• Make a Frisbee golf course in your back yard. Draw large numbers on paper plates and tape them to trees or shrubs to designate each "hole," which players must hit with the Frisbee.

• Backyard bowling: Spray-paint 10 2-liter soda bottles to make bowling pins. Put a little water or sand in each to weigh it down. Turn your driveway or patio into a bowling lane, and use a rubber ball to knock the pins down.

• Have a jacks tournament. Teach your kids this game from your childhood.

• Observe what's living under your feet. Sit down and mark out a 1-square-foot area of grass; have your child do the same. Name all the living things you can find. Who spotted more items?

• Preserve a spider web. Find a deserted spider web and dust it gently with talcum powder. Place a piece of black construction paper in a cardboard box; coat the paper with hair spray. While the hair spray is slightly tacky, mount the web onto the paper. Coat the paper with acrylic spray to preserve the web.

• Make homemade potpourri. In a metal colander, place flower petals, small pine cones and bark and leaves from pine, oak or eucalyptus trees. Place on top of water heater to dry. Add drops of perfumed oil. Remove the lid of a shallow box, decorate it with gift paper and fill with potpourri.

• Go on a zoological scavenger hunt. Using facts from an encyclopedia, your children can create a list of animal riddles for each other to solve. Then take a trip to the zoo. Have them exchange lists and try to identify the animals by matching the riddle clues with information about the animals.

• Make a sponge garden. Soak a sponge in water and place it in a shallow dish. Sprinkle with alfalfa or rye grass seeds. Keep moist and watch it grow.

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Source: "The Family Manager's Guide to Summer Survival," by Kathy Peel