By Raquel Scharf-Anderson

EDITOR'S NOTE: Meet us here each day to play! As a supplement to the "Summer Survival Guide" we published in our July 2009 magazine, we will add one new fun family activity to the list each day during the month of July.

July 31: Family Memory Book

Place a notebook, pencils and crayons somewhere in your home where they can remain out and open. In our house, it is the dining room table. Ask every family member to write or draw something in the book each day. You can choose a topic — "something I enjoyed" or "something that I wonder." When each family member (parents, too) adds something, they can also read what the others have contributed. Take it with you when you go on vacation. Collect brochures, ticket stubs and photos to glue inside. You'll have a simple memory book for the summer that will last for a lifetime.

July 30: Car Bingo

Have you ever noticed that the car bingo sets sold in stores never seem to include the signs you actually pass in the car? We did, so we decided to make our own set based on the signs we see most often as we travel the Valley. First, we printed bingo cards from a free site online. Then, we took notice of what types of things we see most often — stop sign, library, mall, school, etc. We wrote the names or drew pictures in the squares on our cards. Then, I had them laminated at the copy shop. We use a dry-erase marker on the card and erase with an old sock. Now we actually have a shot at shouting, "Bingo!"

July 29: Pen Pals

Want to find a way to keep your child writing all summer long? How about a pen pal? Whether it is a cousin, old friend or the child of someone you reconnected with on Facebook, find someone around your child's age who is willing to exchange notes and pictures. Gather some fun pencils, paper, envelopes, markers and stamps in a pen pal box. Encourage your child to ask lots of questions in the first letter. Not interested in snail mail? Then let your child email their pen pal (with your supervision).

July 28: Road Trip @ Home

My children ask to do this one every summer. First, we work together to map out our street on Google Earth or another mapping website. Then, with map in hand (one for each child), we head to the car. (Don't forget the road trip snacks). We choose a direction to explore on our street and we attempt to drive it until it ends. Our own road curves and turns, which adds to the fun of locating where it picks up again. Last summer, we rode from Tatum to 130th Street, while this summer we plan to explore the westward drive. We get time to talk, play car games and notice different neighborhoods. It's a road trip without leaving home.

July 27: Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Kids are fascinated by different types of transportation. Each summer, we venture out to watch different ways to move around. This summer we will take a ride on the Metro Light Rail, visit Sky Harbor to watch planes from the parking garage, journey to Deer Valley airport to watch the planes take off and land (you can find plane identification sheets online) and head over to the fire station or the Hall of Flame museum to check out the fire trucks.

July 26: Word and Seek

Everyone knows the game Hide and Seek. Why not try hiding words instead of people? Create a list of words your child should know how to read or define and write them on notecards or Post-Its. I use different colors for each child. For little ones, you can put pictures of familiar objects or people they can identify, then hide them around the house. Send the children off to seek the cards and return to you with each one. Before finding another one, they must read or define the first one. This game uses up energy and the kids have no idea this fun game is helping them learn.

July 25: Ice Cream

Summer isn't complete for me without ice cream. Food allergies in our family prompted us to purchase an ice cream maker, which has made ice cream even more exciting. Whether you buy or make your ice cream, try these ideas to add some excitement to this treat.

• Most creative topping or mix-in award: give a prize to the family member who can create the best ice cream concoction.
  
• Rate it: Hold a taste test between various brands of one flavor or between flavors of one brand. Give each family member a spoonful and a rating sheet. Which flavor gets three cones up?
  
• Write the ice cream company. Ice cream brands love to send kids information on ice cream, its history and their flavors. They usually send along some coupons, too.

July 24: Cherry, Cherry

Our family loves eating wonderful, dark red cherries in the summer. However, none of us like the pits. So, we purchased a pitter from the local kitchen store. The kids have so much fun aiming the pitter at a bowl and squeezing out the pits. They will happily pit an entire package of cherries while secretly I am pleased they are working their hand (writing) muscles. Warning: Place several paper towels around the pitting arena. Cherry juice stains!

July 23: Beach Ball Math

Grab a beach ball from the dollar store. With a permanent marker, write math equations all over the ball (addition, subtraction, multiplication or simple division). Then toss the ball to a partner. When the partner catches the ball, they lift one of their hands and answer the question beneath. If you like keeping score, give a point for each correct answer. If not, just have a ball!

July 22: Scavenger Hunt

Here is a good hot-weather activity. Plan a scavenger hunt around your house. Write a series of clues that will send your kids scrambling throughout the house to find the next one. At each answer location, leave a new clue and one of their favorite sundae toppings — a jar of cherries, a can of whipped cream, candy-coated chocolates or whatever you like. The final clue should take them back to your kitchen, where ice cream awaits in a bowl.

July 21: Colorful Bubbles

Bubbles are always fun! You can make them even more interesting by adding some food coloring to your solution (outside use only). Bubble wands can be found all over your house if you think creatively. How about cookie cutters, rigatoni pasta, straws or a clean fly swatter? Too hot to blow bubbles? Not if you head into the shower! Blow bubbles in the tub or shower and simply wash away the sticky mess once you're done.

