We shared some great Tools for a Healthy Summer in a previous blog, including kid-friendly snacks and parent-friendly tools.
Striking a balance between rest and play is what summer is all about. Sometimes kids need to be encouraged to get moving and I love to see the activities that their imaginations create. I found some creative (and simple) ways to keep kids active using paper milk cartons or plastic milk jugs. Kids won’t be the only ones enjoying some of these!
Milk Carton Bowling: Use empty milk cartons as bowling pins. Try to knock them over by rolling a ball into them. Challenge your friends to stand further back each time. 
Homemade Horseshoes: Create “horseshoes” by gluing three wooden sticks together (pictured). Fill an empty milk carton half way with sand or water. Depending on the age of players, stand 5-20 feet behind a milk carton and take turns tossing your teams’ horseshoes. Give points for horseshoes that are close or touching bottle, and more points for horseshoes that land on the bottle.
Water Balloon Catch: Cut the bottoms off gallon milk jugs and tape the edges. Decorate the jugs. Fill a supply of water balloons and see how high you can throw the water balloons and how many you can catch in the jugs without breaking.
Long summer days make it easier to enjoy family activities. Pick one of these 40 Family Activities for each night of the week.
Your teens can use this Exercise and Activity Tracker for ideas on keeping active healthy bodies all year long.
After all of these fun activities, fuel up and refresh with these tasty kid-friendly snacks (they are healthy too, but no one will mind)!
We would love to hear from you. Please share your creative summer activity ideas with us!
Tracy Witmer, R.D.
Territory Manager
Photo courtesy of Disney FamilyFun, www.familyfun.go.com
Tracy Witmer, Registered Dietitian
About me:
Tracy Witmer is a registered dietitian and Territory Manager for Dairy Council of California. Within the districts and schools of her 10-county territory, she engages teachers to use nutrition education in the classroom and is touched by the testimonies she hears from teachers, parents and students about its impact.
Tracy volunteers her time to serve as the 2011-2012 President of the Northern Area Dietetic Association. She received her B.S. in Nutrition Science with a Minor in Spanish at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and completed her dietetic internship at CSU Fresno.
As a dietitian, Tracy enjoys dispelling misconceptions about healthy eating and encourages a positive, individual, holistic approach to nutrition. She’s convinced everyone can find ways to eat well and be active, no matter if your day is spent in a school, office, home, car, field or factory. Though she keeps it simple in the kitchen, Tracy’s adventurous spirit is evident in her eating habits. She believes no one should pass an opportunity to try new food when presented with it… at least just a bite.
Connect with Tracy on LinkedIn