Follow

The summer solstice will soon be upon those living in the Northern Hemisphere. Those in the Southern Hemisphere have their summer solstice in December. Just what is summer solstice? It is a period or time of the year, in which, the daytime hours are at their longest and the night time hours are the shortest. The day that this takes place is June 21st. This is also known as the first official day of summer.

Solstice is a Latin term that simply means the sun stands still. In days prior to the Solstice, the sun rises higher and higher each day, until it cannot reaches it’s standing point.

The summer solstice is very significant to many religions as there is many religious days of celebration during the month of June. Some of these celebrations include; Alban Heriun, celebrated by ancient Celts, Yin forces are celebrated by ancient Chinese, ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer, ancient Romans celebrated Vestalia, the Essenes, an ancient Jewish group, also celebrated summer solstice, along with Christians, who celebrate with a feast day, honoring St. John the Baptist.

To many of those with school age children, the month of June signifies the end of a school year. This, of course, means that parents are busy scrambling trying to find daycare, recreation centers, or even libraries that will offer some sort of planned activity to keep kids occupied.

Arts and Crafts is a popular activity for young children and you will be amazed at how little it costs to help the little ones get creative. Construction paper, safety scissors, children’s glue, and washable markers are mainstays of a craft bin for kids. Save some money by recycling materials from your home to use for craft materials. Plastic straws, clean lids off of jars, elastic bands, egg cartons, cotton balls, onion netting, wool scraps, unwanted material from clothes, and old buttons are just a few things you can round up to put in the craft bin for young children to spend some time and get creative.

Playing video games is also pretty popular. Be prepared to spend some bucks on getting them the latest release for their gaming platform.