Are you ready for Summer?
No early morning rush to school. Lots of lie-ins. Late nights. Ice Creams and Beach balls.
And then there are the kids. Oh yes, the kids.
What. Are. We. Going. To. Do. With. THE. KIDS???????????
Personally, I get into the mindset that these 2.5 months should be the time for school children to be left to their own device.
Look. In schools, they are usually told what to do, what to learn, when to go to the toilet (?) and when to play.
Here’s an opportunity for them to learn to plan their day.
So let’s give them the luxury shall we?
Let’s not bother getting a long list of kids summer activities. Let them figure it out themselves.
It’s going to be a learning experience for them and we might even have more time to sneak in a glass of wine or two during the day.
Ok. That’s it. That’s my brilliant idea on how to look after kids this summer.
Genius, isn’t it?
Thank You Very Much….
So Why are you still here???????????????
Ok. I know I know.
That’s just too much of a gamble isn’t it?
I know that for us “modern parents”, we like to have activities ready just in case all hell breaks loose.
So if my brilliant idea is not brilliant enough for you, here are 197 kids summer activities for kids that everyone in the family will enjoy.
A Note on the “Dreaded” I AM BORED
Contents
“I am bored” annoys me no end.
There are a hundred and one toys in the house. There are books to read. There’s a street outside to play in.
Whenever my son says “I am bored”, my response is always,
“That’s not for me to solve. It’s yours. You can either find a way to play and enjoy your toys or you can just sit there and stare in space and be thankful of your luxury that is boredom – you might even come up with an idea to save the world that way”.
At any rate, I like the idea of the I am Bored Jar for times when you feel a tinge of “guilt” and feel some responsibility to get them out of their boredom.
This glass jar gives children ideas of things to do. I especially like Wellness Mama’s jar which also includes household chores. As much as possible, get a list of things that they can do themselves without you joining in as well.
Top 10 Summer Activities We Are Definitely Doing This Summer
1) Bubbles, Bubbles and More Bubbles.
What is it with bubbles that fascinate both children and adults?
Playing with bubbles is always a staple in our house, even more so in the summer.
Toddlers love this activity. They are quite happy to blow and pop small bubbles all day every day!
Older children usually have more fun making giant bubbles.
Bubble activities you can do with kids.
Bubble Worm: Cut the bottom half of a plastic water bottle. Cover the hole with cloth or an old sock. Place securely with a rubber band. Dip the cloth in bubble solution. Blow on the other end. Voila. Bubble worms
Giant bubbles: Make your own giant bubble “wand” and watch the bubbles fly away. Here are some ideas for making the perfect giant bubble solution.
Bubble race – blow a bubble on a wand. Children race around the yard. The child with the bubble that doesn’t pop wins.
2) Make Slime, Goop, Gak Call It Whatever You Want
I find that toddlers and preschoolers can spend a long time playing with this Pinterest darling, the slime
The basic slime recipe includes only a combination of water and cornstarch (oobleck). But you can vary this accordingly using other ingredients for a different sensory experience. Ingredients often used include borax, glue, glitter, sand, and salt for a different consistency and added texture.
- basic slime recipe (uses borax)
Video: Here’s a playlist of various slime recipes. It includes recipes of slime using liquid starch, a Nickelodeon slime using jello and baby shampoo, one without borax but with a liquid laundry detergent and of course, the most popular slime recipe with borax.
3) DIY Kite Making / Fly A Kite
I remember spending many hot days when I was little flying a kite in the field. And what pleasure it is to make your very own kite and watching it fly.
4) Go for a picnic or picnics.
Or have a picnic inside the house if it’s not a good day. Get the picnic blanket on the floor and eat your food there. Fun for kids and the dog too
Try going to different parks in your area. Don’t forget to take some outdoor toys to keep the kids entertained.
5) Make a fort, den or a playhouse.
Do it outside in the garden or inside the house. You may have to brush up on your knot making skills if you’re making it outside or you can buy a Robeez den maker and you’re sorted. Easy to build and clear up.
6) Go to the library and borrow some good books. Or find some good Kindle reading material.
Then make them a special reading nook in your house where they can go to read and explore the world their books open up for them…. BAM… 15 minutes free quiet time for you (hopefully)
7) Make a Diary or A Summer Scrapbook
Good idea for older kids – a diary of their summer activities. Or anything they fancy writing or drawing about.
8) Climb a tree.
9) Learn to dance. Zumba.
My son was never into dancing – which is strange because practically every kid in his classroom has Flamenco moves to show off at the mere hint of a song.
However, since he learnt that Hogwarts kids need to learn to dance for the ball, it has become much easier to coax him to dance to the music. Zumba should also be fun for children to dance to.
10) Play with water balloons.
