334/365 Tire Swing Bench Monday!

Summer’s here! Which means airport runs for some families. Instead of packing for a stressful flight elsewhere, why not save money, enjoy a staycation and let your kids “fly” at home?!

I’ve spun myself silly for hours on end with this favorite childhood past time — the tire swing. And the best part aside from it being pretty easy to set up, is it really brings the neighborhood kids together. All you need is a strong and willing tree, a tire (save one from the junk yard), nylon rope or metal chain, and simple hardware.

Martha Stewart‘s team shares easy-to-follow directions with helpful reader’s comments including this one, “Tires have a tendency of leaving black on the kids clothes. If you will paint the tire with a marine grade urethane varnish this will not happen.”

Popular Mechanics offers a visual how-to for making a horizontally hung tire using tire chains for those who prefer hardcore Ikea-like building instructions.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, summer makes me nostalgic for long days spent manning lemonade stands, riding bikes, crafting with friends, and swinging into the sunset. If backyards are meant for family activities, tree swings are where fond memories are made. What are some of your favorite tree swing moments? Mine include, holding on for dear life, leaning all the way back and lots of loud belly laughter!

Bonus: Enjoy this sweet “Tire Swing” song by Kimya Dawson to get yourself in the mood for lazy summer days.

Observing my young cousins today, they’re all really good at being on trend, but none of them seem to actually make anything to share with their peers anymore. Their time is spent virtually hanging out with their buddies and ordering things versus actually hanging out in real time together, making things. Since summer’s about more  friends and family togetherness, I thought you might enjoy doing the following activities with your young roommates:

The Purl Bee: Molly’s Sketchbook: Friendship Bracelets – I spent hours after school weaving friendship bracelets for anyone who wanted to trade them with me. They were bright and colorful and pretty easy to make. They lasted a long time and were easy to replace. Best of all, the bracelets were very affordable jewelry and I always had something to match my favorite JAMS shorts and Rugby shirt!

lovelydesign: Making Personalized Children’s Buttons – Buttons are an easy and fun way to customize an outfit (or as previously mentioned, a favorite tote bag). lovelydesign made buttons for a birthday treat giveaway which I think makes a perfect any-day gift giveaway.

TLC: How To Make Beaded Pins – The easiest craft for kids who were all thumbs. All you had to do was stick beads on to safety pins and hand them over to your besties.

Do you remember the universal bead color code? Me neither. So I had to look it up! And exactly how important was it to receive these little sneaker decorations? Read Life as a Supermom‘s comical post and relive some teen angst.

Parents Magazine: Get Your Groovy On – How to Tie-Dye with Kids! – This is an outdoor activity both parents and kids love to do together. Parents love the flashbacks — not those kinds! And their sexy hippie years never seemed closer. For kids, it’s a fashion-science project: dye clothes, create spectacular patterns, and have lots of colorful and fun fashion for the year ahead!

If these activities made you nostalgic, then consider my work here, like, totally done and a great success!

Are there any crafts or DIY activities you like to do in your household? If so, please share them with us!

[Special thanks to my friend Fiel who inspired me to write this post!]