Celebrate the end of summer with some summer fun activities!
Activities
Lemon Shake Up
With just four ingredients; lemon, sugar, water, and ice; lemon shake-ups are a refreshing summer treat that's easy to make!
Sidewalk Art
Share your art with your neighbors by decorating your driveway or sidewalk with chalk. Turn your outline into a mermaid, draw a fun monster, or make a fun game, your imagination is the limit!
Sun Catcher
Brighten up your window with a fun sun catcher. Overlap pieces of tissue paper to make new colors. Make different patterns with the different colors of tissue paper.
Don't have contact paper? Try the simplified version!
Blanket Forts
Too hot to go outside? Is it raining? Build a fort of blankets and pillows! Make it as simple or elaborate as you want. Read a book, watch a movie, or just let your imagination run wild in your new fort. For ideas to get you started, click the button below.
Beach Day! Read-Aloud
Our Summer Read-Along is Beach Day! by Patricia Lakin, illustrated by Scott Nash. Follow Sam, Pam, Will, and Jill as they adventure to the beach on a hot summer day!
Solar Balloon
How do you make trash bags fly? Fill them with air! When the air inside the balloon gets hot, it becomes less dense than the air surrounding it, making it float. Make your own solar balloon with trash bags and tape with these instructions from Instructables.
Materials Needed
Do not be afraid to improvise materials if you do not have the exact thing!
Lemon Shake Ups: Lemon, sugar, ice, water, a glass or container that seals.
Sidewalk Art: Sidewalk chalk
Sun Catcher: Contact paper, construction paper, tissue paper, scissors, double sided tape
Solar Balloon: Black trash bags, packing tape, thread or string.
Blanket Fort: Blankets, pillows
Fun Facts & Resources
Animals have developed a lot of ways to survive the summer! Learn about other ways animals keep cool in the heat by clicking the button below.
Summer is celebrated around the world in so many ways! Learn more about summer celebrations around the world by clicking the button below.
Learn more about the summer solstice, what it means, and what happens to the earth by clicking the button below.
Star gazing is a fun summer activity. Learn more about the Greek stories of constellations and the stars that make them by clicking the button below.
See what birds visit your yard in the summer! For a list of commonly seen birds in Illinois summer, click the button below.
Beat the heat and keep your cool this summer and be safe in the heat. For tips, click the button below.
Art of Summer
How many of these things do you do during the summer?
Untitled, Robert Amft, c. 1940.
Oil on canvas. Gift of Jeffrey Zurlinden.What is your favorite beach activity?
Banana Split, Lucille Ward, 1931
Lithograph, Illinois Legacy Collection.What is your favorite summer treat?
Hollyhock Garden, Winifred Godfrey, c. 1991.
Color Lithograph