July activity ideas, week by week

July gives you the Fourth of July, a whole month for ice cream, International Moon Day, and a day for friendship. Here is a plan for each week of July: one coloring page with its Story Starter, plus two or three low-cost ideas, each with a seated version.

Nothing here needs a budget line. Most of it needs paper, a few supplies from the kitchen, and a table people like to sit at.

The month at a glance

• Fourth of July: Sunday, July 4
• National Ice Cream Month: all of July
• National Ice Cream Day: the third Sunday in July
• World Chess Day: July 20
• International Moon Day: July 20, the anniversary of the first moon landing
• International Day of Friendship: July 30

The holiday date above is always this year's, so you can print this list for the bulletin board and leave it up.

Week by week

Week 1: The Fourth of July

The Fourth always falls in the first week, and the list above shows this year's weekday. Plan the coloring hour for the day before, so the finished pages can go up on the wall in time for the cookout.

Color the Stars and stripes hat, from the Fourth of July pack. Print it in Regular and Bold. Bold has thicker lines and fewer tiny details, easier to see and easier to finish. Hand out a page or two, and set the red, white, and blue pencils in the middle with every other color beside them.

Read the Story Starter once, aloud, to the whole table: "How did your town celebrate the Fourth of July?" Then go back to your own page and wait. A band in the park, a picnic by the lake, sparklers in the yard: follow the most specific thing anyone says.

Also this week:

• A flag walk. Hand out small paper flags, play a march, and walk one lap of the hallway together. Seated version: sit in a circle and wave the flags in time, then pass one big flag around the circle on each chorus.
• A paper chain for the door. Cut red, white, and blue paper strips and glue them into a chain. Seated version: everyone makes links at the table, the chain grows from hand to hand, and a staff member hangs it.
• Root beer floats. Set up a float stand where people come up and build their own. Check diet lists with the kitchen first. Seated version: bring the tray around and build each float at the chair, one scoop at a time.

Week 2: Ice cream and the clothesline

July is National Ice Cream Month, so this is the week to make some.

Color the Clothesline, from Summer Days. Its Story Starter is "Did you hang laundry on a line, or use a dryer?" It sounds small, and it isn't. Wash day, wooden pins, sheets snapping in the wind, a mother who ironed everything: one clothesline opens a lot of stories.

Also this week:

• Ice cream in a bag. Put half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla in a small zip bag, then seal it inside a bigger bag of ice and salt. Take turns shaking it until it sets. Seated version: pass the bag around the circle, ten shakes each, wrapped in a towel so cold hands stay comfortable.
• An ice cream vote. Write three flavors on a poster and let everyone vote with a sticker. Serve the winner on Friday. Seated version: carry the poster and the stickers around the room, so each person votes from their chair.
• A clothesline gallery. String a line across a wall and hang the finished pages with clothespins, like wash on a Monday. Seated version: string the line low along the edge of the table, and pass the pins and pages down so everyone hangs their own.

Week 3: The moon, a game, and Ice Cream Day

July 20 is both International Moon Day and World Chess Day. National Ice Cream Day falls this week too, on the third Sunday.

Color the Symmetrical moth, a night creature drawn as a pattern. Its Story Starter fits a week about the moon: "On summer nights, were you out on the porch or inside?" Porch nights bring out fireflies, radios, neighbors, and the sound of a screen door.

Also this week:

• A checkers morning. Set up checkers or chess boards on several tables and let players move from table to table. Seated version: players stay where they are and the boards move instead. A big board on a lap tray works for anyone who'd rather play from an armchair.
• Moon watch. After supper, sit out on the patio and look for the moon. Seated version: turn the room lights down, sit by the biggest window, and pass around printed photos of the moon.
• A sundae bar for Ice Cream Day. Set out two flavors and three toppings and let people line up. Seated version: carry the toppings around on a tray and let each person point to what they want.

Week 4: Friendship Day

July 30 is the International Day of Friendship. Spend the week on old friends and new ones.

Color the Butterfly and cosmos, from Butterfly Garden. Its Story Starter is "Are you a letter writer, or more of a phone-call person?" Some people kept every letter in a shoebox. Some called home every Sunday night. Either answer leads to a story about a friend.

Also this week:

• Postcards to a friend. Buy a stack of plain postcards and write to a friend or family member. Walk together to the mailbox to drop them in. Seated version: a staff member takes dictation for anyone who'd rather talk than write, and collects the cards in a basket.
• A friendship tea. Invite each person to bring a friend from another hall or another table for tea and something sweet. Seated version: bring the tea to a small table in someone's room and invite the friend there.

Ten questions for the month

Read one at a time, to the whole table, and wait. None of them has a wrong answer. Each one asks about a story or a preference, not about whether someone remembers, so anyone can join in at any point. Pick one for the start of a meal, the end of a sing-along, or the quiet ten minutes after coloring.

1. What did the Fourth of July sound like where you grew up?
2. Who made the best potato salad in your family?
3. Which ice cream flavor would you pick if you could only have one all summer?
4. Where's the best place you ever sat to watch fireworks?
5. Where did you go to cool off in the summer?
6. Who taught you to play checkers, cards, or another game?
7. What could you see from your porch or front step on a summer night?
8. Who was your best friend when you were ten, and what did you do together?
9. What was the first thing you did on the first day of summer vacation?
10. What was your first summer job, and what did you buy with the money?

New in the library this month

New pages arrive on the 1st of each month, in time for next month's calendar, and that morning's email lists what's new. Already in the library for July:

• The Fourth of July pack: Party balloons and a drum, Stars and stripes hat, Stars-and-stripes butterfly, and Fourth of July star.
• From Summer Days: A cool drink at the beach, Sailboat, and Clothesline.

Every drawing comes in Regular and Bold, with a Story Starter on the page. See the Fourth of July page for a coloring hour on the day itself, or the whole Fourth of July pack.

If you'd like to try it first, the First Pack is six drawings with a Story Starter on each, free, with your organization's name on the cover.