let's go! GRAND summer fun! (week five) let's move, read, play & eat!
- Our Grand Lives
- Jul 10
- 10 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Thursday, July 10, 2025
We’re so happy to be back with you all!
However, before we get into today’s planned post,
we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the tragedy
that’s been on so many minds - including ours - this past week.
What’s taken place in the Texas Hill Country has been heavy on our hearts! There is no grief like that of a parent who has lost a child. As GRANDS, we’re also thinking of the many grandparents who find themselves facing their own depth of agony while at the same time doing all they can to hold up their own children and families in the midst of such unimaginable pain.. We pray that all those impacted, waiting, grieving may find strength from those surrounding them and from many, like us, who are lifting up countless prayers on their behalf, now and in the days ahead.
It’s difficult to switch gears,
but here we go…
On to our regularly scheduled content!
Summer is certainly in full gear!
Woohoo!
We’ve both been savoring family time these past ten days
with our Middles and our Littles!
Fourth of July gatherings,
a special birthday for a 4-year-old Little
and time at the lake
have all been celebrated in our worlds
and while we are a bit weary from all the fun,
we cherished each moment!
NOW, we are ready to turn our attention to the summer days still to come!
Many of us will be caring for the Littles in our lives during the next several weeks
and we all are looking for simple, fun and engaging activities
to keep them entertained!
As a reminder, here are the topics we’ve covered so far this summer
as part of our series,
Whether you are a GRAND like us,
a parent, an educator or a caregiver who spends time with Littles you love,
our goal - as always - is to share activities
that are easy to put together with supplies you might find around your home!
At the same time,
we’re also looking for activities that can quickly be adapted
to meet the interests of differing ages!
These are the kind of activities WE love to offer our Littles
and we hope you agree!
Today, we’re back with Week Five and this brand new post
filled with GRAND Summer Fun!
This week’s featured ideas included…
LET’S MOVE! Drumming with Noodles!
LET’S READ! - Adventure Books!
LET’S PLAY! Water Play!
LET’S EAT! - Pizza Logs!
Let’s not forget about our INSTAGRAM FAVES!
Each week, in addition to the highlighted activities,
we also share past Instagram posts, too!
Looking through our site we’ve rounded up two faves this week!
LET’S GO!
Did you know that Laurie loves drumming?
For years, I’ve taken a Community Center class called Pound
that uses weighted drumsticks and drumming
to work on cardio and strength building!
An outdoor Mother’s Day class with my kids last year!
Well, our Littles can benefit from drumming in the same way Laurie does!
Here’s an activity that Laura did with her students when teaching Summer School.
I typically had 12-15 children in my Summer School classes
and I’d have a class set of these “drumsticks” available for rainy day fun!
These were easy to make and once made,
I could use them, over and over again, as needed!
Drumming is a great outlet for getting energy out
and these exercises offer numerous benefits, too!
In addition to the cardiac and strength building that occurs,
drumming provides a creative outlet, improves motor skills and enhances focus!
PLUS… IT’S FUN
and a perfect inside activity on a hot or rainy summer day!
Last week, I made a pair for each of our three Littles
who would be at the lake with us!
MATERIALS NEEDED (to make 3 sets of “drums”)
• 2 pool noodles
• serrated knife
• duct tape & scissors
DIRECTIONS
• Cut the pool noodles into thirds.
• Wrap one end with duct tape.
TIME TO MOVE!
One of my favorite ways to use these drums is to project a Youtube video onto the TV screen (similar to how I did it in my Summer School classroom) and then let the Littles follow along. Danny Go is one of our favorites and he has several videos that use drumming skills!
This Color Beat Drum Along song is great fun!
Our Littles also love the Boom Boom Dinosaur Drum-Along Dance, too!
NO POOL NOODLES? NO WORRY!
The pool noodles make things extra fun
but are not needed…
Littles can use their hands, too!
And DON’T WORRY if your Littles have trouble following the video prompts,
especially the young ones!
Just have fun… and KEEP MOVING!
Something Littles LOVE to do is climb up slides. As retired kindergarten teachers, we both know (and completely understand) the reasons why most schools have definite rules about only going down slides. That’s why summertime provides a great opportunity to practice climbing skills! Find slides at playgrounds – or in backyards – where Littles can practice climbing up! Besides giving them the feeling that they are scaling a large mountain and building those muscles, “up climbing” builds practical lessons such as risk-taking, determination, self confidence and problem solving.
Laurie had to work with her older granddaughter, Little D, on this skill but her toddler Little, Little P, got it right away!.
Hint: Bare feet tend to stick better while climbing up
but remember, they also stick going down!
😉
You can find this Instagram post, from earlier this week, here!
When Laurie’s own children were young,
she would do this activity with them, using real pictures and paper!
These days, digital photos make it so much easier!
When you go on an “adventure” with your Littles, take lots of pictures.
Put them in a book style on your computer and print them out.
Staple the pages together and you have a personalized book for your child!
My husband and I went to the zoo with our Littles one Wednesday evening. I had the book ready for them when they came over the next morning! It was so easy! I ran a second book so 3-year-old Little D could “write” her own story. She could scribble write or dictate the words for me to write. These books are quite ragged now, but I saved the file so I can print it out again if need be!
I guarantee it - your Little’s adventure book will be read
over and over again!
Water play is the perfect way to celebrate summer with Littles… of all ages!
Usually, when we think of water and summer,
we think of time spent at the pool or the beach!
