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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!

60 screen free activities

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)
No Screentime PRINT

In the fall, I will have a brand new list of screen-free activities for you!  I can’t wait!

Hi there!

I’m Becky, a former elementary school teacher turned certified child development therapist and blogger. I work at home with my husband and together we are raising (and partially homeschooling) our four children in the Carolinas. I love diet coke, ice cream, and spending time with my family.

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11 Comments

  1. 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!

  2. Walk your dog
    Bathe or groom your dog
    Groom your cat
    Dance & sing
    Play and colour cardboard houses

  3. 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 😉

  4. 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!

  5. 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!

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. What a brilliant & awesome idea this is!! Really great & lovely. Always love this kinds of fantastic thinking. Thanks for sharing.