Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Summer Activities with Kids: Find Ways to Serve (20 Ideas!)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Looking for some fun activities to do with your kids this summer? I’ve enjoyed 22 summers with kids (and counting!), so I certainly have a few ideas to share! Stay tuned during the next few weeks as we provide all kinds of suggestions for making your summer with your kids meaningful. (Subscribe here so you won’t miss out!) Today’s idea: Find Ways to Serve!

Opportunities to love and help others are all around us, no matter where we live, the ages of our kids, or our physical limitations. We all have something to offer someone else! Even babies can serve. Allow me to share a special memory…

Even Babies Can Serve

When our oldest son was a baby, a man we went to church with was killed tragically in a farming accident. Two days after this awful event, Matt, baby Asa, and I went to visit the man’s widow and their kids.

As we stood in their kitchen, surrounded by others in our church family, I remember feeling that it was so important that I keep Asa quiet and in my arms so as not to disturb anyone! I wrestled with him as long as possible, shushing him and trying to distract him with anything I possibly could while people were coming in and out and hugging the family members.

Finally, I gave up and decided to let Asa get down and crawl around as he had so much been wanting to do. I cringed as he scurried immediately toward the crowd and then directly over to where the widow was sitting. Before I could catch up to him and pull him back, he had made it to her chair. And then it happened.

The widow found a smile. She reached down and picked up my curious baby. She cooed at him and hugged him close and told him what a sweet boy he was.

If we weren’t already all crying, we certainly all were then.

Asa, before the age of one, was already a minister. He brought joy in the midst of grief, just by being him.

I share this to let you know a very important truth about serving others with our kids:

The enemy wants us to use our kids as an excuse NOT to serve. God wants us to serve right alongside our kids!

Obviously, if our kids are older, we can serve with them in ways that we can’t do when our kids are tiny. But oh the ways we can serve, no matter the ages of our kids!

Pray and Listen!

I’m going to share some service ideas with you today, but what is much more important than reading my ideas is that you and your family pray together to become open to what God has for you to do. Open your hearts. Let God open your eyes to see the needs around you. He will show you how to serve. (He’ll also tell you when to say, “no.”) Listen and see!

My husband, kids, and I have been serving side by side for almost 25 years. As I look back, I see how our service has changed and evolved! When the kids were little, our service included having people in our home for meals, taking small gifts of food to people, making and sending cards, and the like.

Now that we have adult-sized kids, our service can include work like helping elderly people move heavy furniture, taking loads of people’s discarded items to the dump, and painting people’s houses.

No act of service is big or small. All areas of service are full of purpose and good! So don’t put limitations on what you and your family have to offer. Don’t feel like you have nothing to offer. Don’t compare yourself with anyone else. Most certainly, don’t feel like you are “too busy” to look beyond your own lives to serve.

Pray, open your eyes, and listen. God will help you see needs and show you what to do!

Here is a small list of ideas for ways you might serve with your kids:

Ways to Serve with Your Kids

  1. Feed people who have a need! Make and deliver a meal, some muffins or quick bread, cookies, or a pie. See our huge list of recipes below for fun ideas!
  2. Visit someone who is lonely or hurting.
  3. Help someone fix something around their home that they are unable to fix on their own.
  4. Babysit for someone will little children so they can have a refreshing break.
  5. Give someone a ride to the store or to run errands if they are unable to drive themselves.
  6. Clean out toys and clothes to give to someone who needs them more than you.
  7. Have a garage sale and give the earnings to a special cause.
  8. Make and send cards to people.
  9. Call people on their birthdays and sing to them.
  10. Plant flowers for someone.
  11. Surprise someone who is out of town with a Sidewalk Chalk message welcoming them home.
  12. Mow someone’s lawn.
  13. Take someone out for ice cream.
  14. Invite someone over for a meal, for dessert, or for a game of cards.
  15. Visit someone in the hospital or nursing home.
  16. Buy and deliver a coloring book and new crayons for a sick child.
  17. Pray for people!
  18. Clean someone’s house.
  19. Ask a tired new mom how you can help her.
  20. Purchase and deliver groceries to help stretch a family’s budget.

What would you add to this list?

The possibilities are endless, especially when you pray together and listen to God’s call for you and your family!

Here is a big list of recipe links that might give you some nice ideas if you are considering making food for someone…

Recipes to Consider Making for Others

Muffins

Cookies

Easy Meals

I’d love to hear ways you and your family serve together!

Here’s to a great summer of fun with our kids! Here are other ideas we’ve shared so far:

Stay tuned for more fun Summer Kid Activity ideas!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Summer Activities with the Kids: Create Blessings for Father’s Day!

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Looking for some fun activities to do with your kids this summer? I’ve enjoyed 22 summers with kids (and counting!), so I certainly have a few ideas to share! Stay tuned during the next few weeks as we provide all kinds of suggestions for making your summer with your kids meaningful. (Subscribe here so you won’t miss out!) Today’s idea: Create Blessings for Father’s Day!

