The mercury is rising and you’rereally starting to sweat. What are you gonna do to beat the heat?
You can stay inside all day flicking channels with the remote. Or you can have some fun and try our suggestions for staying cool when it’s hot, hot, hot.
HIT THE POOL. Consider getting your friends together for a pool bash. Plan some games: a little water polo, inner tube and float races or maybe even an underwater scavenger hunt. Or grab the masks, fins and snorkels and dive for hidden treasures at the pool bottom.
No pool around? Consider the garden hose and sprinkler the next best thing. Check out the different attachments available for enjoying some wacky water fun. Or play tag with Super Soakers or squirt guns.
QUENCH YOUR THIRST. Try making your own snow cones with your favorite fruit drink, paper cups and crushed ice (get the folks’ OK and use a blender). Or make your own Popsicles. Just get a package of Kool-Aid, a package of Jello, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, 3/4 cup of hot water and 3/4 cup of cold water. Mix the dry ingredients together. Measure 6 tablespoons of the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add hot and cold water, pour into Dixie cups and freeze. The remaining dry ingredients can be stored in an airtight container to use later.
CHANGE CLIMATES. If you can’t stand being outdoors, consider keeping your cool indoors. Indoor ice skating rinks do a brisk business in the summer. A skating party in July is a cool way to get together with friends. Or you could hit air-conditioned spots like a library, museum or mall. Or why not kick back at the movies? Mark Mazrimas, general manager at Ford City Cinema 14 in Chicago, says the theater temperature is generally kept at about 68 degrees. On a 90-degree day, a movie theater can feel like the Arctic.
RENT COOL VIDEOS. Try some Christmas flicks or anything with lots of snow scenes. (We suggest “Groundhog Day.”) And if you can send a sib or parent out for the video, you don’t even have to venture beyond your front door!
GO FOR A QUICK FIX. You don’t need much time or money for our final suggestions. In fact, you hardly need to move a muscle. We’ll point you in the right direction:
– Cool water cools the body. Fill a bucket with cold water, soak your feet, and your whole bod will feel better.
– Run your wrists under very cold tap water, and wash your
face and neck with a cold washcloth. Or, put a piece of ice on your wrist or temples.
– Keep wrung-out washcloths in the freezer. Take one out to wash off with.
– If you’re outside, spritz yourself with a spray bottle and let the breeze cool you down.
– Vicky Edwards
