preschool age summer activities

Sure, they are a ton of things to do. Check out your city's parks and rec programs. We do swim classes four days a week and dance classe one day a week. The classes are very reasonable and affordable. I am able to put all 4 of my children in several activites through mesa parks and rec. Other inexpensive things are the dollar movies, and skateland has some really good prices during the week. If you belong to a church, check to see what they have going on as well.You can meet friends at chuckie and cheese, and get passes for sunsplah. These are few of inexpensive things to do during the summer and a good way to stay cool while doing them.

A lot depends on what your daughter likes to do, at this age.
It also depends how organized and structured you are. I'm only a little bit of both, but when I was home with my daughter I tried to plan her days this way:
- she had one tv show (usually Dora) that she always watched at the same time
- she helped me cook or bake something
- we had play time outdoors after lunch and then nap (this was a really important part of the schedule for mom's sanity)
- we did an art project - sometimes this was something I planned and bought supplies for, like sculpey clay beads, and sometimes it was just coloring books or play-do.
- we played games like Hi Ho cherry O, Cooties, etc.
- Free play time for kiddo, mom gets time to play on the computer.
- Read a book or two if everyone will settle down

It's really important that when you are home with a pre-schooler that you build in time to take care of your self, because this kind of routine day after day can make you go a little crazy! Schedule some day trips and play dates with friends (preferably who have moms you know and like to chat with) and do things that are fun for you, too!

Susan & Neil Hampton have three spectacular children, Alexander, Isabel and David, plus one amazing teenager, Eric. Susan does community outreach for arizonamoms.com.
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” - Margaret Atwood

We love the summer reading program at the PHX libraries...you mark off books you read to your child and for every 6, they get a prize. After 36 or so, you get a free D-backs ticket for your child.
Since mine were 1 and 3...we've done it and they know when they go to "their" game how they earned their ticket!

Also - we love going to Little Gym summer camp in either Scottsdale or PV (Tatum/Cactus). You can sign up for only 1 day, 3 days, 2 weeks, whatever. Every week has a different theme, so you can pick something according to your child's interest. It is from 1-4 so a wonderful break for Mommy to get errands done! Mine like the animal week, when they bring in animals from the PHX Zoo, in addition to having gym time, games, arts and crafts and snacks. They also like the Police/Fire week when real fireman come in and speak and even let the kids see the truck, etc.

This year we're trying out a new afternoon day camp....Kids U at Hayden and Raintree. Same timing and flexible scheduling, but they include gymnastics, arts and crafts, dance, cooking lessons, snacks and even more! We can't wait to start.

Best deal in town? Harkins Summer Movie program. $7 for 10 different movies. What a deal. $14 for you and your daugther to get 20 movie tickets!

Happy2BMommy, is a stay-at-home mom who just turned 40 (argh!) with a 6 yr. old daughter and a 4 yr. old son, and is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Scottsdale.

I used to take my son to the splash parks near us, about the only outdoor place you want to go in the summer. We also did cheap summer movies at the dollar theatre in Tempe.

Susie is a discussion leader in the east valley for arizonamoms.com. She has two sons, ages 6 and 2.