While it isn’t summer yet, at least here in the northern hemisphere, it will be hot and sunny before you know it and those damaging UV rays will be taking their toll on your once fair skin yet again this year. Besides drying out your skin and parching it so that you have premature wrinkling, too much exposure to UV radiation is one of the leading causes of skin cancer and why you should do everything in your power to protect your delicate skin. This year, why not have a bit of fun while you’re at it? Here are three fun and easy ways to protect your skin from harmful UV rays.

1. Build Your Own Shade Screen

Shade screens are actually quite fun to build. All you need is some PVC pipe, a cutter, and a couple of shower curtains. Depending on what shape you want to give it, you may need some connectors. Some people simply run the PVC pipe through the hem and top loops to make the shade screen and then bend it to form an arc, under which you can safely sit. If you want to build a little room, those connectors and the PVC cutters will come in handy. If you’ve never cut PVC pipe before, it’s a super-easy process that you can learn on The Plumbing Info website where they’ll show you various ways to make the cuts.

2. Outlandishly Decorated Panama (Wide Brimmed) Hats

Now then, almost everyone has a wide-brimmed straw hat that they wear out on extremely sunny days, but how many ladies take out the hot glue gun and add all kinds of odd decorations on their hats? From bows and ribbons to flowers, buttons, jewels and whatever you can think of, cover your hat with crazy decorations that will set you apart from all the other crazy ladies on the beach. At least the silly hat will be calling attention to you and not your parched, leathered face that looks like you’ve spent several decades in the desert!

3. Sunscreen Face Paints

Another fun way to protect your skin is to cover your face with paint! They now have sunscreen face paints in all kinds of bright colors that have a very high SPF value so that you will literally be blocking all those harmful rays. Who says you have to settle for rainbow hair? This year, paint your face to complement your hair. Whether you want to go out with a tie-dyed splash of color on your face or have a friend paint a scene, you can add a touch of art to that protection you need when going out in the brightest hours of the afternoon.

Who says that you can’t have fun while protecting your skin from those damaging rays? You can do everything from wearing oversized shades with a bandana wrapped around your face, bank robber style, to wearing the most outlandish straw hat anyone has ever seen. The ultimate purpose of this exercise is to keep you thinking ‘protection.’ And, with all the ways you can have fun shading your face, how can you forget?