21 Fun Holidays to Celebrate with your Kids in June

Its just about summer break for us and I can't wait. I love the slower pace, free time, and of course my kids being home.  I recently posted our summer schedule (an activity a day like make it Monday, What's cooking Wednesday) and this holiday calendar will spark some really fun ideas for a summer full of fun. I've found if I can start them off with one activity they will often find fun ways to play all day instead of heading towards the tv or complaining about being bored.  It takes a little effort on my part but it is so worth it and its a really fun way for us to create some special memories.

Download your copy here

Download a copy of the calendar, print, and display.  You do not need to celebrate all of them (we probably won't) just pick and choose what works for you and your family.

I'll be posting ideas as I finalize my plans and also as we celebrate some of these holidays.  My hope is that this will be something fun for your family and a way to create some special memories.  I'd love to hear your ideas and see pictures of your celebrations!

Holiday's came from here and here. 

Amazing graphics from

 Creative Clips,  Prettygrafik, , my cute graphics,  revidevi, Chirp Graphics, Melonheadz,P4 Clips Trioriginals ,  Winchester Lambourne,  Creating4 the Classroom, Miss Pickle's Graphics and fonts from Hello Literacy

Summer Schedule

I can't believe summer break is just around the corner!  I think I'm just as excited as my kids this year (hurray to being less busy!). However if your kids are like mine the excitement wears off after a day or two (for one I swear its like 30 minutes) then the tv if turned on for countless hours, the fighting starts, and the "I'm bored" comments happen.  

I've noticed if I have a plan and some structure to our day we seem to avoid many of those problems and in the process we make some pretty great memories. A few years a go we started using a schedule to pick a fun activity daily.  It makes planning so much easier and my kids know what to expect and enjoy helping plan.  This year with a new baby I decided to change Tuesday to "try it" instead of "traveling."   You can find that schedule here if it fits your families needs better.

On Monday we will be choosing a craft from one of our many pinterest boards, free art, legos, etc. 

Tuesday we try something new...a game, a park, a book, a new skill, etc. 

Wednesday will be the day to try some new treats or have the kids help with a meal.

Thursday we will have fun learning! Some ideas are a read-a-thon, research projects, science experiments, and math games.  I'm really hoping to do an around the world theme.

Friday is basically a free day.  There will be lots of water play, card/board games, movie nights, play dates or whatever the kids want to do.

Download Here

I have mine laminated so we can write directly on it with white board or chalk markers.  Don't have a laminator...sheet protectors also work.

Other Posts to help plan your summer

alternate summer schedule

Reading Bingo

Reading Trackers

Monthly Holiday Calendars (new ones posted each month)

"Prepare to Meet God" FHE

For Family Home Evening we used the General Conference talk "Prepare to Meet God" By Elder Quentin L. Cook.  I loved learning more about the 3 keys that were restored in the Kirtland Temple and really enjoyed this talk.  I was a little worried that it might go over my kids' heads but this lesson turned out to be one of their favorites.  Here's a quick over view of our lesson but what I love about using these talks is the conversation that develops during the lesson.  I don't plan word for word, a big part is asking and answering questions as they come.  

I started with a short clip from this movie.  It's about a minute long starting at minute 33.  

I then introduced the 3 keys 

and set up our game like this.  Printables are at the end and I included a set of black and white keys if you want to save some ink.  :)

All of the remaining pieces were divided up into 3 baskets. 

We took turns tossing a ball into a basket and picking a card (actually 2 or 3 to speed up the game).

Read the card and determine what key it goes with and if it answers the the question-Who, what or how.  (All of these come directly from his talk.)

I included an answer key because some are not real obvious.

I always like to create a printable that we leave up all week as a reminder of our lesson.   This one is included in the download.

If you just want the printable 

Click on the picture above.  Right click to save to your computer.

Print at home or send it to your favorite place to print pictures.

If printing at home I like to insert the picture in a word document.  Size and print on cardstock.

It's formatted as a 5x7 but can easily be resized to fit your needs.

Download your FHE pack here

You can find our other General Conference Family Home Evening here.

Graphics by Teaching in the Tongass  and fonts from Hello Literacy

Behold the Man FHE

This might be my favorite Family Home Evening we've done.  We used the General Conference talk Behold the Man! By Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf.  I loved his description of the Atonement and Resurrection.  For our lesson I created a mini book using his words and beautiful photos from lds.org. 

We read through it and shared some of our thoughts and answered some questions.  I loved the simplicity and message of this lesson.  Here's a few more pages.

