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Summer is a great time to get out and do a lot of fun activities with your kids. But it can get expensive and exhausting to go places every single day. Today I want to share some Summer Activities we do at home with our kids in hope to inspire you. You don’t have to go somewhere or spend a bunch of money to have a great summer.
With two year old twins and a seven year old, it is a big hassle to try and get out of our house every single day to do activities. This year I have found a lot of great summer activities we can do at home, and most of them do not require any special equipment, but are a total blast.
Summer Activities You Can Do At Home
- Make and play with homemade play dough. My kids love play dough. While I personally despise the mess they usually make with it, I do know that letting them play with play dough can keep them happy and entertained for several hours. With toddlers, I find it is important to make sure that the play dough is edible. Last year, we figured out how to make some edible play dough that actually tastes decent. Not sure if that is a good thing or not (do I really want to encourage eating play dough) but it is still fun to make with them and then let them play with it.
- Start a small garden. Last summer, we decided to grow some of our own produce. We live in a rental so we had to do a potted Garden. It was a lot of fun having the Goof help with planting, watering, and even picking the produce. If you want some ideas on how to garden in small spaces, you can check out my post about it here.
- Teach your kids how to cook. I think it is super important that we teach our kids how to cook. Summer is a great time since we aren’t as rushed from school and other activities. While it may be too hot to cook a huge meal, you can teach them how to make simple things. I like to start my kids out making simple things like instant pudding, and then move to dinner dishes.
- Make your own water table. I thought my kids might enjoy a water table this summer, but most were small or very expensive. I decided I wanted to just make a DIY version. We used a long rubbermaid container (the kind made to slide under a bed) and put it on cinder blocks and filled with water. Then we gave our kids measuring cups, beach/bath toys from the dollar store, and these star fish bath toys that spray water (which you can find here). They have really loved this activity this summer and it is going to be great as the temps have been over 100 lately, and will probably stay there for the next few months.
- Make some toy accessories. Last month I shared how we made this cute DIY Cozy Cone Motel. One thing that is fun to do with kids is to make some accessories for their favorite toys. Maybe that means making doll furniture out of cardboard boxes or maybe it is making a place to store cars. Or even just using duct tape to create some roads to play with their cards on the ground.
- Arts and Crafts. I love doing arts and crafts with my kids. Because we live in a smaller home, I don’t like to just buy a bunch of supplies to have on hand, so I love ordering the ALEX brand craft kits. They include everything you need (even glue) to complete the crafts.
Mixing in these at home summer activities with days where we get out of the house makes our summer a whole lot of fun, but saves me having to feel like we HAVE to go somewhere every single day. Do you have any great summer activities that you would add to this list? Let me know in the comments.
check out the other great posts from the Blogorail!
Great ideas to beat boredom! I’ve pinned for later 🙂
So many great ideas! My daughter would flip out to be able to make her own play dough.
Oh my gosh. We’ve made all kinds of things for American Girl dolls, etc but have NEVER thought of making car accessories. How did I miss that post?! Great ideas all around, and stunning photos! 🙂