Summer is such a joyous time, when nature’s beauty is at its finest. The birds are singing, the bees are humming, and the trees and flowers are all in bloom.
There is no better time to coax your kids away from their tablets and smartphones, and get involved in an outdoor summer activity in the great outdoors.
Not only will they benefit from the fresh air and sunlight, but there is also plenty of subconscious learning to be done when kids spend time in nature.
We have put together a list of 30 activity ideas as to how your kids can have fun in the sun this summer!
Outdoor Summer Activities for Kids (30 Fun Ideas)
Let’s take a look at our top list of 30 fun ideas of summer activities for kids to enjoy.
Run Through Sprinklers
For little ones there really is nothing more thrilling than running through water sprinklers. This simple garden appliance can become the source of hours of fun for all the family. This activity makes for some really great snaps as well, so you can share and treasure the memory!
Sand Castle Competition
A summer’s day at the beach isn’t complete without a sand castle competition and is one of our all time favorite outdoor summer activities for kids.
You can encourage your little ones to get really creative by adding windows, doors, turrets and even moats to their castles.
Most elaborate wins! For a super surprise, pack some figurines in your beach bag. The kids will love playing with them in their newly made castles for hours.
Face Painting
Set up a chair and umbrella in the back garden and get some seriously colorful face painting going. Butterflies and tigers are always favorites, and lend themselves to wonderful imaginary games once completed.
Another great idea is to let your kids paint your face! They will absolutely love getting creative, and you can’t peek until it is finished!
Collect Sea Shells
There is something very magical about collecting precious shells and stones from the sea shore and is a particularly magical outdoor summer activity for kids.
Walk in the shallow waves and see what fantastic colors and shapes you can find. Encourage your kids to be selective – it makes the chosen shells seem more special.
Then clean them up once you get home and put them in a special box for safe keeping.
Make Daisy Chains
Sometimes, the old ones are the best, and making daisy chains has been a favorite outdoor summer activity for kids for years and years.
Find a field, garden or meadow with plenty of flowers to choose from and sit cross legged in the sun. Pierce the stem of one daisy with your little finger nail and thread the stem of the next daisy through the hole.
Then repeat over and over until you have a long string of daisies that can be worn as a crown, a necklace or bracelet.
Go Fruit Picking
Whether you gather strawberries, raspberries, apples or oranges, there is something wonderfully calming and satisfying about fruit picking.
Lots of farms will let you pick your own, and you can always go grazing the hedgerows if there isn’t a farm close by.
The best part is that your kids can turn their pickings into jam, marmalade or a lovely fruit pie afterwards! Yum, yum!
Camp In The Garden
When the weather is warm and the nights are balmy, why not get the camping gear out and spend a night in the garden.
The kids will find it so exciting to help set up the tent and hunker down in their sleeping bags. This outdoor summer activity is super fun in the summer and is our favorite season to do this.
And it is much simpler and easier than heading into the wilderness, since you can all head indoors should the weather decide to change.
Go To Your Local County Fair
Taking the kids to the local county fair is always a great day out, and they are usually very reasonably priced. There are animals to pet and feed, stalls to buy crafted gifts, and lots of food vans for some delicious munching.
Be sure to take sun hats and sunscreen and a bottle of water!
Play Water Balloon Baseball
Water balloon baseball is just about one of the funniest and silliest games out there, and your kids will absolutely love playing it.
You simply fill water balloons with cold water and take it in turns as pitcher and batter. Be prepared to get splattered!
Paddling Pool
One of the best summer activities for kids is to get out of the paddling pool and have some fun. If you can’t make it to the beach, then why not bring the beach to the back garden and set up a paddling pool oasis?
If you have a kids slide, you can always position the end in the water and create a mini water park. The kids will go wild for it!
Make Homemade Salt Dough
If you mix one cup of flour with one cup of salt and add two cups of water, you will make a marvelous homemade playdough that can be shaped, molded, and then set in the oven.
A great idea is for the kids to mold the letters of their own name and poke a hole in each letter for string to be attached. After they have been cooked in the oven they can be painted in bright colors and patterns.
Make Potato Prints
Speaking of painting, summer is a great time to make some big, bold potato prints. You simply cut a raw potato in half and carve fun shapes into them.
When your kids dip them in colorful paint and press them to paper, they will see the shapes transferred perfectly. These make great art works for the fridge door.
Set Up A Lemonade Stand
Pressing zesty lemons and mixing in plenty of sugar creates wonderful homemade lemonade. Why not fill a few jugs with ice and set up a stall at the bottom of the drive. Passers by will be most grateful, and your kids might even make a few dimes!
Make Homemade Ice Pops
This outdoor activity for kids screams summer and is super fun to do! To make homemade ice pops, your kids first need to mix up their favorite squash and pour it into ice cubes trays or lollipop molds.
Then after the mixture has been in the freezer for around 5 minutes, they should add lollipop sticks to the semi-rigid mix. Leave to freeze for 30 minutes and then enjoy homemade ice pops in the sunshine.
Make Homemade Ice Cream
Alternatively, making homemade ice cream is an incredibly creative and exciting summer activity. Your kids will have great fun choosing the flavors and ingredients to put in their mix.
It is best if you have access to an ice cream maker machine to churn the mixture as it solidifies.
Build A Den
Encourage your kids to gather all the blankets, chairs, sticks and twigs they can, then challenge them to create an awesome den. Not only will they learn lots from fashioning the structure, but they will also have hours of fun playing in it afterwards.
Create A Fairy Garden
On a smaller scale, another great outdoor activity for kids is to build a fairy garden. It can be great fun to gather leaves, twigs and stones from around the garden and create a miniature den for fairies.
Your kids can let their imaginations run wild, and they can even add swimming pools, sunbeds and horse paddocks if they want their fairies to live in style!
Paint A Birdhouse
A brilliant summer activity is to treat your kids to one of these birdhouse painting kits. They will have great fun painting the birdhouse in bright, vibrant colors with as much detail as they like.
And best of all, you can set the bird house up in the garden and watch the birds as they come to feed.
Visit The Zoo
The zoo is at its best in summer time, and your kids will benefit so much from looking at the animals and learning all about their natural habitats, feeding habits, sleeping habits and behaviors.
A top tip is to take a packed lunch, because the food is often expensive at these tourist attractions.
Walk In The Park
It may sound simplistic, but taking your kids for a walk in your local park is a fantastic summer activity that will allow both you and them to admire the wonders of nature.
Do lots of pointing and touching, and maybe even feed the ducks whilst you’re there!
Star Gazing
On clear summer nights the stars shine brightly, and the temperature is warm enough for you to lie on your backs in the grass and look up at them.
A great game is to ask your kids to find pictures and faces in the stars and see if you can see them too.
Paint A Hand-Print Mural
If you have a boring, plain wall that needs a lick of paint, why not get your kids to do an awesome hand-print mural?
They can create an incredible scene depicting people and laces you know and love by placing painted hand-prints across the brickwork. It will be a colorful, unique and meaningful makeover for your garden.
Water Balloon Pinata
Now if you’re looking for an outdoor summer activity for kids that is super fun, this is a great choice for you. If you really want to go wild, how about creating a hanging pinata from water balloons?!
You can fill the central balloon with sweets, and then the surrounding balloons with water. Then your kids can take it in turns to beat the balloons and get splattered until they reach the center!
Play Coffee Shops
Kids love make-believe, and often the more realistic the setting the better. Setting up a table and chairs in the garden, and filling a coffee pot with tinted water will bring the scene to life. Now you just need to sit back and let them wait on you!
Play Fancy Dress
Fancy dress games are always more fun when played out of doors. Rather than staying cooped up in the house, bring the fancy dress box outside and let the sun shine new light on all those old costumes.
Paint The Clouds
Cloud painting is great fun because it doesn’t take too long. Your kids can start by painting the big blue sky, and then use a dry sponge to create white and pink clouds that resemble those they can see in the sky.
Go Boogie Boarding
If you don’t already have your own boogie boards, then renting them from a beachside hut is cheap and easy and will be such a treat for your kids. They can splash about and catch some waves, and you can have a go too!
Visit A Swimming Pool
A trip to the local swimming pool will provide your kids with physical exercise and fun! It is all the better if that swimming pool happens to be an outdoor pool!
Go To An Outdoor Movie
Rather than sitting in for another night of Netflix, why not treat your kids to an outdoor movie night. You can take a blanket to sit on and plenty of delicious snacks to munch.
The movie magic will be a memory they cherish forever and is the perfect outdoor summer activity for kids and the whole family.
Have A Picnic On A Hill
And finally, speaking of blankets and snacks, why not take your kids for an outdoor picnic at a local beauty spot? Choosing somewhere high up that has an amazing view will make it all the more memorable for them.
Conclusion
And there you have it. 30 fun, educational and creative outdoor summer activities for kids for the whole family to enjoy this summer!
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