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It’s just about that time of year… school officially being out for summer!

Now is a great time to gather together ideas for summer activities for kids. And let’s face it, these could be some fun ideas for adults too.  Some of these things will be super easy to do and some others will require a bit of planning. Hope you enjoy trying some of these summertime projects and activities! Let me know if you have an activity that is not on the list and I’ll add it below with a link to your website or social media channel. 🙂

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Some of these are tried and true fun summer activities for kids have been around for years. Some of these you may have never heard of. Here’s to hoping you have an amazing summer packed with memories and lovely days!

1. Hide and seek

2. Chase Or a variation that our neighborhood kids play. One person is “it”, and when they tag someone that person is also “it” and tries to tag everyone as well until there is just one person left that everyone tries to tag.

3. Water balloon fights

4. Slip and slides. A tried and true mark of the beginning of summer for kids.

5. Playing in the sprinkler

6. Playing on a swing set or play set

7. Digging in dirt and making mud pies Anyone else do this as a kid?

8. Eliminating ant mounds with a water hose or baking soda and vinegar. Make sure kids are supervised for this and be careful they are not bit or hurt by the ants. The ants might still come back but my sons love to defend our “land” doing this. (Ok, we are in a subdivision LOL)

9. Nerf War! You can never have to many of those spongy bullets in our neighborhood. For my youngest’s last birthday if people asked what he would like for his birthday I would always say Nerf bullets. They get lost or squished easily but we have so many that the entire neighborhood can join in the fun since there’s enough for everyone.

10. Ride bikes

11. Play catch

12. Play basketball, football, soccer, baseball, dodgeball, ok anything with the word ball in it! LOL

13. Weed the flowerbeds

14. Plant flowers

15. Start seedlings inside. It might be a little late for summer harvesting plants but you can start late summer harvesting type plants to transfer later outside.

16. Walk around your neighborhood. To me this is one of the best things to do in the summer but also just about any time of year! It’s a great way to meet neighbors.

17. Visit the local park

18. Fly a kite or a drone

19. Design a new toy or video game – have your kids draw out ideas for new toys or video games. At dinner everyone present their new concepts and describe what they do.

20. Create an obstacle course. I bet you and your kids could come up with a challenging obstacle course. Supplies – items to jump over, balance on, or crawl over and also a stopwatch if it is a competition.

21. Paint stones or create a pet rock

22. Play with bubbles

23. Make an outdoor fort with natural materials or make an outdoor fort with sheets and a play set or swing set. This is one of the easy peasy summer activities for kids that will keep them entertained for hours.

24. Camp in the backyard. 

25. Roast marshmallows over a fire pit. Don’t have a fire pit? We roasted our marshmallows over our grill with some handy dandy metal marshmallow/campfire roasting sticks. ***REMEMBER always make sure this is supervised and have an adult with water on hand just in case! ***

26. Make cookies

27. Play board games. Battleship(aka You Sank My Battleship!), Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Life, HiHo Chery-O, and more!

28. Make paper airplanes

29. Hunt for fossils. Search for areas in your state. This part lets you keep fossils – Mineral Wells Fossil Park in Plano, Texas. Or you can step where dinosaurs stepped (literally their fossilized footprints) at Dinosaur Valley State Park.  

30. Search for diamonds. Have you ever heard of the diamond mine in Arkansas? You can dig for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park. If you find any, you can keep them! There is also amethyst and I only know that because we have found a little stone on a visit. There is also a campground, a mini waterpark, and a quaint little town nearby. It’s a great long weekend trip! Check out my article about How To Dig For Diamonds where we took our young kids and had so much fun.

31. Search for other precious stones or minerals. Arkansas and many other states are full of quartz and other semiprecious stones. There are tons of places around Hot Springs, Arkansas to dig for quartz. We found lots of giant pieces like this (about the size of a football).

    

32. Visit local parks and nature preserves.

33. Go hiking. Be sure to bring plenty of water for your walk and always bring a buddy. 😊 This is not just one of the great summer activities for kids but great thing to do year round.

