Engage students during summer vacation with these fun and easy lesson plans.
Summer Memory Book
Transform an ordinary spiral notebook into a family memory book that will serve as a timeless keepsake for years to come. Chronicle your summer by encouraging each family member to add to the book. Take turns adding entries with words, pictures, photos, or souvenirs. Model good grammar, spelling and punctuation, but don’t get hung up on the “correctness” of the entries. The idea is to let everyone put their thoughts into words and express their feelings to capture your special times.
3-D Beach Frame
A beach vacation can be a great place to engage all of the senses with a fun family craft. Take advantage of all the natural resources around you and create fun 3-D photo frames to capture the memories. A little sand, a few shells, some Elmer’s Glue-All® and an inexpensive wood photo frame are all you need to create a vacation souvenir that the whole family will love.
Storm Stories
Get your students actively involved in observing and studying the weather. Spring can be an ideal time of year to start this project, when in most parts of the country the weather is unpredictable and often dramatic. Color diffusing paper and water-based markers are the perfect materials for drawing pictures of stormy weather. When sprayed with water, the drawings look wet and wild. They can become inspirational catalysts for poetry such as the simple poem shown in the example.
Handprint Canvas
Add a personal touch to art projects for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or any spring or summer occasion!
Salt Painting
Make your paintings pop with a little glue, watercolors, and salt!
Upcycled Cookout Caddy
Make family dinners outside a priority and reinforce the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling. Environmental education in the classroom is important, but you can make it much more relevant and meaningful to your kids when you model responsible behavior and give them opportunities to follow your lead.
Clothespin Planes
These colorful and cute clothespin planes are simple to make and fun to play with!
Moon Landing Paperweight
Celebrate the moon landing with this fun clay craft.
Things With Wings
This is a paper collage project that will link science with art. It will also enable students to give their winged subjects an artistic flair by using paper edger scissors.