DIY Life

Summer vacation keeps rolling along. How long until your kids go back to school? Are they spending too much time lounging on the couch? Here are a bunch of summer projects to trick your kids away from their air-conditioned sanctuary and out into the great outdoors of, er, your backyard.

Okay, okay. So the backyard is not the great outdoors. True. But the main thing is to get the kiddos out in the fresh air, learning about nature, and learning about the noble pursuit of maintaining a garden.

Getting their hands dirty
1. Ask them to help with the weeding. Pay them a small amount of pocket money for their time.

As I was driving along our country roads today on my way into town, I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road. Our leaves are such beautiful vibrant colors of red and orange that the beauty of the trees literally took my breath away. I started thinking about all the falling leaves and how much fun it would be to rake them up and then tumble into them with my little girl. It used to be such fun as a kid, and I must confess, it is still a blast.

Since the calendar says it is now fall, it is time to start thinking about making all the Halloween decorations and putting them out in the yard. Such a decoration would be a scarecrow. Scarecrows are so easy to make and can be put out now and left up until the first day of winter. Join me after the break to make your own sitting scarecrow.

If you have older denim or blue jeans lying around, why not put them to good use instead of donating them or selling to a thrift store? Instead of hopping over to a local Kohl's or Pottery Barn for Kids outlet, you can make your own denim come alive again in several ways.

Some of the denim transformations will take a little skill, but think of how cool some of these items would be after turning that old pair of Levis into: