Ah, summer… the best time of the year for children’s activities because the days stretch out before them, one after another with so much TIME. But then again, lots of free time can also mean bored kids who have run out of ideas.

Here are some summer activity ideas for kids to kick-start their creative little brains and keep them busy playing again. Keep in mind that these summer activities for kids are a bit more involved, to keep them busy longer!

Treasure hunt.

Ask your child to make a list of things to find around the house, yard, or neighborhood. Then you can invite some friends to go on a scavenger hunt.

Invent a recipe.

This one may require adult supervision depending on your child’s age, but let them make up a cookie, cake, or milkshake. They can then write/print the recipe and send it to Grandma. Or they may want to make their own cookbook with the new recipe in it.

Summer camp of 3 or 5 days.

Camp ideas:

Watch movies

bake cookies

nature walks

Cheers / cheerleading / somersaults

artwork

sidewalk chalk

book club

Sports

Table games

Your child can make flyers about the camp to give out to the neighborhood kids. They may want to charge a few dollars to cover the costs of providing refreshments during camp.

Race obstacle.

There are many objects around your house that children can use for an obstacle course. They can run around rocks, jump over a sidewalk chalk covered river, crawl under the patio table, etc. They may want you to videotape them after they’ve perfected it.

Build a town.

Take the Legos outside in the dirt. They can make houses, buildings, and cars out of the building blocks, and then make roads, hills, and lakes out of the dirt. Hose down blocks before re-inserting. If there is no dirt, they can draw paths and parking lots with sidewalk chalk or even use masking tape.

Neighborhood game day for children.

Your kids can do a bean bag toss, spin the wheel, ring bottle toss, bingo and more, for which neighboring kids can buy tickets and win penny prizes or candy.

Surprise Packages.

Next time you’re at the store, have your kids pick out some inexpensive wrapped candy and small toys. They can make little packages out of stickers and some cut flowers. They can then leave them at their friends’ doors, ring the doorbell, and run away.

There you have 7 ideas of summer children’s activities for your children to do this summer. Some days the kids are just bored and need some ideas from you to get them going. Now you can come to the rescue.