbles

o    50 Have a party
    o    51 Paint food

o    52 Make lava bottles

o    53 Make gloop with cornstarch

o    54 Get glitter toes

o    55 Go on a treasure hunt

o    56 Build a fort

o    57 Kangaroo Zoo

o    58 Make a new treat

o    59 Play the shape board game (pinterest-whole house)

o    60 Go to a splash pad

o    61 Have a water fight

o    62 Watch a parade Ride a bull

o    63 Make puppets

o    64 Wash the cars in our bathing suits

o    65 Read books outside

o    66 Go up a mountain

o    67 Make a bird feeder

o    68 Play croquet

o    69 Write a book

o    70 Make an alphabet book (pics that start with each letter)

o    71 Decorate the windows w/ window markers

o    72 Make sponge balls and have a water fight

o    73 Make crayons

o    74 Have a family game night

o    75 Play flashlight tag

o    76 Make a mural

o    77 Go on a scavenger hunt

o    78 Buy books at a book store

o    79 Participate in summer reading program

o    80 Make marshmallow people and buildings

o    81 Make cupcakes and decorate

o    82 Make a treat and take to someone else

o    83 Make a present for a friend

o    84 Make a handprint craft

o    85 Make an ABC book (magazine letters)

o    86 Make kool-aid ice cubes

o    87 Make a keepsake box/treasure box

o    88 Make homemade play doh

o    89 Make a summer photo album

o    90 Look at the stars

o    91 Go to the temple open house

o    92 Count cars that go by

o    93 Shoot off fireworks

o    94 Go see Madagascar 3

o    95 Take family pictures

o    96 Make a blanket

o    97 Buy ice cream from an ice cream truck

o    98 Build a tall, tall, tall lego tower

o    99 Make an I Spy bottle

o    100 Read 100 books!

Some of the activities were things we were already going to do (fly on an airplane, go to Las Vegas, etc). But most were things that we just thought sounded fun to do.

Then I saw an idea for a photo journal (see #89) and that is when I got the second half of my genius idea. I bought Sweetie a spiral drawing book with thick paper, we covered the cover with a piece of scrapbook paper then I let her decorate it with markers and stickers. This is now her journal.

Everytime we do something from the list I take a picture of it. Then a couple times a week I send the picutres to Wal-Mart's one hour photo. When we get home I put a picture on each page and date when the picture was taken. Then Sweetie tells me about the picture and what we did. As she talks I write what she says. Then she decorates the rest of the page with markers.

So, far we have done 23 things on our list. She loves her journal and it is so fun to watch her "read" it. It has become her favorite book to read and she always wants me to "read it from the beginning". Yep, I'm in love with this idea.