Worried that a whole summer out of your regular homeschooling may be a bad thing – and doing little more than sitting in front of YouTube and turning their young brains to mush? Time to come up with some crafty activities to help stimulate their creative genius. Not only will it help keep their minds active, but creative activities will keep everyone from falling victim to the most dreaded of summertime troubles: boredom.

The most fun for me is going out and exploring the beach, or the nearby hiking trails. Let your kids gather up some items from each adventure and either learn about it later when you find out what exactly it is, or journal about the day with a nice memento.

The first fun item we did when I was in kindergarten. So that was a long time ago and it's still super fun. Timeless fun. Make a life size portrait in a couple different ways:

1. Get large pieces or rolls of paper from the craft store that you can lay out on a flat surface. Have your child lie down on the paper with his arms just a little apart from their body so you can outline their whole body with a marker. After you’ve outlined them, it's time to fill in the details of hair, clothes and facial features with crayons or colored markers.

After it's all done, help younger children write their name on it and hang it on the family room wall or their bedroom door. Your child will love to have their own artwork where everyone can admire it and show it off to arriving friends.

2. Get a tub of sidewalk chalk. Sweep off a space on a patio or driveway where it’s safe for your child to play. Have her lie down on the cement in such a way that you get a chalk outline of her entire body. Then let your child work on adding details. You can assist with picking out colors to help them learn those as well if they're younger, or have them make themselves into a chalk Minecraft character. Or make this fun and different by allowing them to make up a funny monster or other original character.

If you child is more the diva than the artist, you could make this a little less messy and make a pasta necklace, preparing the pasta beads ahead of time. Then you could just allow the kids to have fun making the necklaces, rather than messes.

Items you’ll need per color:

• 3 tbsps. white vinegar
• 3 drops of food coloring
• 1 cup macaroni salad type - and for kids with a gluten allergy there are a lot of options available
• Sandwich size plastic bags
• Tin foil sheets
• String

Place the white vinegar and food coloring in a sandwich-size bag to combine. Then add pasta, gently mixing and shaking the bag to coat well. Dump out the liquid and place on a sheet of tin foil to dry overnight.

You will want to make at least 3 colors of pasta beads but you can make as many as you want. The more colors you create, the more combinations the kids will be able to make.

Once you’re ready to have the kids start making the necklaces, cut a piece of string long enough to easily fit over their heads once it’s tied. Thread the string through a cotton ball on one end to keep the beads from sliding off as the children string the necklace. You can then let them get to work.

Want something funner? If you are a kid, you love candy. We don't do candy a lot at our house, so this is a fun Summer activity. In fact it might be an all-time favorite for the kids because when they’re done they can eat it. You need any type of candy with holes that your children like to eat, is allergy friendly and some elastic string (you can get this at the fabric or craft store). Lifesavers, licorice (cut into smaller pieces), and candy beads are all good choices. Follow the same instructions as above for stringing your bracelet. The kids will love it and you may actually get a room clean while they are destroying another.