Fun summer activities for young children

With only one full month and a handful of days left in summer vacation, it isn't uncommon for parents to hear their children begging for more things to do. Complaints of being bored or that more activities need to occur might be happening and, if it is, it's time to figure out some fun summer activities for young children. There's still plenty of summer left to have a great vacation!

Even if you and your family don't have time to get to all of these ideas, that doesn't mean fun can't occur on nice days on the weekends or afterschool. You could also save these ideas for next summer, too! Here are some fun summer activities for young children to explore with your family:
Have a water balloon or water gun fight. Change up into your bathing suits and run around the yard trying to get each other wet. If it hasn't rained in a while in your area, wear sandals or flip-flops to prevent tiny feet from getting hurt from crunchy grass.

Go on a picnic at a park, at a playground, or in your backyard. Pack lunches for everyone into a picnic basket along with some snacks, a camera, juice, water, a blanket, and chapter books. Encourage the entire family to participate in this picnic. Encourage everyone in the family to go on this picnic, and to take turns reading from the books.

Put your kitchen to use by making play-dough or homemade ice cream in a Ziploc bag. These are great opportunities to teach your kids about measuring, and preparing things independently. Store the play-dough when they're finished playing with it and, of course, eat the ice cream. These types of projects are great for rainy summer days.

Get some glass jars with screw on caps, use a nail and hammer to punch some small holes in the cap, and catch fireflies with the kids. This summer activity is fun for everyone, but be sure to apply bug spray first to avoid too many mosquito bites. Before catching the fireflies, ask the kids to put some blades of grass and twigs into the jars first. Then, at bedtime, the jars can act as their nightlights.

Coastal fireflies jar craft







Isabelle Thornton was born and raised in Paris, France. Lives in Utah with her husband and 4 Darling kids. Her blog, Le chateau des fleurs reflects her love for her family and anything lovely.