While these are, of course, wonderful adventures to share with our Littles,
it’s not always practical to drop everything and head that way.
Our Littles can, however, have just as much fun with
water sensory play activities that can easily be incorporated
-with a few buckets, large plastic containers, a kiddie pool or a water table-
right in our own backyards...
and the mess is easy to clean up and your Little and you
will stay a bit cooler on a hot and humid day!
Here’s three of Laura’s favorite ways to play in water with her Littles!
💧 PIPE CLEANER FISH!
For this activity, I bent and twisted pipe cleaners to fashion colorful fish! We put the “fish” in a tub of water and added a strainer to the tub. Our Little caught the fish, one by one! Older Littles can be challenged to catch the blue fish, then the pink one, then 2 fish, then 3 + 3 fish and so on!
NOTE: Do you see the rocks in the tub, too? Before we started catching pipe cleaner fish, we went looking for rocks and washed them in the water! We loved how shiny they were!
💧 COOKIE CUTTER FISHING!
Whenever our family is at the lake, fishing is definitely on our minds! So, here’s another fun fishing activity!
My great niece, Little M, used some of our play dough cookie cutters to be the fish swimming in the lake (a tub of water) and we made a hook out of a pipe cleaner for her fishing pole. Then our 3-year-old Little went fishing! At first she just had fun hooking the cookie cutters and bringing them out of the water. Then I asked her to catch the fish shaped like a bear or like a circle or like a duck! Little M enjoyed this new challenge, too!
💧 WASHING TOYS!
Well, this was fun and another super easy activity to set up! First, Little L and then Little M kept returning to this activity, changing out what was washed… toy fruits and veggies, a baby doll and finally favorite farm animals! We used a sponge to wash our toys but you could use a washcloth or a brush! You could even add a bit of soap for a bubbly experience! Use what you have! 😍
NOTE: You can also use a slotted spoon or spatula and transfer your toys from the tub of water to another container! This would be an excellent activity to support hand-eye development!
This activity is geared toward Littles who are preschool aged and older,
especially those who love to play with vehicles!
The car wash only takes a few minutes to pull together
and will provide your Little with lots of fun!
You can find this Instagram post, from 2024, here!
Here’s an easy snack or lunch idea…
definitely a fave of our Littles!
Littles of all ages eat these up!
Who are we kidding?
Everyone we know eats them up!
INGREDIENTS (for 6 pizza logs)
• 6 egg roll wrappers
• pepperoni slices (we used the mini ones)
• 3 or 6 string cheese sticks (see below)
• water
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp melted butter (optionial)
• ¼ tsp garlic powder (optional)
• pizza sauce/marinara sauce
DIRECTIONS
• Place an egg roll wrapper in front of you diagonally. Place 3-4 pepperoni slices (more if using the mini ones) on the lower half of the egg roll wrapper. Then put one cheese stick on top. (NOTE: We split the cheese sticks for our younger Littles, using only half of a lengthwise one for each pizza log.)
• Fold the egg roll wrapper over the cheese and pepperoni and then roll it up halfway. Then tightly tuck in the sides so the cheese doesn’t leak out. (You may even want to wet those corners to help with this.) Then roll up further before wetting the edges of the top corner of the egg roll wrapper to seal it up! Continue to make the pizza logs!
• Place the pizza logs in the air fryer, or an air fryer liner first, like shown in the photo. (You may need to make more than one batch, depending on how many pizza logs you plan to make.) Crack an egg into a small dish and whisk. Brush each pizza log with the egg wash.
• Cook at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes, flipping the pizza logs halfway to brown evenly.
OPTIONAL: When done, you can brush melted butter mixed with garlic powder over the pizza logs while they are still warm. NOTE: We ultimately omitted this step as the pizza logs were already a bit greasy from the melted cheese and pepperoni inside them. We actually put the pizza logs on a paper towel when they were done cooking and patted them a bit to remove any excess oil before serving.
Serve with warm pizza or marinara sauce.
ENJOY!
We wish you a great weeked/week ahead,
one filled with laughter and love
and, if you’re lucky, a few snuggles from your Littles!
If you know of anyone else who might enjoy our content,
(especially other GRANDS who love spending time with their own Littles)
please share our site with them.
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We always welcome your comments
AND
we especially love it when you share your insights and ideas with us!
Please feel free to comment at the end of this post or email us directly at
We’ll be back next Thursday with more GRAND Summer Fun!
In the days ahead, our GRAND hearts will continue to hold Texas in our prayers.
May we never forget the lives that mattered
and the many families that must now carry on.
In times of sadness and uncertainty,
these words have brought comfort…
💗 We are delighted to join the following link up parties and blog hops! 💗
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It looks like a wonderful summer. You all know how to have a lot of fun. I'm featuring your post tomorrow at The Crazy Little Lovebirds link party. :)
Steph@CrazyLittleLoveBirds
So many wonderful fun ideas... Looking forward to the time when I can do things like this with my grands...Thanks so much for all your visits...I am playing catch up on responding to comments....I hope you are staying cool!!
Hugs,
Deb
Debbie-Dabble Blog
So many lovely ideas! The pizza rolls look tasty. Coming from a country of brokenhearted people, it is good that you mentioned Texas. So dreadfully sad what happened there.
Everything looks like so much fun! I would like to tell you thank you for your thoughts on Texas. I don't think I have to say it, but this has really paralyzed us in so many ways. So thank you for thinking about Texas and have a kind heart. Melynda @scratchmadefood! Visiting from #MMBC
Such and cute and crafty ideas! :)