The Big List Of Ideas For Summer Fun With The Kids

School is out, summer is on it’s way and you have big plans for the next few months right?  Even with all these plans it is inevitable, your bound to hear the mid summer anthem from your kids….”we’re bored”.   So here is a go-to list for the days your mind draws a complete blank.  Now you will notice it says the BIG summer list…that’s because I am counting on your participation…you’ll play along won’t you?  Here are some of my ideas, and others I have gathered, and  I look forward to seeing yours in the comments!

The BIG list of Fun Things To Do When The Kids Get Bored This Summer

• Make a Nature Journal - Give them a disposable camera to take pictures of all the creatures outside the house they can find – birds, worms, potato bugs, along with a journal to keep track of all their discoveries.  Tape the pictures in the journal with any details they want to add.
• Start a Rock Collection - Give them a bag filled with some brushes, a spoon, wash cloth, magnifying glass if you have one and set them on there way to be a geologist for the day.  Tell them to dig where a lot of rocks are and to look for a good variety.  You can glue them to the bottom of a shoe box and check out a field guide at your local library to help identify all their valuable rocks.
• Open a Rock Museum - From all their recent finds
• Bring on the Water Balloons - Next time your at the store be sure to pick up a few bags of water balloons.  Then when they start in with “we’re bored” you can throw them a bag and send them out in their swimsuits.  Guaranteed to keep them busy for awhile.
• Have a Treasure Hunt - Take a box of some kind and put some treats inside then print out this fun map, draw your house and any other things they will recognize, and then an X to mark the spot where they will find the treasure.
• Pillow Case Races - Have all the bored kids in the neighborhood bring an old pillow case over for a pillow case race.
• Bike Parade - Take out your stash of party decor supplies and let them decorate their bikes, scooters, and big wheels then let them parade them around the neighborhood.
• Marching Band - Recyclable containers make perfect instruments, give them some spoons and send them down the sidewalk in a marching band.
• Participate In a Postcard Exchange – Kim over at Mom Tried It is putting together a post card exchange for kids and is still taking names!  I think this would be so fun!
• Have Breakfast In The Park – By mid summer the park slides get a little hot for little tushes, so instead of lunch, hit the park early.
• Have a Camp Out – Pitch a tent in the backyard, bring along a deck of cards and a lantern and play till the first person falls asleep.
• Sleep Under The Stars - Forget the tent and just lay down a sleeping bag under the stars.  One of my favorite memories is when my Grandma agreed to sleep outside with me and nothing but a pile of blankets.
• Have Fun With Origami - Let them pick their favorite origami project from this site, lay a blanket on the grass give them some magazines and let ‘em rip.
• Star Gaze – Lay a blanket on the grass under the stars and see where the conversation goes.  I did this with my two year old last year and he still talks about it.  Sometimes it’s the littlest things that mean the most, no?
• Hit The Beach - You may not live near a typical beach, but if you look hard enough your sure to find a beach somewhere close by.  Parks, ponds, lakes, most of these have some kind of beach area.  Hit the dollar store and pick up some pails and shovels on your way.
• Host an Outdoor Movie Night - A lot of libraries have movie projectors and movies to go with them for use, just hang a white sheet on the back of your house, have everyone bring a lawn chair and a goodie to share.  Can’t find one?  Bring out your TV!
• Make a Fort -  A sheet or blanket over a clothes line makes a great fort/tent! Packing a picnic keeps them busy and they can eat lunch outdoors under a shady tree.
• Hit The Museum - Too hot to play outside?  Check out the museums in your area, and check for special events for kids throughout the summer.
• Go See A Movie - Still too hot?  Take them to the dollar theaters or a matinee for a cheap date.
• Chalk Painting - Sure sidewalk chalk is great, but for some reason coloring with a paint brush is so much more fun.
• Popsicles and Sprinklers - If your going to give them sticky colored goodness, you may as well let them run in the sprinkler afterwords.
• Make a Diet Coke Volcano – This is definitely on my summer list of to-dos!  I don’t know who would enjoy it more, my kids or my husband!
• Memory Game - Dig through your junk drawer and pick out ten to fifteen random items.  Set them out on a flat surface and let them have a good look at them.  Now have them close their eyes and take one item and hide behind your back, then have them try to figure out what you took.  Then turn it over to them!  This used to keep me and my friends busy forever.
• Have an Egg Hunt – This idea came from our facebook page.  Take out your plastic Easter eggs and let them hide and find the eggs all day.  Who says egg hunts only have to come once a year, so easy and fun!
• Go on a Field Trip - Kate was just telling me how she popped into her neighborhood fire station and let them give her boys the star treatment.  Call in advance and ask if they would mind a little visit.

Thanks to our Facebook friends who helped us out with this, Your ideas were great!  And there were a few of you that I was going to link to for this list and I cannot find the list!!  So sorry, if you were one of them, please leave a link in the comments!

Now it’s your turn, I know you have something for me.  What do you do when the kids say “we’re bored!”?  What fun traditions do you save just for the summer?  If we all leave an idea, we will have the best source on the web for ways to make this summer great…It’s only a BIG list if you play along!

Links welcome.