J-U-L-Y = Family Fun

by Brenda Dedmon

Summer is a wonderful time to spend time with your family. Talk with your parents about doing special fun activities for family fun. The Bible verse Proverbs 17:22 reminds us that being happy is like good medicine. “A cheerful heart is a good medicine.” So, having fun is better than taking medicine, right? Ask your parents to help you plan a few or even all of the following activities for a funfilled July. Remember to take pictures of the fun adventures. • Jubilant

Plan a Jubilant July 4! Wear your favorite red/white/blue shirts. Decorate bikes, wagons, or strollers with red/white/ blue streamers and take a walk in your neighborhood. Use red/white/blue chalk and have everyone in the family create sidewalk drawings. Leave a sidewalk message for your mail carrier and put a snack in the mailbox for the next day. Purchase small paper flags and have a “Find the Flag” hunt. Hide the flags in your yard like eggs for easter and have simple fun prizes after the hunt. You may choose to invite your neighbors to celebrate with you. • Unity

Discuss with your family how to be a helper in your community to promote unity for everyone. Things you may choose to include are: donate children’s books to a shelter for women/children, volunteer at an animal shelter and play with the animals or read to the animals, purchase and take food to a community food bank, make cards and visit a senior living center. • Letter Scavenger Hunt

Provide each family member with a small notebook with their name handprinted on the first page. Then choose a week and have each family member find things that begin with the first letter of their names: objects, foods, animals, and nature items, and write it down in their notebook. Remind everyone while in the car going to all the activities like swimming lessons, ball games or just running errands to be on the outlook for things that begin with the first letter of their name. A bonus would be if you could take pictures of the items. At the end of the week, have a family dinner and share the items that each person found and where they saw the item. • Yummy

A family picnic at the park, beach or even your own backyard is a wonderful time for family fun. You may choose to pack a picnic with favorite foods/beverages for each family member or pick up a to-go order from a familyfavorite restaurant. Pack in travel games, a frisbee, and a ball, and do not forget to take pictures of your family fun time!

At the end of the month, make a memory book or a memory poster of your fun times using the pictures of your adventures. Write descriptions for each picture and invite your family to record their own statements of the adventures. Your memories of 2022 will be fun to remember in the future.

About The Author Written by Rev. Brenda Dedmon, retired Director of Children’s Learning Center, First Baptist Dalton, and an avid Bama fan.