When I think about how we’ll spend summer this year with our kids, I always have the most magical images in my head. We’ll spend so much time barefoot outside and make magical, bonding memories that our kids will cherish forever. Somehow, in my fantasies there are no TVs or video games. When summer actually rolls around, all my kids want to do is sit in the air conditioning with a controller in their hands.
Table of Contents
Finally I realized that my kids aren’t just going to take the initiative to go outside and have the old-fashioned summer of my dreams. I have to kind of curate it for them. That’s where this list of mine was born. I’ve made a promise to myself that every time one of my kids dares to utter that they’re “bored”, I will challenge myself to do one of these activities with them.
I hope you’ll join me as we try to reclaim our summer away from the screens and make some actual family memories this year!
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1. Create a Backyard Potion Lab
We did this with our daughters a few years ago on a rainy day, but this year I’m determined to recreate it outside.
You can do this with almost no money, or you can order cute little containers on Amazon or even buy little bottles at Dollar Tree. The little bottles that are meant for travel toiletries are perfect for this!
Set up a table outside (or even just use your patio or sidewalk!) and set your kids loose with muffin tins, measuring cups, food coloring, flower petals, mud…the sky is the limit!
Let your kids create little soups, potions, medicines, whatever you choose to call it.
My 3 year old makes dinosaur food.
The point is just to set their little imaginations free and to let them get messy! Even my 11 year old loves this activity, so I think it will keep kids of all ages entertained!
2. Create a Mud Area in Your Backyard
For our family, this looks like a mud kitchen and a small digging area.
My kids know that they can’t just dig random holes in our backyard, but they CAN play in this little area however they want.
They can dig up stones and rocks to “cook” in their little mud kitchen, they can play with little toys and trucks in this area, etc.
We had an issue with our kids wanting to dig and bury random things in our yard and I hated that it made our backyard look not as nice. Plus it made it kind of dangerous to play back there with random holes all over the place.
This little mud area has completely solved this problem and all of our kids love playing there.
If you think you can handle the mess, I highly recommend this! This is especially fun on rainy days (obviously when there is no thunder and lightning) and my kids spend every single rainy day out there!
3. Backyard Night Exploration
This one is one of my absolute favorites!
We give our kids glowsticks and flash lights and go outside looking for anything we can find…it’s always an adventure!
On a warm night in Florida last summer, we used black light flashlights to spot scorpions! It was so very creepy, but my kids loved it so much and still talk about it regularly.
Even if your kids spend a ton of time in your backyard during the day, I promise that at night, your yard will take on a whole new life and your kids will have an absolute blast!
4. Create a Backyard Drive-In Movie Theater
You can make this as complicated or simple as you want!
Obviously this works best if you have a projector and can actually watch a movie outside.
Otherwise, either use your imagination or maybe even move an indoor TV close to a window so everyone can watch from outside.
The experience matters so much more than the movie.
Have your kids decorate cardboard “cars”…a local grocery store will gladly save egg boxes for you that are sturdy enough to use for this little project.
With just markers, paint, construction paper and glue you can make some adorable little cardboard car boxes that your kids can sit in while you watch your movie.
If you want to go all out, you can make little paper movie tickets, run a concession stand, etc.
This will be a memory your kids will never forget!
5. Build a Backyard “Car Wash”
We do this on a tiny scale for our toddlers. We give them little Matchbox cars with toothbrushes and they scrub them clean.
This is the same idea, but on a life-sized scale.
Give your kids gentle soap, cheap sponges, and microfiber clothes and let them clean all of the household bikes, scooters, ride-on toys, doll strollers, toy trucks, etc.
My motto on our hard days is to “just add water.” If you’re having a rough day with your kids, just get everyone outside scrubbing bikes…or even just your sidewalk! Trust me, it will improve your day instantly!
6. Create a Backyard Scavenger Hunt
This one takes almost no planning at all.
Hang a list of things to find in your backyard on a back door or window and have some small prize ready for whoever finds everything the fastest.
Some ideas are:
- Find something shaped like a heart
- Locate the tallest item in the backyard and draw a picture of it
- Search for something that makes noise
- Locate something older than you
You can also hide random things around the backyard. If you have leftover plastic Easter eggs, those would come in super handy here!
7. Night Swim Ideas
Fill up a little kiddie pool and put lots of glow sticks and glow in the dark toys inside.
Anything that is fun during the day is even MORE fun at night!
Splashing in a pool is fun all day long, but add some glowing toys and it is absolutely magical at night!
As a mom of many, I give you permission to count this one as their nighttime bath. I won’t judge!
8. Ice Melting Station
We used to do this all the time and I can’t wait for summer weather to stick around so we can do it again!
Freeze tiny toys in ice cube trays and then let your kids chisel or melt them out.
To me, this doubles as science class!
Provide your kids with tiny tools, water droppers, salt, etc.
Let them see which things get their ice to melt fastest!
We have even given this a dinosaur spin and made “dinosaur eggs” by freezing small dinosaur toys in balloons filled with water. These come out semi egg-shaped.
If you want to make this even more magical, add some food dye or even glitter to the water before freezing!
Some Tough Love
Summer always feels endless when you’re a kid. The days stretch on forever, the popsicles melt too fast…Fireflies (or lightning bugs, depending on where you’re from) come out after dinner. Somehow, you don’t realize you’re in the “good old days” until they’re already gone.
One day, the kiddie pools will disappear and those sweet scavenger hunts are just a distant memory. Those tiny little voices will one day grow up and not need us like they used to. You really are living in the good old days right now. One thing that hit me like a ton of bricks to realize, was that no one is coming along behind me to create a magical childhood for my kids. That job is completely mine, and how lucky am I to get that opportunity? When I feel burned out and don’t want to put together some elaborate activity, sometimes I just make some popcorn and watch a movie with my kids.
But sometimes I pull out all the stops and build a memory that I know none of us will ever forget. When you do activities like these, you’ll know in the moment that you are creating core memories for your kids and I promise, you’ll only regret the memories you never got to make.
So make that quick stop at the dollar store, grab some cheap supplies, and make this the summer that your kids will never forget!
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