Scavenger hunts are not only fun, they’re educational, too. It’s easy to get creative to make up your own, or modify any of these to make it fit for your area and the age of your child. For older ones you will want to make it harder and for younger children make it easy enough to keep them interested while still teaching them important skills.

Thing have changed since I was little, because now you can go out and do a geocaching scavenger hunt. How cool is that? Getting kids outside to explore is a great way for them to learn about nature and get exercise at the same time. You can create a nature scavenger hunt for whatever types of items are in your backyard, the park or wherever you choose to hold your scavenger hunt. Here are a few items to think about to get you started with coming up with your own ideas as you are moving from cache to cache:

• Four leaf clover
• Dandelion
• Large leaf
• Small leaf
• Sticks
• Large flower
• Small flower
• Worm
• Bug
• Smooth rock

An easy way to create your game is to gather the items from the area you’ll be playing and take a picture of each. This way you know the items will be there and you can print off a picture of each for your child to gather. Next all you need is a basket or bag for your little one to be off and running.

We've also been on a few Pokemon Go hunts in the last year. It may be fun for kids, but you can make it more educational for the younger kids by helping preschoolers learn their numbers is easy and fun with a numbered scavenger hunt. All you need is some colored paper and a pen to get started.

Cut colored paper into pieces and write numbers on them from 1-10. Hide them around your yard or your neighborhood trail – kind of like an Easter egg hunt. Once the children find all of the numbers you can have them match them up to a sheet of paper that you’ve written all of the numbers on.

Of course the geocaching is the most fun for all ages and you can scale the hunt to fit the ages of your children. Really think about the distance you want to cover to find the treasure as it should include what your child is capable of. Also teach your kids that they should never go off hunting on their own. At the end of the hunt they'll be so excited to talk about what they found on your afternoon adventure!

Scavenger hunts can provide hours of fun for kids of all ages. In fact, if you have a wide range of ages, you might even enlist the help of the older children to create the hunt for the younger ones to do at home. Each child will learn some valuable skills, and you’ll be helping to alleviate their summer boredom.

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.