Surviving Summer with your littles means being a little bit crafty and a lot a bit patient, but we think we have discovered a few ways to make those long Summer days easier on you. These 15 tips and tricks will elevate your days of carefree, no-school livin' from hot and stressful to, well, hot and not stressful. Sorry, we can't do anything about the weather.

Use a cupcake liner to catch popsicle juice.

The only thing worse than a leaky popsicle is the residue that it leaves all over your hands and clothes. Pierce the popsicle stick through a cupcake liner, and voilà — no more drips!

Mix a cup of cinnamon into your child's sandbox.

The cinnamon naturally repels ants and other bugs for a scream-free outdoor play session.

Use a cupcake liner to keep bugs out of drinks.

With Summer comes lemonade and other sugary drinks that bugs love diving into. Punch a hole through a cupcake liner with a straw and create a lid for any type of cup.

When packing for a trip, pack outfits in baggies so they're ready to go.

For littles who don't mind Mama picking out their clothes, preplanning outfits for a vacation can be a huge help. Seal them in individual bags with accessories, and make getting dressed less of a headache.

Don't turn on the oven.

Don't add to the heat by turning on the oven! Take a look at our Summer crockpot recipes [1] and leave the scorching temps outside where they belong.

Remove the stem and middle of a strawberry with a straw.

Instead of chopping off half of the strawberry, push through the bottom with a straw and remove the stem easily.

Remove a splinter without tweezers.

Mix a little baking soda and water, put it over the splinter, and place a Band-Aid over it. In about an hour, the splinter will be ready to push out with ease!

Make aloe cubes for sunburns.

On those rough days when they wriggle out of your sunscreen grasp before they're completely covered, cool down their sunburns with a frozen aloe cube. Sweet relief!

Cut a watermelon into rectangles, not triangles or half-circles.

Even though everyone loves pretending their half-circle watermelon slice is a big smile, big pieces of watermelon are hard to eat and the juice gets everywhere. Cut it up for little hands and mouths by slicing it tiny, and let them eat their watermelon rectangles to their heart's content!

Prevent spills with kiddie straws.

Turn a kiddie straw upside down inside a juice cup to prevent straws flying through the lid and spilling all over the place on the inevitable drop from the high chair or car seat.

Roll up clothes to pack for vacations.

When you roll your clothes, they take up less space, and older kids who dress themselves can see what they have at a glance so they won't take out and destroy an entire pile to find their favorite dinosaur shirt.

Store rainy-day activities in a dish caddy.

Art supplies and books stack perfectly in dish caddies, and the utensil holder works wonders for crayons, scissors, and pencils. It can be easily moved around and keep kids busy on boring, rainy days for hours.

Stop mosquito-bite itching with a warm spoon.

Warm a spoon under hot water and hold it on the bite. The heat destroys the protein that causes the itchy reaction, and you have one less irritated and scratchy kid on your hands.

Keep your kids safe with a daily photo.

Wherever you go with your family this Summer, snap a full-body shot of your kids in the morning so that if anyone were to go missing (hopefully this never happens), you have a completely accurate and up-to-date photo of your kid, in the exact outfit they're wearing.

Take the kiddie pool inside when it's too cold for a swim.

An inflatable pool is just as much fun in the living room! Give your kids a new perspective and keep them busy by throwing some of their indoor toys into the pool on a rainy day.