I printed mine with at Walmart using their photo flip book option ($6).  The quality is fine but if you want a nicer look I'd go with a different option. You can also print the photos and add to your own photo book or bind yourself.  If you want to save money or ink you can pull the images up on your computer and use it as a slide show...I tried including a power point option but I'm not sure how it will work on your end.

Download the book 

Jpeg (all images are 5x7s)

power point

After FHE I put our book in our church bag.  My kids loved looking at it during Sacrament.  Its such a beautiful way to keep the Savior in our thoughts.

I always like to create a printable that we leave up all week as a reminder of our lesson.  I love this quote.

To Print:

Click on the picture.  Right click to save to your computer.

Print at home or send it to your favorite place to print pictures.

If printing at home I like to insert the picture in a word document.  Size and print on cardstock.

These are formatted as 5x7 but can easily be resized to fit your needs.

You can find our other General Conference Family Home Evening here.

U is for Unicorn Letter Craft

We are slowly working our way through our unicorn theme and loving it.  A new baby has made our progress slow but she sure is cute :)  

I always like to do a letter craft with each theme and this U unicorn is so adorable.

Start by drawing 3 letter U's for the face and eyes.

 Then decorate.  My little one just wanted to use markers today but it would be so cute to use construction paper or craft foam, yarn for the mane, and even add some glitter on the horn.  Every unicorn needs a floral crown so we hot glued some pretty fake flowers to make her one.

 That's it or you can keep decorating like my 4 year did.  She's quite the artist :)

Easy DIY Farmhouse Wreath Tutorial

I needed a new wreath for my front door but didn't want to spend a small fortune.  I also wanted something to fit the farmhouse style that I love.  I decided to try something a little different and love the result especially the unexpectedness of the galvanized bucket instead of a traditional wreath. The best part is it was super easy.  I'm not too great with floral arrangements so if I can do this then you really can do this and it will probably look better then mine :).  I also loved that it was pretty inexpensive.  I bought most of my supplies from Hobby Lobby.  Don't forget to use the 40% off coupon or even better catch the flowers on sale (like this week!)

Gather your supplies: (contains some affiliate links)

Galvanized metal bucket

flowers here and here or pick your favorites

floral block

wire cutters

Jute twine or ribbon

 Cut the stems of your flowers apart.  I kept my stems as long as possible.

 Cut your floral block to size and stick in you bucket

Arrange flowers to your liking.  I just stuck mine right into the block.

 Loop your jute twine through the handles and tie behind the flowers at your desired height.

 I added a command strip at the bottom to keep it from bouncing around.

Mother's Day Gift Tags (& teacher option)

Mother's Day is less then a week away!  Today I have a fun little gift tag for all the special women in you life...friends, neighbors, sisters, teachers, women at church, coworkers, you own mom. etc.   Attach it to a yummy treat or my favorite gift...chocolate. Its a cute and inexpensive way to let others know you care.  

There are two ways to print...

Option 1: Super easy pdf file.  Tags are sized (2.5"x2.5")and ready to go. Download here and print as many as you need.

Option 2: Perfect if you only need 1 or want a different size.

Click on the picture above.  Right click to save to your computer.  Insert the picture in a word document.  Size and print.

and since it's Teacher Appreciation week and we love our teacher's I threw in this option too :)

Graphic credit: Freepik and MoonberryDigitalArt

Service Family Home Evening

For Family Night we used the talk "Young Women in the Work" By Bonnie L. Oscarson from April General Conference (Find the talk here)  This talk focuses on ways the young women can serve in the church.  I have a 12 year old daughter and thought this would a great lesson for her but it can be applied to all of us.  For family night we focused on ways we can serve others. 

To start pass out one of these papers (full and half sheet option) and a pencil to everyone.  If you have younger kids it works well to do groups.  Give everyone 2 or 3 minutes to see how many ways they can come up with to serve others.  The person with the most wins.  When time is up go around the room and have them share their ideas.

Next I shared the following 2 quotes from Sister Oscarson's talk.  

Download activity and quotes here

 As a family think of someone you can serve together.  Brainstorm a few ideas and create a plan.  This talk really focuses on serving in our ward, you can go that route or maybe there is someone else you think could use a little extra help.

Pass out the paper below (2 color options) have each person think of 3 people they can serve this week.  Have them place it somewhere they will see it often.

Download here

I always like to create a printable that we leave up all week as a reminder of our lesson. 

To Print:

Click on the picture.  Right click to save to your computer.

Print at home or send it to your favorite place to print pictures.

If printing at home I like to insert the picture in a word document.  Size and print on cardstock.

These are formatted as 5x7 but can easily be resized to fit your needs.

You can find our other General Conference Family Home Evening here.