And if you like joining in the fun, you can even be that mum who left a bucket full of water balloons at the door with a note saying “These are your water balloons. I am armed with a water gun and will shoot!”
That sure is going to be one fine day for both of you.
Some kid activities you can do with water balloons
- Water balloon fights
- Water balloons basketball
- Spray freeze tag. You’ll need some space to run around in. But so fun. .
And the Rest of the 122 Fun Kids Summer Activities
Looking for even more fun activities to do with kids this summer? Here are some of our recommendations!
Water Fun
11) Make cork sailboats and race them in a tub, a nearby stream or no. 12
12) Make a foil river in your backyard. Then race sailboats or soap boats.
13) Backyard apple bobbing. Who says they’re only good for Halloween?
14) Fill a big basin with water and toys. It’s a good sensory experience and I bet you little ones will be inside that basin in no time too. What a way to cool down on a hot summer’s day.
15) Hang water balloons and hit them like piñatas.
16) Backward water relay.
17) Learn to make different kinds of paper boats.
18) Do the water sponge race. Have a bucket of water on one end and use a sponge to transfer the water to the other end.
19) Make water blobs. We’ve never done this so I think this should have a place in the must – have things to do in our house this summer.
20) Do a little experiment by lifting ice cubes.
21) Have fun playing the Angry Birds inspired water balloon game
22) Find any body of water. A lake, a river or even a small stream. My one can stay there for ages playing with the mud, looking for worms, making a dam.
Learn Something New
23) Learn to type.
24) Learn to code.
25) Learn to make movies.
26) Learn how to take good photos.
27) Learn to sew.
28) Learn to crochet.
29) Learn to paint.
30) Learn to play the guitar.
31) Learn how to skip
32) Improve handwriting.
33) Learn how to read a map. Go somewhere with a map and get your child to do the map reading. Or have a treasure hunt using a map.
34) Learn how to make shadow puppets
35) Learn how to draw.
36) Learn some new jokes.
37) Learn to skip stones.
38) Learn to do the hula hoop
39) Learn to roller skate
40) Learn to ride a bike.
41) Recite a poem by memory.
42) Learn how to skim a stone.
43) Raise butterflies and know all about their life cycle.
44) Make a worm farm
45) Make an ant farm
46) Learn how to roller skate
47) Learn how to ride a skateboard
48) Learn to tie knots
49) Learn origami
50) Learn how to shoot an arrow
Make/Build
51) Make a toy parachute.
52) Make robot cars. or a solar powered car
53) Make different kinds of Paper Airplanes.
54) Make a waterfall
55) Make a marble run.
56) Make a mini-garden
58) Build a tower using marshmallows and toothpicks. Learn about how different structures are made.
59) Undo a lego and rebuild it
60) Make a lego car
61) Build a boat, car, castle and other structures using empty boxes.
62) Build ice castles
63) Build a bridge
64) Build a robot.
66) Build an axle racer
67) Build a catapult
68) Build a bridge:
69) Make paper airplanes
Sports & Games
70) Do backyard bowling
72) Backyard skittle
73) Family Jigsaw
74) Pictionary/Actionary
75) Bean bag toss
76) Catch a water balloon or egg
78) Kan Jam (for older kids)
79) Hit the ball
80) Three legged race
81) Doughnut eating by a string
83) Marshmallow catapult
84) Play board games
85) Play outdoor pickup sticks
86) Hide and seek
87) Monsters are here Indoor game – So simple and yet so fun. One child is designated It. The rest hide inside a blanket making sure that they hold all the ends in so that the Monster wouldn’t be able to open it. If there are a few kids, the first person the monster touches becomes it. Can be really scary and really noisy.
88) Make a race track and race cars
89) Play cards
Arts & Crafts
90) Make a puppet show
91) Make recycled paper
92) Have a sandbox and water play area
93) Painting Activities
- Spray painting
- Paint using frozen watercolours
94) Make Sidewalk chalk and make a piece of art on the sidewalk
95) Do origami
96) Make a sundial
97) Make a bracelet: loom, beads, flowers
98) Make a musical instrument
99) Learn some simple kirigami designs : Folding a paper and then cutting it to make a pattern
100) Make wind chimes
101) Paint pebbles
102) Recycle paper plate
103) Do Paper mache
104) Paint plant pots
105) Make musical instruments
106) Make your own flip flops
107) Squeezy bottle painting
108) Make a suncatcher:
109) Learn to do some window art using contact paper
110) lawn art:
111) Tie dye
112) Paint like Jackson Pollock
114) Paint with a fly swatter
115) Ice Cube Painting
116) Build an ice sculpture
117) Make earth with a balloon and learn about the continents
118) Shaving cream Sensory bin
119) Make cd spinners
120) Make Pop-up cards
121) Try sand art
122) Deconstruct an ice block/sculpture
123) Make a diorama
124) Break a frozen dinosaur egg
125) Finger painting
126) dot to dot letters
127) Different textured watercolors
128) Make a bird feeder
129) Finger paint with your very own homemade finger paint
Science Experiments
130) Recreate a volcano eruption with baking soda and vinegar
131) Make rockets using coke and mentos
132) Exploding Balloons
133) Go to a place where there are lots of ants. Give them different colored food and watch the color of their stomach change.
