No excuses for bored summer days! This list of 100 summer activities for kids covers every day of the week including sunny and rainy day activities.
Has your kid’s school already ended for summer vacation? Our summer vacation starts in just 6 short days. The only thing I feel even semi-prepared to do with my girls is our second annual Kids’ Cooking Camp. That means we’re covered for 1 week, but what about the other 10? I think we’ll all go insane if we’re not better prepared than that.
I’m not really a fan of the ‘bucket list’ mentality. I don’t like the pressure of feeling like we have to get certain things done. Summer is supposed to be relaxing, and it’s already pretty busy for our family anyway!
So instead of coming up with a ‘bucket list’, T and I spent time over the last few weeks coming up with 100 kid-approved summer activities that fit into the “Daily Theme” structure we used last summer. There are summer activities for sunny days and rainy days, activities that she can do independently, and activities that we need to do together. Some activities don’t take much time, others might take several days.
100 Kid-Approved Summer Activities
Make Something Monday
Sunny Day Activities
- Make s’mores
- Make a fairy garden
- Make flower crowns
- Make a race track in your backyard
- Make a bouquet with wildflowers collected from your neighborhood
- Make a rock garden
- Make a lemonade stand
- Make & fly your own kite
- Make & use your own sidewalk chalk
- Make your own garden stone
Rainy Day Activities
- Bake cookies
- Make a meal together
- Decorate crazy hats with items around the house
- Make a pillow fort
- Make a family video
- Make homemade ice cream
- Make a homemade bird feeder
- Make a time capsule
- Make a homemade puppet theater & put on a show
- Make paper airplanes
Try Something Tuesday
Sunny Day Activities
- Plant a vegetable or herb you’ve never planted before
- Try a new sport
- Try to build something with things you find in the backyard/garage
- Try splatter painting
- Try to see how long you can hula hoop or jump rope
- Try bubble painting
- Try to beat one of your own records (eg. Monkey bars, distance on bike)
- Set up a treasure hunt in the back yard
- Try a game that kids played 30, 40, 50 years ago
- Try to catch bugs like butterflies or lightning bugs
Rainy Day Activities
- Have a mud day
- Learn origami
- Try a Lego Challenge
- Learn a new card game
- Learn a magic trick & put on a magic show
- Try a new food
- Have an anagram contest (see who can make the most words out of another word)
- Try a new restaurant
- Try to fix something that’s broken
- Learn a few words in another language
Wander Somewhere Wednesday
Sunny Day Activities
- Go to the farmer’s market or a local farm
- Find a new park to visit
- Go explore a new neighborhood
- Go on a photo walk. Take photos together and compare perspectives
- Go to a free local concert
- Go to a state park for a hike or a splash in the water
- Research a local historic site and then visit it.
- Go to a baseball game
- Go geocaching
- Go on a scavenger hunt
Rainy Day Activities
- Go to the local library
- Go bowling
- Go roller skating
- Go see a show at the local children’s theater
- Go to a local children’s museum
- Take a kids class at your local craft or hardware store
- Go see a movie at the movie theater
- Go to an open play session at your local gymnastics or bounce house provider.
- Find an indoor pool or water park
- Window shop at the local mall.
Thoughtful Thursday
Sunny Day Activities
- Go out for ice cream and pay for the person in line behind you.
- Clean up some litter in the neighborhood
- Take treats to your local police or fire station
- Help take care of a neighbor’s yard.
- Do chores around the yard to earn money for your favorite charity
- Put coins in random people’s parking meters
- Put away all the carts left out in a parking lot
- Help a stranger load bags into their car at the store
- Write a thank you note and make a treat for the garbage collectors.
- Help play with the little kids at the park.
Rainy Day Activities
- Read books to each other
- Make food pans for the homeless shelter
- Bake cookies for a neighbor
- Have a donation day & clear out old clothes & toys
- Make and mail cards to grandparents
- Make and mail cards to cousins
- Make a care package for some soldiers
- Make scarves to donate to the homeless in wintertime.
- Do something extra special for a sibling or parent.
- Make pet beds for shelter animals out of fabric scraps and old linens
Fantastic Friday
Sunny Day Activities
- Have a picnic
- Roll down a grassy hill
- Have a bubble making contest
- Run through the sprinkler
- Have a water balloon fight
- Have a squirt gun fight
- Catch fireflies at sunset
- Camp out in the backyard.
- Watch the clouds and compare what shapes you see.
- Have a bike decorating contest for Independence Day (or just because!)
Rainy Day Activities
- Have a dance party
- Have a movie day
- Have a pajama day
- Have a backwards day
- Have a video game day
- Mother/Son or Father/Daughter dates
- Play Minute-to-Win-it games
- Camp out in the living room
- Play board games
- Have a ‘Yes’ Day
And there you have it – at least two things to do for nearly every day of the summer break. And most importantly, T helped me put this list together, so there’s no excuse for hearing I’m bored during the next three months!
What summer activities do you have planned for your kids?
What summer activities would you add to this list?