You may remember that we shared this list of Father’s Day gift ideas a couple of years ago. I’m going to re-share some of those great ideas, plus add some new ones too!

Create Blessings for Father’s Day

You and your kids are likely already thinking about how to bless the dads and grandpas in your lives. But what if you went a bit beyond these special men and talked about ways you can offer something special to those who may be overlooked?

  • Widowers
  • Men in nursing homes
  • Someone who has suffered a difficult year because of illness, loss, unemployment, etc.

OR, how about doing something special for someone who has gone above and beyond for your kids?

  • Coaches
  • Teachers
  • Caretakers
  • Ministers
  • Church Elders

Pray with your kids about this!

Allow God to bring people to mind or to open your eyes to men who would love to be the recipient of your Father’s Day blessing this year. What a wonderful way to serve alongside your children – to teach them to see others and to think beyond themselves!

And while I’m writing this, I have in mind that moms and kids will do this together – but here’s what might be even better!! What if kids and dads spend time on this special “project” as a way to celebrate Father’s Day? Dads serving with their kids is a beautiful thing! Or perhaps you can all do this as an entire family.

Pray, and let the Spirit lead you toward what Father’s Day can look like for you and your family as you look to be a blessing to others.

Cookies for Father’s Day

One of the simplest ways to bless special men in your lives this Father’s Day is to hand them a card and a plate of cookies. Want some great recipe ideas? I can probably come up with one or two. ;)

Wait, you ask. Are these really THE BEST Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies? Yes, I’m afraid it’s true. We’ve tried all the others. These are the best. ;)

Now it’s time to think beyond cookies!

(Mostly) Free Ideas for gifting Dad, Grandpa, or others

Ready to get those kids serving and caring for the men in their lives? But hoping to spend little to no money? How about these ideas!

  1. Write a letter (25 things I like about you, or top 10 favorite memories).
  2. Create a hand-drawn picture of the two of you doing something together.
  3. Put together a photo album of pictures of you and Dad (or the special friend).
  4. Print your favorite picture of the two of you and put it in a frame.
  5. Vacuum and wash his car or truck.
  6. Present coupons to help him organize and clean the garage, his workshop or his office.
  7. Present coupons for cleaning out his car, washing his car, or doing his share of the mowing.
  8. Offer coupons for a batch of his favorite cookies or his favorite meal.

Gifts for Men That Cost $25 or Less

If you have it in your budget, here are some great gift ideas that dad, grandpa, or others might love!

tent

For Camping

  1. Single Hammock
  2. Color-Coded Roasting Sticks
  3. Two Person Tent
  4. Biolite Portable Light  If you need to do things in the dark, the USB will also operate this light. NO batteries, no electricity required.

For Baseball

  1. MLB Team Logo Baseball You choose the team!
  2. Equipment Backpack
  3. Coffee Mug

For Football

  1. Light-Up Football So you can play in the dark!
  2. Parking Sign You choose the team.
  3. 3D Puzzle (like Legos) NFL team characters   You choose the character.

3 for Golf

  1. Golf Scope
  2. Tees
  3. Golf Ball Pick Up Tool

For Fishing and hunting

  1. Portable Fish Scale with Measuring Tape
  2. Cross Body Tackle Bag

For all Sports Fans

  1. Chair with its own shade

Great Tools

  1. 3-in-1 Laser Level, tape measure and bubble level with ruler
  2. Leatherman Multi-Tool
  3. Telescoping Magnet – Great for picking up spilled nails, screws and such!
  4. Nice Work Gloves
  5. Headlamp
  6. Survival Kit

T-shirts

  1. For Dads with a Sense of Humor
  2. For Dads with Gas and a Sense of Humor
  3. Me and Mini-Me Set

Coffee Mugs

  1. For a Star Wars Fan
  2. Awesome Dad
  3. New Dad

Fun Outdoor Games for Dad (and the Entire Family!)

molkky

  1. Kubb
  2. Lawn Bowling
  3. Yard Dice
  4. Ladder Ball 
  5. Molkky
  6. Washer Toss
  7. Ring Toss
  8. Frisbee Golf (Disc Golf) Set
  9. Floating Pong

Make a Meal!

What if you and the kids invite special men in your lives (and/or those who may often eat alone) over to your home for a meal? Get those kids into the kitchen with you! Let them help plan what food to serve, prepare the food, and clean up afterward. There is so much joy in working together to serve others!

Here are some great main dish ideas you might choose from:

Serve these with a salad, a veggie, a fruit, and a special dessert! The men in your life will love it!

What other ideas do you have to work with your kids to create a blessing for someone this Father’s Day?

Here’s to a great summer of fun with our kids! Here are other ideas we’ve shared so far:

Stay tuned for more fun Summer Kid Activity ideas!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!