I keep seeing all these amazingly adorable summer family fun plans floating around online but I hadn’t found a single one that I thought we could actually complete so I figured I’d just make my own! Unfortunately mine isn’t “101 Summer Fun Ideas”, I didn’t come up with a cool number at all-92. Yeah, I’m making 92 the new 101. Just go with it! Or better yet, make your own summer family fun plan!
We live in the middle of nowhere but our boondocks just so happen to lay smack between two pretty big cities, so we get the best of 3 worlds-the backwoods, the “Home of the Blues”, and the home of the “Red Wolves”. So, you’ll notice that my list includes things to do at home as well as things to go out and about and do.
The first section of my list is the freebies! These are all things we can do for “free” either at home with things we already have or at places we have memberships to so we don’t have to pay admission.
At Home Fun Freebies:
1. Play Frisbee
2. Catch lightening bugs
3. Make and eat homemade popsicles
4. Camp out (or at least set up a tent and pretend) in the backyard
5. Make s’mores
6. Have a movie and popcorn night (or rainy day)
7. Family game night (or again, rainy day)
8. Host a sleepover
9. Play with water balloons
10. Eat huge slices of watermelon -don’t worry about the juice dripping from your chin and elbows
11. Sit on the lawn and watch a firework display
12. Slip-n-slide
13. Take a nature walk nearby and collect interesting things you find
14. Make up and go on a scavenger hunt
15. Fly a kite
16. Play in the rain and/or splash in puddles
17. Make and blow your own giant bubbles
18. Have a pillow fight
19. Karaoke
20. Dig in the dirt-look for worms, rocks, marbles, whatever you can find
21. Plant something and watch it grow
22. Hand wash vehicles and/or bikes
23. Let the kids pick the menu of the day and YOU help THEM prepare it
24. Make puppets and put on a show
25. Go for a family bike ride
26. Take a walk
27. Melt and create with crayons
28. Spread out a blanket and look for shapes in the clouds
29. Star gaze and if you have older children look for constellations (print out a map online)
30. Transform old tees (try cutting, tie dying, and even bleaching!)
32. Make and deliver surprises for loved ones
33. Start a collection
34. Make your own pizza (and a dessert one too!)
35. Make ice cream sundaes
36. Play hopscotch
37. Color/paint a picture
38. Get creative with glow sticks
39. Freeze small toys in ice and let the kids stay busy-and cool-by chipping them out
40. Make instruments and start a band
41. Try baking soda dropper art
42. Have fun with shaving cream paint
43. Make a fairy door/house/garden
44. Make marshmallow poppers and declare war
45. Paint toast
46. Make an alphabet book
47. Have a spa day (paint nails, give facials, do hair and makeup, ect.)
48. Make and fly paper and/or straw airplanes
49. Jump rope
50. Hula hoop
51. Have a water gun fight
52. Microwave ivory soap
53. Make rock candy
54. Make and enjoy snow cones
55. Make frozen fruit and/or yogurt treats
56. Make lava lamps
57. Host (or attend) a family BBQ (keep costs down by doing it “pot luck” style)
58. Schedule a mid-year check-in with your Elf on the Shelf
59. Write messages with “invisible ink”
60. Mesmerize the littles with a jelly fish in a bottle
61. Grill banana s’mores
62. Make” hot dogs with hair” for lunch
63. Finger paint with pudding
64. Mail something fun to family/friends
65. Play flashlight tag in the dark
66. Make mud pies
67. Celebrate a crazy holiday (or make up your own)
68. Clean out closets and/or toy box and donate to charity
69. Bake something sweet
70. Try a new food and/or recipe
Out and About Fun Freebies:
71. Vacation Bible School at a local church
72. Library summer program(s)
73. Go swimming
74. Go to the zoo
75. Go fishing
76. Visit the Farmer’s Market
77. Have a picnic at the park
78. Stay cool at a splash pad
79. Go bowling
80. Enjoy watching or participate in an Independence Day parade
81. Visit a museum (many offer free days and some even free summer passes)
82. Feed the ducks at a pond/park
83. Go on a park hop
84. Visit the Children’s Museum
85. Spend a day at Shelby Farms
86. Go to the movies (look for summer freebies in your area)
87. Build sand castles (you could do this at home or at a park or beach with sand)
88. Go for a boat ride
Other Fun, But Not Necessarily Entirely Free Things:
89. Enjoy an afternoon at the Botanic Garden’s Big Backyard
90. Organize or participate in a town clean up day
91. Volunteer for ANYTHING worthwhile
92. Make a water bag to play on
That’s my list! What do you think? I have to figure out some cute way to display it so we can check things off as we go. I don’t have fancy printing software, so I may just write it on scrapbook paper, frame it, and use a dry erase marker to make the check marks.
Oh, and one more thing-check out my “Fun Stuff for the Girls” board on Pinterest to find instructions for these and other awesome ideas! When we complete an activity I’ll post about it and then add links as I have a habit of tweaking ideas I find online.
Do you have any plans this summer? How are you keeping your little ones busy?
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