The scorching heat continues across the country, including here in the Midwest. In fact, our county has experienced such hot, humid and dry conditions the past few months that officials have banned fireworks.
Yes, a fireworks ban leading up to and including the Fourth of July.
Since we don’t want to end up like the poor folks in Colorado, who have lost so much due to a rash of destructive wildfires, we’re planning a festive Fourth minus the sparklers and other colorful explosives.
Rather than celebrating Independence Day by lighting up, we’re planning a slew of kid-friendly outdoor activities, such as:
Homemade Bean Bag Toss: Sure, you can buy pre-made bean bag toss sets at party stores, but why spend money when you can make a simple version at home? All you need are a few hula hoops and some bean bags. Draw a line with chalk or baby powder, and have your kids stand behind it and toss the bean bags at the hoops. Depending on the age or throwing skills of the kids, you can modify the distance between them and the hoops. In addition, you could make the game even more challenging by blindfolding one player and have his teammates provide verbal directives so he can land the bean bags in the hoops.
Driveway Bowling: Who says bowling has to be played indoors? Take advantage of summer’s heat and get rolling outside. You will need a couple of medium-sized rubber balls and 10 “bowling pins,” which you can make by filling two-liter soda bottles with sand. Draw a line with a piece of chalk at one end of your driveway and have kids take turns rolling the balls and knocking down as many pins as possible.
Ping Pong Ball Race: Find a hard, flat surface, such as a picnic table and draw lanes with chalk roughly a foot wide on the surface. Then, add a start and finish line. Give each child a ping pong ball and a straw. Blow a whistle, and then have the kids use the straws to blow their ping pong balls from the starting point to the finish line. The player whose ball crosses the finish line first wins.
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