34. Make a Lego castle. Chances are if you have kids you have a crazy stock pile of Legos. See how big a fort or castle you can make.

35. Go fishing.

36. Bake bread. This was one of the first things we did as a fun project when the quarantine started in 2020. Mainly because my youngest only liked to eat bread at that time and all the stores were sold out necessity being the mother of invention and all. It was a fun learning experience for the kids not just in baking but in patience too. Plus, another great idea for the summer activities for kids list!

37. Dance Party!

38. Hold a tournament with Chess, Checkers, or Dominos.

39. Play cards – Trash, Solitaire, Kings in the Corners

40. Write a story or tell a made up story to your family.

41. Create and put on a play.

42. Visit a farmer’s market.

43. Grow herbs, flowers, or veggies. Sell at a farmer’s market or to neighbors. My youngest has started quite the enterprise with hot peppers in our front flower bed when trying out these summer activities for kids. Last year he made over $10 selling bags of these crazy hot peppers to neighbors. Live in an apartment? No problem! We container garden when in an apartment. 

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44. Volunteer. There are plenty of ways to volunteer – at church, at  shelters, or simply ask your neighbors if they need help.

45. Make a card for grandparents, aunts/uncles, family, and friends.

46. Watch fail videos about coke rockets! Click here for my attempt. Be careful; they can shoot up really fast. Actually, just stick to watching videos. LOL

47. Have a movie marathon day. Supplies – favorite drinks, snacks, pillows & blankies, comfy clothes, and favorite people.

48. Try indoor rock climbing. If you know me, you know I love this! It’s great exercise that doesn’t feel like exercise.

49. Visit a trampoline park. Yes, adults are usually allowed too! Although my kids are embarrassed by me. LOL Here’s our local Altitude location and something like what you might have in your area.

50. Visit a museum. 

51. Visit a zoo – big or small. 

52. Join the local library summer reading program. Last year my kids participated in the local library summer reading program. They were given a little prize bag for completing the program and got to enter to win prizes. My youngest won a cool physics type game.

53. Visit your local library during events. Check with your local library and find out what fun events they are holding during the summer.

54. Visit a lake or beach. There’s nothing quite like being near peaceful water. Be sure to pack plenty of sunscreen, snacks, water, and gear!

    

55. Memorize Bible verses. Summer is a great time to have a home Bible study. We like to read a short devotional specifically for kids each morning at breakfast. I’m not sure who gets more out of it though me or the kids. It’s lessons I definitely need to hear too!

56. Make paper snowflakes. Getting to hot for you? I’m in Louisiana. I get it! Not a regular summer activities for kids kind of thing but still fun! Try to subconsciously trick your mind into thinking it’s cooler than it is and have your kids make a bunch of paper snowflakes.

57. Make handprint flowers and share them. You’ll need color paper for the “petals”, paper for a circle for the center of the flower, green paper (or color some white paper green) for the stems and leaves, and if you want a background paper to glue it to. Trace hands. Cut out these “petals” and glue them together in the circle or however you want. Tah dah! Another cute craft to share with friends and family or adorn your windows and fridge with.

58. Learn to sew. We all lose a button now and then, right? It’s a good life skill to have. Set aside a day to teach your kids how to sew or learn for yourself as well.

59. Learn Frisbee golf. I haven’t ever played this but for some people it’s their jam. I think it could be super fun and like being outside but for now I’m sticking with just learning how to throw a Frisbee. Maybe this idea should just be learn how to throw a Frisbee. LOL

60. Organize. There’s always things to be organized – our homes, our digital footprints, our cars, our hearts and our minds. This could possible take up your entire summer break!

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61. Play “I Spy”. This is a tried and true fav in our family because of all our car rides. A variation we have is more like 20 questions that we think of something and people try to guess it. Sometimes we have Ocean “I Spy” which is my kids’ fav as we have to think of a creature that lives in water.