July 20: Crayon Cupcakes

We all have them. Those little bits of crayon that return at the end of the school year or are broken by little hands. These same crayon bits can be turned into colorful crayon cupcakes. First, have your children remove all paper wrappers from the crayons. Then, decide whether to make same-color-family or rainbow cupcakes and sort the crayon bits accordingly into cupcake tins. (Disposable aluminum tins work well.) Bake in a 250-degree oven, watching closely, until all the crayon bits are melted. Allow to fully cool before using. Then get busy making beautiful pictures and rubbings. Note: These cupcakes are not edible!

July 19: I'm on TV!

I remember spending all day engrossed in this activity with my friends. You'll need a roll of white paper, crayons or markers and a cardboard box (the TV). You will have to cut a rectangular hole in one side of the box to serve as the "screen." Have the kids create their own TV show by drawing scenes on the paper roll. Place the roll on one side of the box so the frames can roll to the other side. As you scroll it through, the artists can narrate the story. 2009 variation: Lend your kids the family video camera and a tripod. They will put together a tremendous performance, which you can watch later on your actual TV! If you're worried about your own camera, consider investing in a flip-style camera (available for under $100) — or volunteer to be the "hired help" and do the filming yourself.

July 18: Homemade Playdough

Play-Doh is fabulous and can be so much fun! But it has a funny smell — and dries out too quickly. Using this recipe, we make our own dough that lasts on the shelf for months. Leave it white or let your child choose a color (or get creative blending colors). Adding essential oils or extracts like peppermint or vanilla creates another enjoyable sensory experience. We use cookie cutters or a garlic press with our dough or shape it into letters to write words.

Homemade playdough
1½ cups flour
1/3 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1½ cups water
1½ tablespoon vegetable oil
Food coloring (approximately 30 drops or as desired; optional) and/or extract (vanilla or peppermint)

Mix ingredients together in a stove-top pan (first the dry ingredients, then the water, oil and food coloring if desired) and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens. Cook for four to six minutes until it starts looking like one continuous globular mass (after two to three minutes it just has some smaller, non-connected globs forming and lots of goo, but it will start clumping together if you keep stirring up the thickened parts off the bottom of the pan). Then dump/scoop it on a plate, let cool for about three minutes and then knead it into a ball. If it's still too sticky after forming into a ball, add a little flour. If you store the playdough in a re-sealable bag, it usually lasts a few months on the shelf. Makes about one pound of dough.

July 17: Making 10s

Waiting is no fun. We like to play Making Tens while waiting at a restaurant or the doctor's office. All you need are two dice (I keep a pair in my purse) and a paper with the numbers 1 to 10 written on it (the paper on the examining room table works great)! Roll your two dice and add them. Cross off the number you roll. Children will soon see that different combinations can add up to the same number. Keep rolling and crossing off until you cannot make any more. Then add up what is left and that is your score.

July 16: Tub Crayons!

I recently rediscovered tub crayons with my 6- and 9-year-old kids. Instead of using them at bath time like we did when they were younger, we get into the dry tub (fully dressed) to write a story on the wall. Each of us takes a turn starting the story and we pass the crayon, with each person adding a sentence. Younger children can add the illustrations. You can photograph the story to save it or just wash it away!

July 15: Foam Letters

I like finding new uses for old things. For example, I found a foam alphabet puzzle my children no longer use. Rather than get rid of it, I decided to use the letters as large stamps. Now my kids can practice spelling words or writing messages using the letters dipped into either paint or large ink pads.

July 14: Homemade Shrinky DInks

I grew up in the 1980s, when Shrinky Dinks were all the rage. Now I make these at home with my kids and recycle plastic at the same time. For this you will need: plastic #6 containers cut into large rectangles (by an adult), permanent markers, metal rings or key rings, a hole punch, foil, a cookie sheet and a preheated 350-degree oven. Now for the fun part! Let your kids design their plastic with colorful pictures or words. Then punch a hole in the plastic. Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Place into the oven and watch carefully through the window. Kids will love seeing their work shrink in less than two minutes. Remove carefully from the oven and allow to cool completely. Attach a ring or key ring and enjoy!

July 13: Author, Author

You'll want to head to the library for this one. Check out several books by one author. Spend a week reading only these books with your children and talk with them about what is the same or different about each. Write a story together modeled after one of the books or try making a picture in a similar style. For younger children Jan Brett, Eric Carle and Laura Numeroff are good authors to start with. For older kids, Patricia Polacco, Eve Bunting or Sharon Creech might be fun authors to try. A children's librarian can help you find other authors your children will enjoy.

July 12: Drop in the Cup

Young children love to drop, lift and squeeze, which is great because these motions build muscles that are the foundation to later writing skills. Look around your house for toast tongs, tweezers and eye droppers. Starting with the larger toast tongs, have your child pick up paper clips of various sizes and sort them into piles of a certain number or color. Then try the same trick with the smaller tweezers. Can they do just one at a time? Can they drop them in the cup? Now switch to colored water and the backside of a bathtub mat with an eyedropper. How many of those little suction cups can they fill? Can they dab them all dry with a sponge and start again?

