101 Summer Activities For Kids When They’re Bored
Summer break is long, and the “I’m bored” complaints start earlier every year. Having a list of go to activities keeps everyone sane until school starts again. You do not need expensive outings or elaborate plans to fill the days.
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Simple, low prep ideas give kids something to do without draining your energy. The best boredom busters can happen indoors or outdoors depending on the weather. A little bit of structure goes a long way during those endless summer afternoons.
Alligator Crafts For Kids
A fun collection of Alligator Crafts for kids. Easy craft projects like is are a great way to keep kids occupied and open up educational discussions.
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Mondrian Heart Art For Kids
Mondrian Heart Art for Kids – A fun and easy Mondrian inspired art project for kids to enoy at school or home. Can be completed with 6 pre-made Mondrian printable templates.
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3D Bobble Head Panda Craft For Kids To Make
Easy 3D Bobble Head Panda Craft for Kids to make. A fun and engaging kids paper craft that comes with a printable panda template.
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Lunch Box Notes For Kids
Grab a bunch of free lunch box notes for kids that you can print at home to add some encouragement, humor, and love to their school lunch!
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Fun Frog Sensory Bin For Toddlers
3 Fun Water Balloon Activities for Kids (Age 3+)
Frozen ABC Chocolate Chalk
Water Gun Squirt Painting – Outdoor Process Art Fun!
Investigating Sunflowers Fine Motor Activity
Painted Rocks Sharks
11+ Free Printable Summer Do a Dot (boredom buster for toddlers & preschoolers)
Free Printable Summer Bingo (low-prep boredom-buster)
Exploding Sidewalk Chalk Experiment
Homemade Spectroscope | Bring Light Refraction to Life!
Easy Wooden Tic Tac Toe Game
Hairy – Spring gardening craft
How to Make a Simple DIY Popsicle Stick Bird Feeder
Fabulous Play Dough Mats (Free Printables)
How to make a fun Balloon Rocket to curb Summer Boredom
How to Create Recycled Container Herb Garden With Your Kids
Easy Lion Art Project For Kids
Easy Lion Art Project for Kids | A fun lion art and craft idea for kids, with a printable lion template to make the craft easy for all.
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Diy Cupcake Kit For Kids
Each kit is a magical box of joy, filled with pre-baked cupcakes, piping bags with buttercream and an assortment of colorful toppings.
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Doughnut Craft For Kids
Make a batch of puffy paint to frost a CD, and turn it into a CUTE and EASY doughnut craft with your kids.
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Butterfly Clothespin Craft For Kids To Make
Butterfly Clothespin Craft – A simple, gorgeous and doable butterfly craft to make with the kids during the Spring and Summer months.
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Jiggling Jellyfish Cupcake Liner Craft For Kids
Cupcake Liner Jellyfish Craft Idea For Summer | A craft project featuring an orange jellyfish made from a paper plate and glittery strips.
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An Easy Mess Free Craft Activity For Kids
This simplified butterfly mobile is a really easy mess free craft activity to make with kids of all ages. To make this pretty little fellow you only need some felt, a length of wire to place the butterfly on, an artificial flower stamen.
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Dream Catcher For Kids Craft With Free Template
Learn how to make a dream catcher for kids craft with a free template and directions. We’ve made it so SIMPLE, it’s FUN for kids of all ages! They can make their own dream catcher to hang in their bedroom and think good thoughts during the night.
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Easy Matisse Art Project For Kids
Easy Matisse Art Project for Kids – A Henri Matisse art idea for kids of all ages with inspiration shape templates to inspire, draw or cut out.
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Flow Drawing For Kids How To Draw A Little Bird
How to Draw a Little Bird with the flow drawing technqiue. Designed for kids, this process inrtoduces mindfulness to children’s art.
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3D Shape Penguin Craft For Kids
A 3D shape penguin craft for kids to make this winter. It’s fun , easy and it helps children learn or review shapes: circle, oval, rectangle and triangle.
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Frozen Castles For Melting Summer Fun!
Nature Scavenger Hunt for Kids Printable
How to Encourage Kindness with this Summer Kind Kids Challenge
Ice Paints – Fun Activity for Kids!
Frozen Ocean Sensory Fun For Kids Of All Ages
No Sew Reading Tent for Kids
Painting On Ice Art Activity
Nature Walk Game + Printable
DIY Water Wall For Summer STEM
Have a Rock’n Game Night with an Outdoor DIY Tic-Tac-Toe Game
Easy Ocean Slime Recipe For Kids
Compliment Suns Friendship Craft
FREE License Plate Game Printable for Kids
How to Build Your Own DIY Foil Stream With Kids
DIY Felt Ice Cream Play Mat
How to Tie Dye with Turmeric
How To Make Toilet Roll Pots
DIY Tent Kit
Diy Bookmarks For Kids
Handmade bookmarks are fun to make. They are a nice diy craft that will encourage the kids to learn more about books.
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Flow Drawing For Kids How To Draw A Llama
Flow Drawing for Kids – How to Draw a Llama: A simple drawing guide and llama art project that uses simple lines and shapes; bringing rhythm and mindfulness to the creative process.
