30 FUN summer activities for young children

I love to find fun summer activities for young children, especially once it is early August and the kids start with those two words…  “I’m Bored”.

Here are 30 of our favorite summer activities for young children.

1) Have fun washing their bikes or riding toys.   You can set this up with PVC piping.   Just drill some holes into PVC piping, connect your PVC pipes to the hose by putting a PVC adapter to the hose through the hose adapter.  Use foam pool noodles to cover your pipes and to make decorations.

(via apartment therapy)

2) Take plain Popsicle sticks and write different fun activities on them (example: Make a milk-carton boat).  When they pick one, they see what is on it and do it- it is an instant boredom buster.  Or make a train from toilet paper rolls.

3) Make Snow Cones! (this is the machine that we have to make snow cones) 

4). Color HUGE pictures or posters!  You can make your own or you can find some online from brands like OMY Posters.

5) Start the summer off right with some fun baskets full of activity ideas – fill them up and have them ready for your child on their last day of school, or one morning when they wake up.

Let them open it all at once or pick one toy/activity a day to open.   Fill it with kites, books, bubble wands, chalk, maybe even a new beach towel & swimsuit.

6) Wow, your kids with a fun bubble snake activity the top half of a water bottle, a sock, and food coloring.

7) Build a FORT inside with pillows… and let the kids sleep in there!

8)  Sidewalk paint is very simple and can provide entertainment for hours.  You just mix cornstarch, water, and food coloring… wa-lah!  You have paint!  (get the exact amounts at Sweet Little One’s Blog)

9) Science experiments are the perfect activities to tackle a boring day with.

10) Add dish soap to your water play for some extra soapy fun – wash barbies, cars… just about anything!

We do this with our kid’s DIY water table and they LOVE it.  (We will even add food coloring at times, instead of dish soap.  I’ll put blue on one side and pink on the other side and they mix them to find out which color it makes.)

11) Let the kids play BBQ out in the backyard!   Grab a cute BBQ set.  While we are grilling the actual food, the kids can mimic it with this fun and finger-friendly pretend grill by Learning Resources!  This 22-piece set is soft, durable, easy to handle, and comes with an assortment of play food. Using the tongs to move foods on, around, and off the grill allows them to practice fine motor skills as well as hand-eye coordination.

12) Have fun with your kids with some low-prep activities.  A great one is to freeze a bunch of toys in a bucket of water.  Give the kids tools (depending on ages) to break them out!

13) Use plastic lids or cupcake liners to create a simple matching game for young children.

14) Have a list of indoor activities on hand for the days you need to stay inside.  You can even make your own personalized coloring sheets and coloring books.

15) Enjoy some beach-themed activities with your kids. 

16) Make a fun ice cream cone using cupcake liners.

17) This DIY Dunk Bucket would seriously be so much fun on a hot summer day.  I can see our boys playing this over and over again.
(via The Happy Housewife)

18)  Turn two pool noodles into a race track for marbles!  Simply cut them in half and put them on the stairs or on an incline and see which person’s marble wins the race!

19) Ice chalk is so much fun for little ones to experiment with.

20) Learn how to pick up ice with a string.  A little salt is all you need to do this cool science experiment!

21) Make invisible pictures appear in the water! 

22) Change up the water balloons and make a water balloon piñata.  The kids will have a blast!
(via paging fun mums)

23) Have a fun family night with glow in the dark bowling.

24) Enjoy balloon tennis as a family.  Just glue some craft sticks onto the back of paper plates and let the kids hit a balloon back and forth.
(via Ever Never Again)

25) Print an activity calendar full of ideas for the summer.  A few ideas include going on a walk, visiting the library,  having dessert night, trying something new, visiting the zoo.
(via The Benson Street)

26). Make these healthIER cookies  with your kids (and don’t feel guilty about eating them!)

27). Recycle and re-use items around your house.  Our kids love our DIY creativity box.  You could help them make something like this adorable recycled blue jeans hair-bow.  (You can get the printable pattern at Keeping Life Sane)

28).  Use what you have around the house to make a rubber-band race-car.  Your kids will say that it is AWESOME (and you can even let them have a race-car race!)

Print these to keep around the house: 

Or this one… BORED printable. 

ENJOY!!

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