50 Things To Do In Summer

Have a Picnic: Summer is full of warmth, sunshine, and the beauty of nature. Enjoy it while enjoying a nice afternoon lunch. Whether you picnic at the beach, the park, or in your own backyard. Eating outdoors is a great way to make memories and enjoy those summer days.

DIY Shoes: Get fun and creative with decorating your own shoes! All you need is some fabric paints or markers and a pair of white sneakers, then just let the creativity flow.

Can You Survive?: Get immersed in disaster by reading an interactive “Can You Survive” book. Let your kids pick the decisions and paths you travel as you try to survive!! (Our family loves to do this at night around the fire pit).

Zoo: Take a trip and visit the zoo. Explore the different animal species and their habitats.

Mix It Up: Make your own trial mix. Get some family favorites and mix dried fruits, nuts, and a bit of candy for a healthy snack that everyone will enjoy.

Dress-Up Bowling: For once, let your kids choose your outfit. (Siblings can pick outfits for each other or, if you have older kids, maybe you can pick their outfit and they choose yours). Then go bowling together wearing the outfits everyone picked out for each other.

Splash in Sprinklers: Cool off with your backyard sprinklers or go to a splash pad for sprinkler fun!

S’Mores: S’mores was made for summertime...Need I say more?

Explore Your World: Find someplace new to explore. This could be a park, a museum, or a new hiking trail.

Blanket Fort: For those rainy and stormy days, build a blanket fort with your kids. Then get cozy for some reading or movie time.

Splash in a Creek

Make-Your-Own Sundae Bar: Set out a bunch of ice cream toppings and let your kids make their own ice cream sundaes. This encourages creativity and independence. Plus..who doesn’t love ice cream.

Water Balloon Fight: Fill a bunch of water balloons and put in various buckets outside around the yard. Then have a water balloon fight and see who gets wetter. (If you don’t want to have a bunch of plastic water balloon pieces everywhere, you can cut sponges into strips, then tie them together with yarn. This method may take some time for set-up but you’ll be able to keep the fun going for hours on end. Plus you can save them to use another time.).

Beach Time: Take a trip (even if it’s just for a day), to the beach, shore, lake or river.

Bake Something Together: Crafting food in the kitchen together creates a special bond that lasts a life time. Bake cookies, cake, pies, etc. together. Then enjoy together!!

Movie Marathon Madness: Before those long school days start filled with studying, homework, and after school activities. Take a day and have a movie marathon complete with all the movie snacks you will need.

Letters to Loved Ones: Take time and write letters to loved ones. This is great way to stay connected and allow your kids a chance to work on penmanship. Plus, when they get a letter in the mail back, they will be so excited to be getting mail. (You can also write letters to our military, this is a great way to show our support.)

Plant Something Together: Plant a new herb or flower together, preferably a perennial type flowers, so you can watch it come back year after year.

Family Game Night:

Video Game Swap: Play your kids favorite video game with them and see how good you are. Then play a video game for your youth and see how good they are (and possibly you too).

Proper Tea: Get dressed up and serve finger sandwiches with fancy tea. Remember to keep your pinkies up.

Decorate Lunch Bags: Another fun DIY project. Get markers, glitter, stamps and stickers so they can decorate their own lunch bags.

Backyard Getaway: Set up a tent in the backyard and have a camp out. This is a great way to see the house from a new perspective and enjoy the beautiful summer evenings.

Aquarium: Take your kids to visit an aquarium and explore the under sea wildlife.

Read Stories Aloud: Have everyone in the family share their favorite stories (or one they’ve written) by reading them aloud to the family.

Painting with a Twist, Indeed: Get some canvas boards and have fun creating and painting together. The twist though, is you have to paint what the other person tells you.

Build a Creation: Build a lego creation or simply build with anything. Have fun using your imagination to build a castle, space ship, animals, anything you can think of. Be creative. Then have fun playing “kidzilla” to tear it all down (followed by putting away).

Museum: Beat the heat indoors with a tour through a museum. (The library usually has museum passes that can be borrowed, check with your local library).

Wildlife Wonderment: Go on a nature walk and see how much wildlife you can spot. You could also feed ducks at a local pond or visit an animal shelter.

Create a Reel: Come up with a fun skit and play with different studio maker features to create your own little video reel.

Stufftie Hunt: Hide your kids stuffed animals around the house. Then see how many they can find. (For more fun, time them and see how long it takes to find them all.)

Screen Free: Take a day and be completely screen free (parents & phones included, except for emergency’s of course). For a real challenge, see how many days you can go 😃.

Blessings Bundle: As a team, set a budget to spend on a basket of blessings for a worthy recipient such as an animal shelter or other non-profit.

Take a Scenic Drive: Take a drive and enjoy the scenery, whether it's the country farmland, nature at its best or the city lights . This can be done right in our own area or somewhere else.

Take a Bike Ride Together

Explore a New Town: There are lots of little towns around that have lots of cute little shops to explore. Find a new town to explore!

Do a D-I-Y Craft Together: This is a great one that can be done together or even done by yourself if you need a new mental break project 😉.

Try a New Food: Try a new style of food (Mexican, Vietnamese, Greek, etc.). You can try making something new at home or you can try a new restaurant.

Tour a Factory: There are plenty of factories around, take a tour of one and see how some of your favorite foods are made.

Do an Experiment Together: This creates a great learning experience as well as a great bonding experience. (Make sure to pick an experiment that is suitable for your child’s age.)

Climb a Mountain: A mountain hike provides some of the most beautiful views you can experience. And it doesn’t have to be a famous mountain or even a tall mountain (remember for a toddler, the Buck hill is a mountain).

Fruit Picking: A great activity to do together is pick fruit straight from the tree or bush. Or if you’d prefer, you can pick your own wildflowers and make a bouquet for the table.

Host a Party: Host a summer party or backyard barbecue with family and friends.

Watch a Movie Outside: You don’t need a projector to do this. It could be as simple as watching a movie streaming on an ipad, laptop, or phone.

Grill Fruit: Grilled fruit is a new and exciting way to enjoy some of your summer favorites.

Visit Family: Summer is the best time to visit with family you haven’t seen for a while. So take a day and catch up with those that mean the most to you.

Sport Day: Organize a backyard sports game with family and friends. If you don’t have a big enough yard, there are plenty of parks around that have lots of space for play.

New Skills: Introduce or teach your kids a new skill. This could be anything from sewing and crocheting, to building or cooking and baking.

Build a Fairy House: Build a fairy house using only things found in nature. Even for older kids this can be a fun activity to see how sturdy and elaborate they can build a house out of sticks, twigs, and grass.

Playground or Park: Don’t forget to take a day to just go play outside at the playground or park. This can be done more than once as you visit different parks in the area.

IF YOU ARE REALLY BRAVE - Have a Yes Day!!: Set forth a few ground rules and maybe a budget too, then let your kids dreams come true by having a YES DAY!!