134) Learn about surface tension using milk and watercolor, black pepper, herbs, glitter
135) Do some Static electricity activities.
136) Celery Science or Moving water experiments
137) Make a water fountain using bottles.
138) Sink or float – Know about density
139) Do The Egg Drop Experiment
Out And About
140) Go on a bicycle ride
141) Think of a nearby place that you usually go to in a car. Walk there instead.
142) Roll down a hill.
144) Play football, badminton, any sport of their liking outside. You can also make a balloon “ping pong” for smaller kids.
145) Find a walking trail nearby and go out for the day. This isn’t always easy for some kids. I find however that when there’s something waiting at the end of the walk, children will not complain as much.
You can also make a game during the walk. The more you walk, the more they will get used to the habit of walking and you’ll be surprised one day when you and your husband can do a decent walk and talk to each other without being interrupted by the “Are we there yet?” “My legs are tired!” outbursts.
146) Go Fishing. Hopefully, it’s easy to get a fishing license where you are.
147) Go to a park and walk barefoot. Did you know there are barefoot parks?
148) Go geocaching
149) If you’re near the beach, go and see a tide pool
150) Pick wild flowers and make necklaces
151) Pick berries
152) Look for tadpoles
153) Go river rafting with onion bags and water bottles
Pretend Play
154) Pretend you are a knight for the day
155) Pretend you are a Hogwart’s student for the day
156) Pretend you’re a superhero
157) Pretend you’re a cowboy
158) Pretend you’re a fairy
159) Do a fashion show
Quiet Time – Just Leave The Kids Alone Activities
Quiet time is very relative here. How long you can live a child for “quiet time” depends largely on the age of the child and how independent he/she is. Good luck and hopefully you Get 10 minutes to yourself every day.
161) Draw your family
162) Write about a poem about a person you love.
163) Write about why you love your family
164) Finish a jigsaw
165) Make a reading corner and reading schedule
166) Craft stick painting
Outdoor Activities
167) Outdoor movie night
168) Go Camping
- Cook marshmallows
- Make smores
- Walk on a trail and do a scavenger hunt
169) Go Backyard camping
170) Have a backyard obstacle course. You can even do this indoors if the weather is not very cooperative
171) Sack Race
172) Go cloud bathing (my son’s words) – Lie down on the backyard/park/terrace. Watch clouds and see what shapes they are. You can even teach older kids the different kinds of cloud formations.
173) Plant a fairy garden
174) Blow up the paddling pool and sleep there at night. Learn about stars and constellations.
Household Chores
175) Do the dishes – especially popular among younger kids. Just leave a few unbreakable utensils and dishes and leave them to it. be warned, the kitchen’s going to be wet
176) Wash the car, bicycle or scooter (don’t expect it to as clean as you want it to be) But you can be sure they’ll have fun doing it.)
177) Sweep the street (or the kitchen floor etc): Here in our village in Spain, we sweep the pavement/street just outside the house.
Cooking Fun
178) Find easy recipes that kids can easily do with very little supervision. Some of the things we make at home:
- pancakes
- muffins
- smoothies
- pizza
- jelly
- popcorns – Opt for the healthy kind if you can and have the occasional popcorn treat on other days.
- Ice lollies
- fruit on a stick
179) Make a decadent hot chocolate
180) Make your own sun-powered oven
181) Have a go at making Ice Cream using this ball ice cream maker. Or you can make ice cream in a bag.
182) Make mud pie
183) Make bunny bread
Do Good
184) Do a random act of kindness.
185) Visit an orphanage or old people’s home.
186) Volunteer at a food bank.
187) If you know of a place that is often covered with rubbish, do a 1 day clean up drive.
188) Visit an animal sanctuary if there’s one nearby.
Sensory Activities
189) Have a sandpit
190) Have a water station
191) Have different “sand” textures from moon sand, salt and flour sand (just mix them up without water), corn, beans, ground corn
192) Have fun with rainbow rice
193) Make Play snow
194) Have fun with Fondant
Try Something Different
195) Go on after dinner walks around the neighborhood or after breakfast walks. We usually go get some oily churros and then go for a walk afterwards.
196) Pizza for breakfast (that is if you don’t do that already) or doughnuts for lunch.
197) Ice Cream for dinner with sprinkles and everything