The Hot List
1. Let’s Play Ball-Take the family to a Red Wings Baseball game. Don’t forget to check the schedule for promotions from free stuff to post-game fireworks the kids will have a great time and so will you. http://www.milb.com/
2. Witness a robot milk a cow at the Riedman Robotic Milking Center at Springdale Farm. Click here to learn more.
3. Pack up your lunch and head to your favorite outdoor space for a picnic. Click here to learn more.
4. Drive out on Rte 31F any Wednesday evening for Cruise Night at the Log Cabin Family Restaurant. 2445 W. Walworth Rd., Macedon. 315-986-9224
5. Blow Bubles in the Backyard. Make a homemade bubble wand by bending an old coat hanger and whip up bubble solution with 10 cups water, 4 cups dish-washing liquid, and 1 cup of corn syrup.
6. Scream at the top of your lungs from the top of the Jack Rabbit Roller Coaster at Seabreeze Amusement Park. www.seabreeze.com
7. Run through the sprinklers on a hot afternoon.
8. Take a daytrip to your favorite Finger Lake.
9. Master a new skill – try your hand at juggling, doing a magic trick or telling a joke.
10. Shake up your taste buds by mixing your favorite fruits into lemonade or iced tea.
11. Harken back to a bygone era with a carriage or wagonette ride at the Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum.www.grangerhomestead.org
12. Play dress up. (Mom, too!)
13. Pot a plant – pick out an herb, flower, or veggie and plant it in a container or your backyard and watch it grow all summer long.
14. Take a spin on the carousel at Ontario Beach. Click here to learn more.
15. Slide your toes into the sand at Charlotte Beach.Click here to learn more.
16. Visit a playground your family has never been to before.
17. Hunt for bargains and funky finds at thrift stores and garage sales. Take home your treasures home and fix them up with new paint and cool embellishments to jazz up a room or wardrobe. Make sure the kids help!
18. Celebrate Wiggle Your Toes Day on August 6th. Your toes will love you for it!
19. Ready for adventure? Check out Bristol Mountain’s new Aerial Adventures that offer zip lines, tight rope walk, rope ladders, and bridges; great from ages 7 years and up. For the little ones, 4 to 7 years the Kid’s Course will be available this summer as well.
20. Preserve the memory of a carefree summer – save mementos and create a summer scrapbook as it happens!
21. Teach kids business sense by helping them set up a lemonade stand. (Or if you have a backyard garden, try selling fresh-picked produce or flowers.)
22. Feast on a turkey leg fit for a king at the Sterling Renaissance Festival.(Saturdays & Sundays, July 5- August 17.)www.sterlingfestival.com
23. Make the most of a rainy day – go puddle jumping and make mud pies.
24. Learn a new language – even if it’s just a few words like greetings, numbers, and everyday objects.
25. Support the Community Project, part of this year’s Monroe County Fair July 31st – August 3rd. Bring knitted and sewn hats and mittens for the children of the Rochester Ronald McDonald House
26. Save a life – learn first aid and CPR. Check with your local Red Cross or community center for certification classes.www.rochesterredcross.org
27.See what it was like to live as a pioneer like Laura Ingalls Wilder at the Genesee Country Village and Museum (August 2-3).www.gcv.org
28. Paint your driveway with homemade sidewalk paint – mix 1 part water with 1 part cornstarch and add food coloring. (Note: some food coloring may stain; always test a small patch first!)
29. Learn about how transportation has changed and evolved over the last century at the New York Museum of Transportation.www.nymtmuseum.org
30. Drag out your favorite board game and sit down for family game day.
31. Learn five constellations and then identify them in the night sky.
32.Spend the day reading aloud, reading alone or sharing your favorite book on August 9th, Book Lovers Day.
33. Cool off with a water balloon fight in the backyard – invite the neighbors!
34. Stain those fingertips red as you pick berries at a local farm.
35. Bury a bit of the past with a time capsule. With geocaching technology, you’ll always know exactly where to find it in the future.
36. Write a poem – compose a limerick or try a haiku.
37. Take a walking tour of High Falls and Brown’s Race which features a panoramic view of the Genesee River 96-foot waterfall and spectacular gorge and a visit to an urban cultural park that celebrates Rochester’s earliest industrial area started during the Flour City era.
38. Cool off with a delicious dessert to celebrate Creamsicle Day on August 14th.
39. Re-purpose old crayons into new shapes by baking pieces in a muffin tin or oven-safe silicone mold at 350 degrees for 10 minutes (or until they’ve melted). Remember to remove paper from crayons before melting!
40. Gaze up at the sky to see the Perseids Meteor Shower. With a full moon on August 10, visibility will be somewhat limited. Peak viewing will be August 12-13 beginning at 9:30pm ET.http://www.chiff.com/science/perseids.htm
41. Invent your own holiday, complete with traditions and a small celebration.
42. Enjoy lunch outside at your favorite Park Avenue area restaurant. www.park-avenue.org
43. Visit your favorite animals at the Seneca Park Zoo. www.senecaparkzoo.org
44. Pack up the car for a daytrip to Buffalo, Syracuse or Ithaca and explore all they have to offer.
45. Catch a flick the retro way at the Vintage Drive-In in Avon. www.vintagedrivein.com
46. Pick out a classic work of literature like Oliver Twist, Little Women, or the Chronicles of Narnia and read a few pages aloud together each day as a family. By the end of the summer you’ll be finished!