Pssst…love this list? Why not print it off? I made this adorable print just for you, with everything categorized by day of the week and by rain or shine. It’s part of the printables library, which is a feature just for newsletter subscribers. All you have to do is fill in the subscription box at the bottom of this post and you can get your own copy (as well as plenty of other fantastic free printables!)
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It’s true. Summer is supposed to be relaxing but I often find it to be more intense. In an awesome way, though. I’m ready for it, and all these activities!
More intense…that’s the perfect way to put it. I think we’re both looking forward to the break, this list just gives us the extra push we need to make some new memories.
Pinned! Love this list. Summer is pretty much my favorite time of year. I love the freedom and the magic of it all.
That’s saying a lot coming from someone who lives in the desert! I’m partial to fall, but Summer’s definitely a special time of year.
This is SO helpful! I am pinning, great ideas!
Thanks Kristen! I know there are tons of summer lists out there so I’m glad you found this helpful!
You’re so right! And I see “bucket lists” the same way—more like idea generation rather than a must-do list. That’d be way too much pressure! Most of my summer to-dos are pretty simple and they’re things I’d do every summer. I think that’s one of the beauties of seasonal traditions is that we do them over and over yet we love and look forward to them every year! One thing I for sure want to do this year because we missed out last year is to see fireworks.
I tried to keep this list to the kinds of things we should be doing anyway. Otherwise it would feel more like a chore, you know? Fireworks are definitely a favorite around here. Hopefully you get to go see some this year!
We still have 3 more weeks of school here in NY, but I am so going to refer back to your list as we get closer now. Thanks so much, Leslie for sharing here!! 🙂
Thank you for this great list! I am going to print it off and keep it accessible when the kiddos are looking for something to do!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the donation idea during rainy days! So good. Thank you for all of this, the boys especially love to read to each other now that they can both read. It’s pretty awesome to watch too. 🙂 This was right on time as we are preparing to end school in a few weeks!
Oh man, I can’t wait for warm weather! These are great ideas. A fairy garden is definitely on our list.
Great ideas for this mom of littles! Pinned to a couple boards. I cohost a link party on Wednesday’s. We’d love to have you join!
Pinning this for my 3-year-old (who is home with me all day, every day :P)!
Great Ideas! Pinned. Thanks for sharing at #iDIYedthat
Found you at Coffee and Conversation. Great Ideas. I love have one place to get ideas. Definitely pinning this.
This is a fantastic list Leslie (and I’m so glad you included a printable!). Thanks for sharing at To Grandma’s House We Go ? xx
What a fun idea to break your list into themed days! Love this. Pinned.
Visiting once again from #familyFunliky and shared all over.
I am totally in summer planning mode, so I love this. So excited and nervous for summer. Only nervous b/c 4 all day….yikes…
What a great list! I am sending the link to this post to my daughter! Some of these won’t work for a 2 and 3 year old, but a lot of them will! Thanks for sharing at Celebrate Your Story!!
Those are great ides and plenty of them. Makes me miss my kids being little – briefly:).
Thanks for sharing at Funtastic Friday.
Lots of great ideas to keep the kids busy all year long. Where were you when my kids were younger? Lol! Pinning.
Love the list of ideas! Thanks so much for sharing them. Pinning!
You have some really great ideas here – I have pinned for later as I think this help keep the boredom at bay for my two girls during the holidays 🙂
These are really great ideas! I especially like that you have them in themes during the week! Im stopping by from SITS Girls and I’ve saved this to Pinterest!
I really like how you divided summer activities into rainy day and sunny day activities. I live in Florida so we have lots of Rainy days all summer long. Great idea. Thanks
visiting from Sits Girls Sharefest
Good ideas and list. It is important to keep some type of structure going… w/o overwhelming Mom! 🙂
So many great ideas to keep the kiddos busy this summer!
So much fun all on one list. Thanks for sharing with us at Waste Not Wednesday. Looking forward to seeing more from you this week. Don’t forget to hop over and link up.
I agree with you about the term ‘bucket list’ – but I love this great list full of wonderful ideas! Pinning and sharing on Twitter. Thank you for bringing this post to the Hearth and Soul Link Party. Hope you have a lovely week!
I’m so ready for my first summer as a SAHM with this list of activities. I’m so looking forward to all the fun I’m going to have with my son!! Thanks!
Some great ideas for keeping everyone entertained. I think we might go for a picnic this afternoon in fact. Thanks for joining us at #familyfun
Love lists like these! No matter how many you come across, you can always find new ideas! Thanks so much for sharing this huge list! Summer is all about having fun. 🙂
Thank you! I needed a list like this. This will be perfect this summer! #Fridayatthefirestation
Great ideas! Thank you for the list. My kids are going to love these! Hopefully Summer weather gets here soon.
Thank you so much for all of the wonderful ideas. I am really looking forward to warm weather when the kids can go outside. This list makes me so happy. Spring is almost here!
I loved this! Pinned to two boards. I will use this for sure with my kids.