60 Fun Things to Do with Kids in the Summer

60 Fun Things to Do with Kids in the Summer

Summer is the time to relax, but it’s hard to relax when your kids are running all over the place because they’re bored with nothing to do. As parents, nannies, and babysitters, we are all trying to find new and exciting ways to entertain the children in our lives. No one wants their children to waste away inside as they binge watch TV. We want each of their summers to be more exciting than the last, which is hard to do when you start running out of ideas. We created a list of 60 fun things to do with kids to keep them from being bored and help them create memories they will have for a lifetime.

  1. Go to the park
  2. Go on a picnic
  3. Bake cookies or some other treat
  4. Visit an amusement park or water park
  5. Create a scavenger hunt for the kids or use this website with 30+ pre-made printable scavenger hunts
  6. Read a fun book
  7. Paint/draw a picture
  8. Plant a garden
  9. Play in the sprinklers/hose on a hot summer day
  10. Take them to get ice cream
  11. Make a slip-n-slide using a tarp and soap or shaving cream
  12. Take them on a hike
  13. Set up a lemonade stand
  14. Go on a bike ride
  15. Go to the aquarium or zoo
  16. Make homemade ice cream
  17. Have a water balloon fight
  18. Make a fort
  19. Make a campfire in the backyard and roast hotdogs and s’mores
  20. Make sock puppets
  21. Go to a museum
  22. Play mini golf in your driveway or backyard
  23. Make paper boats and race them in a kiddie pool using straws to propel them
  24. Make your own sand art
  25. Visit a fire station
  26. Go rollerskating
  27. Wash a car
  28. Play with sidewalk chalk
  29. Make homemade popsicles
  30. Catch fireflies in a jar (then let them go)
  31. Decorate bikes and have a neighborhood 4th of July parade
  32. Volunteer at an animal shelter
  33. Make paper flowers using different colored tissue paper
  34. Make balloon animals
  35. Visit all of the local parks in your area
  36. Make homemade bubbles
  37. Make and decorate a bird house
  38. Decorate a pair of white canvas converse with paint pens and markers
  39. Create 3D buildings using toothpicks and marshmallows
  40. Have a tea party
  41. Go the kids to a pottery workshop
  42. Have a paint fight (with washable paint) then wash off in the sprinklers or with the hose
  43. Take the kids to a baseball game
  44. Volunteer at a nature center
  45. Go to a botanical garden
  46. Go fishing
  47. Make and race paper airplanes
  48. Go to a flea market or garage sale
  49. Paint on wet glue with food coloring
  50. Use yarn to great a mission impossible scene and try to avoid the “lasers”
  51. Put a bar of soap in the microwave and make soap clouds
  52. Turn an old box into an indoor slide on the stairs (make sure to use a lot of cushion at the bottom to prevent injuries)
  53. Use pool noodles to make a backyard obstacle course
  54. Make homemade moon sand with 8 cups of flower and 1 cup of baby oil (very easy to clean up)
  55. Create bubble snakes with a water bottle and one mismatched sock!
  56. Make a homemade solar oven
  57. Create homemade bird feeders
  58. Make cool
  59. Go bowling and save money with kidsbowlfree.com
  60. Take pictures doing all of the activities you and the kids do and then create a photo album at the end of the summer