47. Get crafty. Wait for a sale and stock up on craft supplies then spend a day letting your artistic side run wild.
48. Check out the yummy recipes at the GVP website www.rocparent.com/parenting/family-kitchen/ and cook up some fun!
49. Look to the stars on a cloudy day, or fly to the moon at the Strasenburgh Planetarium. www.rmsc.org/strasenburghPlanetarium/
50. Plan a fantasy vacation. Let kids select a foreign country then take guide books out from the library to research the country and plan a dream vacation. What kind of food do they eat there? What is their weather like? What kind of currency do they use? Kids will have a blast planning… all the while they’re learning!
51. Go to the Canandaigua City Pier Festival and enjoy free activities for the whole family on August 9 & August 10 with fireworks at 9:30pm on Saturday.
52. Re-connect with an old friend. Call up a gal pal who has kids that you haven’t seen in a while and set a play date for an afternoon at a local park, museum, or stroll along the canal.
53. Mix up some kid-friendly finger paint with 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/3 cup corn starch (or flour), and 2 cups of water. Heat in a saucepan until smooth. Add food coloring (or Koolaid) to color.
54. Meet and Greet a player from the Rochester Red Wings at the National Museum of Play on Monday, July 28.www.museumofplay.org
55. De-clutter – pack up 5 unused/unwanted clothing items or toys for each family member and donate them to charity. Reward kids for their good deed with an ice cream cone.
56. Embrace your wild side with a trip to a local farm to visit with animals like horses, goats, and sheep.
57. Write a letter. Not an email, text message or Facebook post. No character limits – just a good old fashioned handwritten letter. For Grandma, a faraway cousin, or even one of your online friends.
58. Take time to smell the flowers at the Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park in Canandaigua. www.sonnenberg.org
59. Make homemade popsicles by freezing your favorite juice with fresh fruit.
60. Snack on your favorite “festival food” like fried dough and funnel ckae at one of the many area street fairs.
61. Channel your inner Roger Ebert – read a book that was made into a movie, when you’ve finished the book watch the movie and compare the two.
62. Chill out with a frozen raspberry lemonade smoothie. Mix can of frozen lemonade concentrate with 2 cups of frozen raspberries and blend. Add water to get your desired taste and consistency.
63. See Rochester from a different angle – act like tourists and “visit” Rochester for the first time.
64. Eat pancakes for dinner – with fresh whipped cream and strawberries, of course!
65. Play games and have a ball at a local area fair or town carnival. Click here for list of festivals.
66. Pull out the beach blankets, mix up tropical drinks, wear sunglasses, grass skirts, leis, and enjoy a tropical vacation right at home.
67. Construct your own wooden architectural masterpiece with KEVA Planks at the Rochester Museum and Science Center’s KEVA Planks exhibit.
68. Find out what jobs bugs do for us at the Bug Works exhibit open now at the Buffalo Museum and Science Center. www.sciencebuff.org. www.sciencebuff.org
69. Have a family fun day where you play a round of mini-golf or go bowling.
70. Make homemade pizza. Prepare your own dough (or buy it) and add toppings to your heart’s delight!
71. Browse the many vendors at the Community Garage Sales and Superfleas at the Rochester Public Market every Sunday in August.www.cityofrochester.gov/marketevents
72. Confuse your family or friends and create a secret language that only you (and maybe a close friend) can understand.
73. Attend story time at your local library. Click here to learn more.
74. Pick up the next issue of GVP – it’ll be full of great reads and new activities for the whole family!
75. Be a star! Get some friends together and host your own neighborhood version of a favorite talent show like America’s Got Talent.
76. Give your summer a lift at the New York State Festival of Balloons on August 29 -September 1. www.nysfob.com
77. Host a birthday party for your favorite children’s book character. Include decorations, snacks, games, and, of course, a reading!
78. Watch birds – learn about ten birds native to the Rochester area then spend the summer bird-watching. See how many you can spot in your own backyard and around town.
79. Celebrate your heritage – honor your ancestors by doing one thing that is traditional.
80. Gather up your rarely used toys and host a toy swap.Invite friends and neighbors and swap your gently-used toys – everyone will go home with something “new!”
81. Challenge yourself with a backyard obstacle course.
82. Take a day trip to the NEW YORK STATE FAIR in Syracuse any day from August 21 to September 1. www.nysfair.org
83. Savor history with a visit to the Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse, America’s oldest surviving lighthouse on Lake Ontario.
84. Teach – someone, something!
85. Discover what makes a diesel engine go during Diesel Day at the NY Museum of Transportation on August 17.
86. Start a book club. Gather friends and family, create a schedule, and pick a book!
87. Lace up your hiking boots and hit one of the many trails in Rochester.
88. Use fresh-picked berries from your favorite local farm to make a pie, jam, or other taswty treat from scratch.
89. Bend and fold your own origami.
90. Explore ARTWalk, Rochester’s permanent urban art trail. www.rochesterartwalk.org
91. Splash the day away at Roseland Water Park. www.roselandwaterpark.com
92. Forget technology – instead of uploading to your cloud, lie down and look up at the clouds. See what shapes appear.
93. Indulge yourself and enjoy ice cream or frozen custard at your favorite ice cream shop or switch things up and go to a shop your family has never been to before!
94. Help others – spend some time volunteering at an animal shelter, hospital, or charity.
95. Stroll through one of Rochester’s favorite neighborhoods while taking in local art, music and food at the Park Ave Fest. (August 2 & 3.) www.park-avenue.org/events.html
96. Select fresh vegetables at your nearest farm market, then take them home and create a delicious dinner.
97. Dance, dance, dance! If a rainy day is keeping you inside, turn up the tunes and have a dance party!
98. The right dessert for you just might be a trip to the JELL-O Gallery in LeRoy. www.jellogallery.org
99. Make some music. Grab an instruments or make your own; sing and record it all on your computer or smart phone.
100. Make a healthy back-to-school treat while celebrating National Trail Mix Day on August 31st.
101. Relax and enjoy your time together as a family!
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