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These Screen-Free Summer Activities for Kids are perfect! There is nothing quite like getting away from technology, even if it is just for a no-technology week!
It is sad, but before kids had virtual school, they found that American children were spending 5-8 hours in front of a screen per day, trying to entertain themselves.
They also found that these children were spending less than one hour outside (that is less than prisoners.)
Too much screen time can cause sleep problems, a higher risk for attention disorders, a higher risk for obesity, and actually change the chemistry of your child’s brain. I don’t know about you, but those risks scare me.
Honestly, screen time is an area that I struggle with because when the TV is on I can actually get stuff done, but I’m ready for a change. Our kids deserve better than to spend their childhood in front of a screen.
They should be outdoors getting dirty and exploring, not watching someone else having fun on TV.
These 60 Screen-Free Summer Activities for Kids should help (you can print them out and hang them up, too).
I grew up in a small town– we had farms surrounding us, empty fields that we could run through, and a sense of peace and “make your own fun” everywhere that we went. I had friends with giant barns that we would go in (climbing the haystacks) and my husband’s grandparents owned a farm where we would go and just explore (we were high-school sweethearts). Being outside is a part of me and I want it to be a part of my kids, too.
Summer is the perfect time to go outside as a family and have FUN. I challenge you to really think about the amount of screen time your child is getting and consider implementing a screen-free day once per week or a screen-free zone such as in the car or at the dinner table where screens aren’t allowed (including parents!).
Let’s give our kids the childhood they deserve and do as many of these fun activities as a family as possible.
60 Screen-Free Activities for Kids
Have lunch outside
Splash in a puddle
Go Swimming
Make a kit & fly it!
Have hotdogs on the grill
Make S’mores
Make Play Dough
Catch bugs & observe them
Have a park playdate
Go for a Walk
Draw a picture in a summer journal
Watch a Baseball Game
Make bubbles!
Paint with sidewalk paint!
Make a book together
Paint Rocks
Plant a garden
Dance in a Rainstorm
Go to a new park & take pictures together.
Play in a sprinkler
Sell paper fans 🙂
Sell Lemonade
Make your favorite cookies (here’s ours!)
Search for constellations at night
Go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt
Build a tent & camp out in the backyard.
Make Homemade Popsicles
Build a fort & read in it.
Climb a Tree
Go Fishing
Make MUD-PIE in the dirt
Ride a Bike
Play a game of 21 (teaching math & cards at the same time)
Play in the sandbox
Grow butterflies
Play Catch
Play Four-Square
Play basketball
Watch a Parade
Build a Fort
Skip Rocks on a lake or river
Make a bracelet of flowers or grass (our son loves to do this for me)
Play duck duck goose outside
Wash your toys in a bucket of water (like a barbie bathtub)
Lay in a Hammock
Collect leaves, rocks & pinecones and do math with it!
Build a pinecone Birdhouse
build a fairy house
Play a game of t-ball in the backyard
Go to a Museum
Play double dutch
Watch Fireworks
Make fresh strawberry lemonade
Pick Berries and Make Jam
Send a letter to a pen pal
Roast marshmallows
Go to a Farmer’s Market
Play Hide and Seek in your backyard … with a toy! (hide the toy!)
Make Homemade Pizza with fresh veggies
Have a Pajama Party in your own house. 🙂
Which of these fun activities do you think your child will enjoy the most? Which one was your favorite when you were a kid? I’d love to know!
Here is a printable that you might like, too… (click on it and I’ll send it to you)
Such a happy list! Thanks, Becky! (Pinned!)
Great list! It’s so much easier to just plop our kids down in front of a TV so we can get things done, but you’re right, it really is doing them such a disservice. I love the make smores one! Our little one loves those almost as much as his mama!
Walk your dog
Bathe or groom your dog
Groom your cat
Dance & sing
Play and colour cardboard houses
The fact that we get less outdoor time than prisoners is shocking! We rely on media too much during the winter, so we’re excited for this nicer weather & being outdoors! I think we will be having a lot of picnics very soon 😉
the fact that we get less outdoor time then prisoners is shocking! We rely on media to much during the winter so were excited for the nicer weather and being outdoor!
Thanks Becky for so many wonderful ideas!
This summer we loved going to the local park and picking the wild berries(mulberries and black raspberries). Then bringing home whatever wasn’t devoured during picking, and making yogurt berry smoothies. To make it super yummy, freeze whatever you don’t eat in freeze pop makers for a wonderful snack later! Smoothie freeze pops are a favorite of ours.
We also have a garden this year and the kids love watching things grow, and then eating the veggies when there ready!
Its great irealy very pleased to know these activity. Me and my son will enjoy these activity i’m excited to do favourate activity of him.thanks Backy.
Great list. And yes finally a long hiatus, we are looking at the adversities of screen time, and thanks to bloggers like you, who bring such shocking revelations to the fore. Apart from everything else that you have mentioned, boredom for kids is also great. They become more creative and more emotionally independent cutting down the need for an external stimulus to make them happy or absorb their energies.
What a brilliant & awesome idea this is!! Really great & lovely. Always love this kinds of fantastic thinking. Thanks for sharing.
Great Tips! thanks for the amazing ideas.
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Perfect! I’ll have to check that out! 🙂