Fun Ideas for Kid-Friendly Sunny or Rainy Day Picnics

PHOTOS: Provided by Oriental Trading Company

Oriental Trading Company will be sending us supplies to use in our son's community service project, aimed at donating bags full of toiletries and fun items to children of local families in need, in exchange for sharing these kid-friendly summer fun picnic ideas with 3G2S readers.

By the time we are halfway through summer vacation, I am usually looking for fresh ideas to create some fun memories for my children.  Planning something fun doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be complicated.  There are two things I try to do . . . get the children involved in preparations and keep some supplies on-hand for impromptu fun.

Oriental Trading Company is my go-to place for fun ideas year-round.  You can find everything you need for a kid-friendly picnic indoors or out among their extensive collection of Picnic Party Supplies.  There, you will find everything from colorful gingham plates and napkins to fun summer-themed picks.  One picnic must-have would be the disposable checkered tablecloths, available in 4 colors.  They come in a pack of 12 and are perfect to cover your picnic table outdoors or to sit on during rainy day indoor picnics.

Keep it simple, but colorful!  My children would be perfectly happy with cheese, crackers, pepperoni, and fruit for a lunchtime picnic.  We try to keep a supply of colorful picks in the kitchen drawer to add some fun to cut fruit or cheese.


4 Fun Ways Kids Can Help to Prepare for a Picnic . . . 

1.  Ask your children to build a utensil holder and a napkin holder out of plastic interlocking building blocks.

2.  Have your children decorate LED tealights with colorful washi tape for a flameless candlelit meal.

3.  If you don't already have picks for serving bite-size food at your picnic, ask your children to make some with toothpicks and washi tape.

4.  When you have cut all the food, whether it be sandwich quarters, cheese, fruit, or something else, ask your children to arrange them in a pattern on plates or platters for you.

For more creative summer fun ideas, visit the Create Fun blog!

What ideas do you have for a fun kid-friendly picnic?  Share them with us in a comment here and be sure to pin this post for later.

Create Fun Toys with PomTree Craft Kits for Children

Thank you to PomTree, Inc. for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our contest prize. All opinions expressed are my own.

PomTree Kids is a company dedicated to giving kids the chance to have battery-free fun with arts and crafts that can be played with for hours on end once they are assembled. They boast that their kits are easy to put together, fun, require no glue, and are mess-free. We were sent two of their 3D kits to try out and we were really excited to assemble and play with these crafts.

The Feathered Friends Post Office, winner of the Dr. Toy's Best Picks award, contains 94 pieces that fit together to make a fun mailbox home for the birds included. This kit was easy to assemble, though it did require my hot glue gun a couple times because they wouldn’t stay together. Some of the pieces were not cut very well, so I had to use scissors a couple times as well. Overall, the kit was fairly easy and my 6 ½ year old only needed my help a few times. He has played with it quite a bit since its completion, so it has continued to be fun once the assembly was complete.

The Twinkle Top Treehouse we received was missing its instructions and it had 275 pieces, so it was significantly harder to put together. This one took my 12 year old and myself over an hour to do and it was very irritating at points. This one also require my hot glue gun and scissors several times to hold pieces in place. Once complete, this treehouse is very cute, though not very stable, and my 6 year old has played with it as well.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  If you ever experience issues with your PomTree product, such as missing instructions, you can simply contact PomTree Customer Service at (855) 458-8766 for assistance.  One of PomTree's top priorities is customer satisfaction.

My general experience with these kits was okay. They would have been fun if they’d both had instructions and were either more stable or had some way to adhere some pieces together. They have been fun to play with post-assembly and my 6 year old has enjoyed them. If you have a patient child who loves crafts, these kits would be great for them. Just be prepared to need glue sometimes.

To learn more about these and all PomTree Kids’ craft kits at their website, www.pomtreekids.com. They have products that start at $5.99.

Our contest winner may choose to receive one of the following:

• Sparkle Fun Playhouse Kit • $19.99
• Over The Moon Creamery Playset Kit • $9.99
• Sunnyside Up Market Playset Kit • $9.99
• Feathered Friends Post Office Playset Kit • $9.99
• Twinkle Top Treehouse Playset Kit • $9.99 
• Swing-A-Long Pet Playset Kit • $9.99
• Sweet Sundaes Treat Truck Playset Kit • $9.99
• Small Sticker Tub • Ages 3+ • $6.99
• Large Sticker Tub • Ages 3+ • $9.99
• Playscape Mega Creativity Kit • Ages 5+ • $12.99
• 'Our Day On The Town' Sticker Storybook • Ages 3+ • $5.99

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck in the drawing!

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random number drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Snipe Hunt Would Make a Great Indoor or Outdoor Party Game

Snipe hunting is an activity in which some families take part in order to entertain their children by hunting for an imaginary creature called the "snipe".  What was normally a fun outdoor activity has been transformed into a game that can be played indoors or out by Education Outdoors.  This game is the new Snipe Hunt, a hide and seek type game that can be played with two or more players ages 6 and older.  After having played it, I think this game would be suitable for anyone ages 3 and up, especially if a preschooler is playing with an older child or an adult.

Each game comes with two snipe . . . Smartin and Biela, plus a nest and four AAA batteries.  Just gather two or more players and you have all you need to get started.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

Each battery-operated snipe has an internal timer.  When positioned in the nest properly, the timer in each snipe will stop.  Both snipe can chirp and has eyes that light up and flash.  Our three children all seemed to think Biela was the cutest.  Perhaps they just like the color red?

The weather has been too hot and humid to play outside, so we have been enjoying playing the Snipe Hunt game indoors.  Since we had 3 players, one child would hide the snipe and the other two would see who could find it first.  We kept the snipe turned off using the on/off switch on the bottom and turned it back on once the child knew where he or she would like to hide the snipe.  Once turned back on, the timer starts inside the snipe.  After several minutes have passed, the snipe would chirp and its eyes would flash in order to give the "hunters" some help with locating it.  With two very cluttered bedrooms, there were tons of great hiding places for the snipe.  The chirping is loud enough to be audible, but subtle enough to not make the snipe's location obvious.

Needless to say, our 8 year old son was the most skilled hunter.  Between our 5-1/2 year old twins, our daughter enjoyed the game the most.  The other two had enough of the game after 4 rounds or so at a time, but our daughter wanted to keep going.  I think Snipe Hunt would make a great camping or party game because it can be played with two teams as large as you would like.  It also teaches children to be quiet and really listen and to use their senses.

To learn more about Snipe Hunt, visit www.educationoutdoors.net.  This game retails for $24.99 and can be purchased on Amazon.com, at REI, Eastern Mountain Sports, Borders, L.L.Bean, Uncommon Goods, and other specialty retailers.


Thank you to Education Outdoors for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.