July 11: Water Art

Water, agua, H20 — whatever you call it, water is so much fun in the Arizona summer! Why not copy the Chinese calligraphers who use water and brushes to practice brushstrokes? All you need is a bucket and a brush (or sponges in different shapes and sizes). Children can paint the house, the driveway or the sidewalk. They can write words, compute addition or multiplication problems or play hangman!

July 10: Divide and Conquer

We have lots of boxes of little toys in our house. You know, the ones from Happy Meals, green army men, farm animals and Little People. These things are great fun to collect but they are also enjoyable to sort. You can sort by size, shape, color, type, length or material. Create labels for each type. Grab some graph paper and color a square to document your findings.

July 9: Book Club

My son and I belong a a book club. All year long, we read the books together, talk about them over breakfast and meet monthly to talk about them with others. Summer is a great time to curl up with a good book, but good books are meant to be shared. To start a book club, all you need is one other family who would like to meet to talk about a book. You can read with your first grader or your sixth grader. Don't feel overwhelmed about what you will talk about. Just start with the basics like..."This book was great because..." or "I disliked..." or "This made me laugh."

July 8: Sew Easy

My daughter started sewing in her Montessori preschool when she was just 3 years old. We continue to sew samplers, which she likes to give as gifts. You will need porous cloth (like muslin), a quilter's needle, a small ring and your choice of colored needlepoint floss. Using a ballpoint pen, draw a simple shape (like a circle, star or a flower) on the cloth. Then thread the needle and demonstrate pushing the needle through the cloth, going "up to your nose and down to your toes." As the child gets better, add a button with large holes to embellish the center of the shape. This fun activity is great for hand-eye coordination and concentration.

July 7: When in Doubt, Measure

I have never met a child who doesn't like to measure. My children can spend an entire morning measuring cups of sand or rice in a plastic tub (put the tub on a sheet to aid clean-up). They will measure distances on a map with a ruler, measure their rooms with a measuring tape and draw up plans to rearrange furniture or redecorate. They also like to determine how much liquid will fit into various cups, glasses, bowls and containers. Pull out all your measuring materials, talk with your kids about units of measurement (inches, gallons) and put them to work measuring up everything in your house.

July 6: At the Car Wash

We own quite a few Matchbox-type cars and, as you know, cars can get rather dirty. Our family loves to set up a mini car wash. We line the floor with towels and fill two basins — one with soapy water and another with clean water. We take out a scrub brush (the kind we use to wash potatoes) and get to work cleaning, rinsing and setting our cars out to dry. Later, we sort them by type or color and open our own car dealership, "selling" them to all who are interested. My daughter likes her own variation on this game. She stands outside at our water table and washes every piece of doll clothing she owns. She soaks each piece, scrubs it and hangs it to dry on a line hung between two chairs. Sometimes, once everything is clean, we set up a store to "sell" the clothes to any dolls who are looking for new outfits.

July 5: Surface Tension

Try this science experiment. Fill a plate to the rim with milk. Add a few drops of food coloring. You'll notice the food coloring just hangs on top of the milk. Now, add a drop or two of dish soap. Watch! The soap breaks the surface tension and creates an incredible tie-dye design!

July 4: Fruit Kabobs

Make fruit kabobs because everything tastes better on a stick! Let your kids use the melon baller to prepare fruit for the kabobs. Then, have them create patterns (one green, two orange, one red...). They'll build math and fine-motor skills and when they're done they'll have a nutritious snack!

July 3: We Built This City

Recycling is important to our environment. It can also be fun! Children can design and decorate boxes headed for the recycle bin and create their own cities. Talk with them about what buildings are needed in a community (fire house, hospital, grocery store) before they begin. You'll be amazed at how carefully their buildings will come together and how many hours afterward will be spent playing with toy cars and people in the city they built.

July 2: Pins in the Bottle, Jar or Jug

This is an old birthday game that my children enjoy when they are bored. All you need are some clothes pins and a wide-mouth jar or bottle. Give each child five pins to drop into the jug. Each child takes a turn. The child with the most in, wins. This game can be played solo, with the child looking to get at least one more in each turn.

July 1: Photo Op

Some of the best pictures I have were taken by my children. Kids see things differently, so they capture images on camera with a different eye. We enjoy taking the camera along as we explore throughout the summer. We might take photos during a field trip — along the Metro Light Rail or during a visit to a local museum — or just around our own backyard. Then we print them on the computer and cut them apart, gluing them into a collage. Other times, we set the digital pictures to music, creating a slideshow on the computer. Or we pick one to print in black and white and paint with watercolors.

Raquel Scharf-Anderson is a teacher at Pardes Jewish Day School in Phoenix and the mother of Sam (9) and Tzipporah (6½).

Learn more

• Read "Summer Survival Tips" from our July 2009 magazine.
• Watch Raquel Scharf-Anderson's family demonstrate some of these tips in our "Raising Arizona Kids" segment on 12News.