Sweet Sunshine Summer Activity Calendar

What fun and incredible adventures are you going to have this summer?

Do you have a summer activity calendar, or summer bucket list, or check-off list?  

I've been seeing these all over the place online and I love the idea!  I think my kidlets will have a blast checking what fun thing we get to do each day and it keeps me from letting us slip into a boredom slump.  Something, even if it's small, to look forward to each day!  Sound good?  It's still not too late!  I intended to start one about a week ago, but didn't quite finish till now.  Planning one craft/outing/activity for every day of the summer is a huge task!  Of course you don't have to do one for every day, but that's what I shot for.  

There's a ton of different ways you can do this, a banner, calendar, check-off list on a cute chalkboard, clothes pins in a sandbox bucket.  I swooned over this one in particular:

img source Makoodle

At the last minute I decided to design my own and came up with this cutesy sunshine:

Here's how you can make your own:

Supplies:

4 sheets 12x12 Yellow cardstock

2 Sheets 12x12 Cardstock in Pink or other contrast color

1 Sheets 12x12 cardstock in green or other contrast color

Scotch Tape

Double-sided Tape

1 12x12 cardstock sheet in blue for letters (I used my Cricut to cut them)

Black & Pink Markers for Face

and lastly. . . 

a huge activity bank of things for your troop to do this summer!  

Here's what my lists looked like after about 5 days of brainstorming and late night pinterest-searching:

While there are some big ones on my list like a trip to a nearby amusement park and a day at a local(ish) Blueberry festival, most are small easy-prep activities or crafts.  Stay tuned for a part II post where I share some of my most anticipated activities.

To Make Sunshine:

I used my largest mixing bowl to trace a giant circle on one piece of the yellow cardstock then cut it out and drew on the face with markers.

For the permanent rays (the yellow ones that won't be removed) I cut strips that were about 1.5" x 6 (18 per sheet).  Arrange these around the back of the sunshine doing an inner layer (by arranging them farther inside the circle) first and then  taping those down, then do an outer layer of longer rays (by arranging them in between your shorter ones).  Don't skimp on the tape here, it's on the back and won't show so you can really go to town!  This is what it should look like at this point: *I outlined the circle afterwards because it was looking a little bit like our summertime lion more than our summertime sunshine :)*

Next your going to add your removable activity rays in the two contrasting colors.  I cut my pinks the same length as the yellows (2 columns x 9 rows of a 12x12 sheet of paper) and the green I cut by dividing the 12x12 paper into 3 columns and 9 rows for shorter rays.  You're going to have extra but that's good because I only got 26 to fit around my sunshine so I'll need to replenish with a new set when the first runs out (I'll even have to replenish again after the second set).  Also keep those extras handy in case you need to change your plans and you'd already wrote your activity.  The littles will never know you traded one out :)

I wrote the date on the outside of each and the activity on the back like this:

True story I only wrote the activity on some of them to leave room for changed plans, if you do this you just need to remember to make sure you write the activity the night before lest you encounter some confused/disappointed little faces :)

You can sort of get these to stay by just tucking them into the space between the sun and the yellow rays but I attached a tiny tiny strip of double sided tape (one that will add a little hold but will pop off when my daughter gives it a tug).  

I used the Cindy Loo cartridge on my Cricut to cut out the letters for "summer fun" out of the blue cardstock.  I am fully aware that they would have been cuter on a banner, but I lazy-ed out towards the end :)  More double sided tape it is!

All done!

I can't wait to share some of the fun things we're doing with you!

Here's wishing you all a fun, fantastic, fabulous and memorable summer!!

I'm linking up with nifty thrifty things, I Heart Naptime, Tatertots & Jello, Skip To My Lou, Today's Creative Blog