How to keep your kids cool for the summer.

It’s hard to sleep when it’s hot.

It’s hard to eat when it’s hot.

It’s hard to move when it’s hot.

It’s really hard to keep your cool, figuratively speaking, when you can’t actually keep cool.

It’s even harder when you’re a little person.

Summertime is wonderful for the most part. The sun, the beach, back yard cricket and barbeques. Though when it’s 40 degrees in the shade, those days are not wonderful.

When it’s that hot you need a little extra help keeping cool, because not even the pool will cut it.

Every Aussie can relate to this. Image: iStock.

Here are my favourite ways to keep the kids (and me!) cool indoors on a fiery hot summer's day.

Make icy poles in the morning, ready for an afternoon treat.

A great way to teach littlies patience (you have to wait for an icy pole to freeze after all), as well as giving them a cool treat during the hottest part of the day. Blitz up some fresh fruit (any combination will do, watermelon and orange, strawberry and mango, passionfruit and rockmelon) so that you have a nice smooth puree and pop into icy pole molds.

Make the bath tub a temporary indoor swimming pool.

This is all about how you frame your message, I'll be honest. If you ask your child if they would like to have a cool bath, the answer probably won't be what you were hoping for. But, if you ask your child if they would like to play swimming pools, you might find you get a different response.

Put the children in their togs, use your beach towels, find your beach toys or dig through your tupperware cupboard to find some "toys" they won't have used in the bath before, and pop on some surf tunes on your iPhone to recreate that outdoor pool vibe.

Make sure you’re supervising them at all times as you turn your bath into a temporary swimming pool.

It's all about how you frame your message. Image: iStock.

Enjoy some cool activities.

By about day three of being cooped up inside, everyone will be starting to have had enough. Your three year old and you.

This is a great time to join your local library, or see the latest hit release at the movies.

For older children, I strongly recommend ice sports. Ice skating is very common, but there are ice rinks in a few places where you can try other ice sports like ice hockey or curling (Boondall in Brisbane and Docklands in Melbourne).

Stay hydrated with fruit infusions.

It's really important to keep your children's fluids up. But getting children to drink water isn't always the easiest thing to do.

Make fruit infusions (and call it 'punch') by adding fresh fruit to your child's water bottle. Just one or two pieces of fruit will do. A strawberry or two, or a couple of pieces of kiwi fruit, or a slice of orange.

Here's some inspiration to get you started (post continues after gallery):

Play party games.

I know it's not your birthday, or anyone else's for that matter. But a miniature round of pin the tail on the donkey or pass the parcel is just the ticket for indoor fun.

For older children, set up a balloon volleyball court. Tie some yarn across the dining room table, remove any breakable objects and play "volleyball" with balloons.

Consider air conditioning in your home.

Installing an air-conditioner is the ideal way to keep the family home nice and cool all summer long. For a whole home solution, a ducted system allows you to cool multiple rooms or the entire house using just the one system. For efficient operation, in addition to weekly timers, a ducted air conditioning system can be set-up in zones allowing you to switch each individual zone (or area) on or off as required.

How do you keep your kids cool in summer?