62. Play horseshoes. Or the variation my crazy Arkansas family played at a reunion once – toilet lid shoes. Yes. They went there. You’ll need two sturdy tall metal pipes to stick in the ground and three toilet seats. Careful if you get the heavy duty seats as they will tumble further than you think and possibly knock over the table with the potato salad or an occasional cousin.

63. Jump rope. I’m not sure if my kids have ever jumped rope before. Hmmm must teach them how to jump rope and might even introduce them to double dutch this year.

64. Bring out your inner Rembrandt with sidewalk chalk. My kids used to spend hours using sidewalk chalk in our driveway. It’s a great way to spend the afternoon!

65. Visit a historic place. I bet there might be one near your town or make a day trip and visit a place you’ve been wanting to see for years.

66. Design a t-shirt. Supplies: a t-shirt, fabric paint or iron ons.

67. Create a faux leaded glass window. Check out this how to from Remodelaholic.com.

68. Make stepping stones. My kids created these a couple years ago at my mom’s house with Mamaw’s help of course. It’s time to make some for my house before their feet won’t fit in the mold anymore. Ha!

69. Put up a bird feeder and bird bath.  I’m a big fan of critters. If you’ve followed my Instagram account for any length of time, you’ll probably see animals here and there. So when Papaw helped the kids each create their own bird feeders a couple years back it made my heart so happy! But, guess what, you don’t have to make your own to enjoy the company of little birds. Put a feeder near a window you are near often and enjoy seeing nature flutter around.

70. Make homemade soup. This is something simple kids can learn to do and at the same time learn how to not be wasteful and save money. Have you heard of Aunt Favorite’s trash soup? I adopted it long ago. Anytime we have a meal that includes leftover vegetables and beans, I put them in a large plastic butter tub and store it in the freezer.  When it is almost full, I set it in the fridge to thaw overnight.  In the morning, I put a can of stewed tomatoes and the thawed veggies into a crock pot.  Sometimes I add a can of water or two depending on how much is already in it from the thawed veggies.  I season with my favorite spices – garlic salt and pepper and sometimes dried Italian seasoning.  Cook on low until dinnertime &Viola!  If you don’t have a crock pot, use a stock pot just before dinner and put everything in it and bring to a boil.  Then turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for a long while.  Total cost is just from the can of stewed tomatoes – $0.55 for a family of 5.

71. Catch bugs. My kids love catching bugs, lizards, snakes(if they can find them every once in a while). My only rule – don’t bring them inside!

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72. Press flowers and leaves. Supplies – a heavy book and nature. Voila!

73. Make a nature walk scrap book. This is on the list as one of the great summer activities for preschoolers. Even if you live in a city I bet there are sidewalk cracks with grass, pebbles, and a sky to see.  Supplies – 3 sheets of paper to fold in half like a book, pencil/markers/crayons, glue or tape, and elements from nature. Write a title on the outside cover and “author” name. Use the inside pages for displaying or drawing what was seen on the nature walk.

74. Go swimming. This is one of my favorite summer activities for kids and adults. My kids get to play, we stay cool in the heat, and I get in exercise time. Win-win!

75. Start a gratitude jar. Put that on the dinner table and everyone write something that they are thankful for that day. Save this up and on New Year’s Eve read every scrap of paper. You’ll be amazed at all the things God has done for you. 

76. Have a magnetic Darts tournament. My son was given a magnetic dart board at Christmas and we just finally put it up. Any kid that comes into his room automatically wants to play. It’s been super fun to have already this summer!

77. Make freezer jam. My mom reminded me of this idea. At least once a year my kids help my mom make jelly. Freezer jam is one of the easiest ways to make your own homemade jelly. Here’s a step by step guide I found from CleverlySimple.com

Our summer just started this weekend and will only last 9 weeks. I’m hoping to get to take the kids to the diamond mine this year, hunt for fossils, and make stepping stones. Other than that, when there is extra time, we’ll be going through this list and having even more fun with activities to do in summer vacation! Hope this has been helpful. If you’d like to add a summer activities for kids, comment below with your idea and a link back to your website or social media. Hope your summer is lots of fun!

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