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Bee Crafts For Kids
These cute bumble bee craft ideas for kids are perfect for spring, summer, or anytime the little ones are learning about bees.
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Fish Craft For Kids
Make this fish craft for kids and have fun making it a family activity. It’s a simple, cute craft the kids will enjoy making.
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Minion Clothespin Craft For Kids
Clothespin crafts are easy and fun to make, and your children will love this Minion clothespin craft for kids. Make them on family movie night!
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Masking Tape And Chalk Mural Craft
Bird Watching with Kids | Free Bird Watching Journal
Kids Beach Scavenger Hunt (free printable!)
Glow in the Dark Kindness Rocks
Clear Glitter Slime Recipe
Wrapped Walking Stick
Keeping the Kids Busy with an Ice Dig!
Spring Flowers Sun-catcher
Where Art Meets Math…
Egg Carton Nature Project for Kids
Tropical Pupsicles: Homemade Dog Popsicles!
Edible Banana Marshmallow Pudding Slime
Go For a Bike Ride
Get out the bikes and go for a spin!
Easy DIY Tie Dye Tutorial {Don’t Overthink It}
If you have some old white t-shirts or clothes lying around and are prepared for a messy activity- tie-dye them!
- Covered Surface.
- Plastic Gloves.
- Shirt or fabric you are dying.
- Dye. Tie dye kits are perfect for at home tie dye projects.
- Cling Wrap
- Ziploc Bags
- Rubber Bands or string
- Stick or wooden spoon
- Paper Towels for spills as needed
Teaching Kids to Compost and Its Benefits
Teaching kids to compost is fun and practical. They’ll love learning about what happens to the food and why it’s good for the Earth.
How to Make DIY Puffy Paint Without Shaving Cream and Glue
Whip up a big batch of puffy paint with ingredients you definitely have. Kick back and watch the kids get creative painting outside!
- Flour
- Water
- Washable Kids Paint
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
- Silicone Spatula
- Disposable Spoons
- Clear plastic squirt bottles with lids
- Funnel (optional)
Monarch Butterfly MATH Activities
Have fun creating the “butterflies” with your kids and get them excited about math.
- Farafalle pasta, ideally the standard size as well as the Miniature sized Farafalle…its the butterfly-shaped pasta.
- Food coloring. I’ve used Orange for the large butterflies and Blue for the smaller sized pasta
- Vinegar or Rubbing Alcohol
- Plastic zipper bag – this is a perfect activity for reusing a gently used bag
- Permanent markers (like Sharpies)
Have a Water Fight
Blow up some water balloons, fill up the water guns or grab some reusable soaker balls. Game on!
How to Make a Fairy House (a Milk Jug Craft)
If you have an old milk jug lying around, this a perfect summer craft and looks so cute in your yard beside a tree!
- Empty, cleaned and dried milk or water jug
- Black fine point Sharpie marker
- Utility knife
- Self adhesive foam craft sheets in dark green, light green, brown, purple and pink
- Artificial Flower
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- Moss craft sheet
- Scissors
- Green paper artificial grass (or just use crumpled green tissue paper)
Head to the outdoors with this Bigfoot Game!
Get everyone outdoors and laughing while playing the Bigfoot Game! It’ll be hard not to laugh at whoever is wearing these ridiculous feet.
Put a Sprinkler Under the Trampoline
Have you put a sprinkler under the trampoline before? Hours of fun! Sometimes we add some soap- usually tear-free shampoo to keep soap mishaps from happening. Be aware that it does get VERY slippery!
“Painting” Baked Rocks
This is a really fun take on painting rocks- the crayons melt and make lovely designs. Plus get your kids involved in the “rock hunt.”
Homemade Bag Ice Cream for Kids
This is fascinating for kids to watch and they get to reap the rewards of their hard work by eating the ice cream. Perfect on a summer day 🙂
Kinetic Sand Recipe
Who knew kinetic sand was made so easily? I think I might be overpaying for kinetic sand at the store!
You’ll need:
- Sand
- Cornstarch
- Oil
Beat the Heat with Ice Activities for Preschoolers
From ice painting to color mixing and rescuing frozen toys, these ice activities make great things to do in summer with little ones.
8 Awesome Summer Reading Programs for Kids
Check out this round up of summer reading programs for kids and pick your favorite. It’s a great way to encourage reading and win some fun prizes.
Lemonade popsicles
Get everyone helping with measurements and squeezing lemons. Once they’re frozen, reap the rewards of your hard work with these delicious homemade lemonade popsicles.
You’ll need:
- Popsicle molds and sticks
- 4 – 8 medium lemons (enough for ½ cup juice)
- ½ cup white sugar
- Approx. 2 cups water
The Cutest Watermelon Painted Rocks for Kids to Make
Any craft that involves going outside to gather supplies is great for kids!
Play Hopscotch
Keep it classic! Bust out the chalk and make a giant hopscotch game for everyone to play.
Balloon Boppers Kids Game
DIY Solar System Kids Craft
DIY Fireworks
Set Up a Lemonade Stand
Every kid has gotta do this at some point. If you don’t want to squeeze lemons just make some canned or powdered juice.
Printable Summer Activities For Kids Planner
Easy Mason Jar Terrariums
Simple Water Balloon Yoyos
