Summer is here and parents are spending time looking for fun activities to keep their kids active, busy and physically fit during their summer break from school. What parent hasn’t heard the phrase, “I’m so bored!” shortly after summer vacation begins? Some parents cannot afford to send their kids to expensive summer camps, and are needing ideas about fun, inexpensive and free activities for kids to do this summer.
Having raised six kids myself, I had to come up with some creative and unique summer activities for my kids, otherwise summer break from school would inevitably lead to boredom and fights amongst the kids.
One thing that worked very well with my kids was to have each of my children make a list of fun activities they wanted to do during their summer break, written on separate pieces of paper, and anytime one of my children said they were bored, out came the fishbowl filled with hundreds of ideas of things to do. I was surprised and happy to find several household chores were included on my kid’s list of things to do, which definitely made me feel quite proud of my children.
Sometimes we made a game out of deciding which activity one or more of the kids would do, either separately or as a group, which helped my children feel more in control and involved in the decision of what things they would do during their summer break. Beating summertime boredom can be challenging at times, but having kids do some brainstorming on their own not only helps build self-confidence and self-esteem in children, but it also teaches children how to come up with ideas and solutions to problems on their own.
Things for Kids to Do in the Summer:
In random order, with some activities being free or at least inexpensive, here are some ideas of things for kids to do in the summer to prevent or beat summertime boredom:
| Bike riding | Jump rope | Basketball | Soccer |
| Swimming | Dancing | Hopscotch | Roller blade |
| Play board games | Go to the zoo | Go to a museum | Play in the sprinkler |
| Make a lemonade stand | Martial arts | Create an obstacle course | Draw or finger paint |
| Do puzzles | Play card games | Do Kids Crafts | Play catch with a ball |
| Play Frisbee | Plant a garden | Play Cowboys and Indians | Play Hide-and-Seek |
| Mow the lawn | Rake and play in the leaves | Write and act out a children’s play | Get Family Friendly Theater Tickets! |
| Start a collection: rocks, feathers, colorful leaves | Write a letter to grandma or grandpa | Play with the pet in or outside the house | Do brain-teasers or crossword puzzles |
| Make puppets and put on a show | Do a good deed for an elderly neighbor | Play with toy cars or dolls | Run relay races |
| Learn to play a musical instrument | Play with building blocks or Legos | Play baseball | Play charades |
| Plan a treasure hunt in the backyard | Make homemade popsicles | Make a fort with popsicle sticks | Play tag or touch football |
| Go to a local or state park | Get season tickets to Six Flags! | Bake cookies with mom | Read Books |
With summertime weather typically being optimal for outside play, and believing that children spend too much time watching television, playing video games or being on the computer, I purposely did not list such things for kids to do during the summer. In order for kids to be active and physically fit, during summer or any other time of year, children need to do a variety of self-esteem activities that sitting in front of the t.v. or computer monitor will not provide.
Kids can have a lot of fun building something at The Home Depot and Lowe’s kid clubs, which is FREE to children of all ages. With each store’s kids’ club providing keepsake aprons, tools, safety goggles and kits to build things like birdhouses, bookshelves and wooden toys, children not only have a lot of fun but their self-esteem is improved too. Each time kids complete a project, children are given gift certificates of completion and patches to put on their aprons. Check with your local Home Depot or Lowe’s stores about their kids’ club schedule to ensure space is available for your child.
Do you have any more suggestions of fun things for kids to do in the summer? What summer activities for kids do you have planned for your own children?
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14 responses so far ↓
1 Char (1 comments.) // Jun 20, 2008 at 5:27 am
This is a great list! At Weary Parent we are posting ideas for the kids to do everyday using weekly themes - it is called Camp Weary Parent
2 Lin (793 comments.) // Jun 20, 2008 at 8:37 am
Hi Char! I’ve been popping on over to Weary Parent from time to time, and you do have some great ideas for things kids can do over the summer. Good job!
3 Avani-Mehta (1 comments.) // Jun 20, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Bike riding, swimming, board games … This is can easily become a list of fun activities for adults as well. I would love to pick up some for myself
4 Lin (793 comments.) // Jun 20, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Absolutely Avani! Having fun during the summer isn’t just for kids! Us adults get to have fun too!
5 matt (8 comments.) // Jun 20, 2008 at 10:39 pm
This is a fantastic post. Its very hard to come up with ideas when you are actually “in the moment”. I have bookmarked this post and will refer to it often.
BTW - For whatever reason, its nice to hear someone to refer to it as “Six Flags”. ‘Brings me back to my roots!
6 chris (10 comments.) // Jun 21, 2008 at 5:04 am
Awesome ideas…While we’ve been sending the rugrats to trips this past couple of years, prior to this we spent time at home during the summer break and we did plenty of physical activites together that didn’t require spending money.
Mos of the summer days, we would wake up early in the morning to play tennis or go running.
7 Lin (793 comments.) // Jun 21, 2008 at 7:13 am
Hi Matt! Six Flags is great fun for us grown kids too!
Going to water parks with the kids is also great fun, and if I recall correctly, some grocery stores (?) offer discount coupons to both Six Flags and water parks like Hurricane Harbor etc.
8 Lin (793 comments.) // Jun 21, 2008 at 7:15 am
LOL Chris, you have Rugrats too? hehehe
It’s great that you make sure to include some real activities to provide fun for the kids, but also things that are actually Active like running and tennis. It makes me crazy to see kids spending their summer vacation parked in front of the television or computer. Turn off the t.v. and go play outside. Sigh.
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10 display booths (52 comments.) // Jun 24, 2008 at 11:13 am
hi Lin, Great ideas! If I were to add anything it would be to tell the kids to enjoy their summer and play, play, play… just enjoy being a kid and HAVE FUN! Unfortunately, I don’t think kids would fully understand until they’re adults and working full time, and then like me, will look back on those lazy, hazy days of summer as a kid with fond memories.
I would also add that if one’s kids don’t know how to swim they should take summer swim lessons and learn (both for fun and for safety). I like your idea of the lemonaid stand (to teach a bit of entrepreneurship). If you really want to have them learn, you can collect their lemonaid stand profits and then take half to cover the payroll and income tax withholdings, and then take the other half to cover rent and utilities, but I think that would be a bit too much “reality” that they’ll get plenty of later in life. No, I think they should just play, play, play! ~ Steve
11 Lin (793 comments.) // Jun 24, 2008 at 11:57 am
That was too funny Steve! hehehe I don’t think kids would be too understanding if they had to learn the reality of payroll taxes, rent, utilities etc while running a lemonade stand.
Yep, play and play some more. Turn off the television, video games, get off the computer and go play.
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13 Friar (1 comments.) // Jul 18, 2008 at 10:36 am
Two words: Lego and Hotwheels.
I spent entire summers playing with these in the basement, when I wasn’t outside.
14 Lin (793 comments.) // Jul 19, 2008 at 9:11 am
Friar, playing with Lego’s and Hotwheels were two of my favorite things to do even as a girl. Having five brothers has its perks!
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