The Best Fun Summer Activities to Entertain Kids Now

“What can we do now, grandma? I’m bored.”

Summer is a great time for kids to relax and unwind. But long, lazy days can get monotonous, too. When put on the spot, here are some fun summer activities you can suggest that require nominal adult supervision and just few materials.

For a lot more activities, check out Grandma Fun.

Exploring Secret Ways to Communicate

These secret writing ideas come from a card that N made for his dad this past Father’s Day. Kids can try out:

• Mirror writing (you’ll need see-through paper, like tracing paper and a mirror)
• Invisible writing (you’ll need lemon juice, a Q-tip, and a safe heat source)
• Hidden messages (you’ll need red and blue markers)

While we used these ideas to make a greeting card, kids can create secret maps or secret communications for the games they play. We found the lemon juice writing requires cheap, porous paper like printer paper; not dense paper like cardstock. This one will need adult supervision to apply heat to reveal the secret message.

Scavenger Hunt

This fun summer activity is simple. Just make a list of items kids need to find and hand each child a list. Then set them off to see who can find all the item first. Choose things they can gather easily without harm. For example, a black sock, a stone, or a leaf from a specific bush or tree. For safety, hold the scavenger hunt indoors or in your own backyard.

If you do go to a park or playground, kids shouldn’t take the items on the scavenger hunt list; just circle the items found.

This game can also be played remotely. When Miss T was little, sometimes she would FaceTime me out of boredom, I’d give her a list to memorize of things to find in her own house. Then I’d set a timer and have her gather as many items as she could find–and remember–until the buzzer sounded. She’d rush around frantically and it was always great fun.

A variation of a scavenger hunt is a treasure hunt. Here you provide clues to guide kids to hidden treasure.

• Scavenger hunt (you’ll need a bag for each child to gather the items)
• Treasure hunt (you’ll need “treasure,” such as a candy bar or a small toy)

Outdoor “Cooking”

In this fun summer activity, you gather pots, pans, bowls, safe cooking tools, and a pitcher of water. Let kids pour, whisk, measure, and strain to their heart’s content. I used to think this was an activity for just the youngest kids, but Miss T, when she grew older, made some extraordinary appetizers, rolling up leaves and securing with toothpicks, and a lovely flower main course. They were so beautiful, I gave her a silver tray for presentation.

Just be sure kids are working in the shade and if there are flowers and leaves you don’t want the kids to pick, be sure to let them know in advance. For younger kids, you could post signs on the plants that are off-limits.

• Outdoor “cooking” (you’ll need bowls, pots and pans, safe cooking tools, expendable flowers and plants)

Indoor Fishing

Kids can make paper fish and hook them to score points. This is fun indoor entertainment for times when it’s too hot to be outside or if it’s raining.

• Paper fishing (you’ll need a magnet–you can use one from the fridge–yardstick of dowel, yarn or string, paper for fish, and metal paper clips)

Fort Fight

This is one of the best games of all time in our family. You need at least two kids to play, but it’s even more fun if adults join in. We played it for the first time during the pandemic, when we were still masking outdoors.

You can enhance the game play by painting your forts and making shields.

• Fort Fight (you’ll need two large cartons, recycle paper to wad up for ammunition, something to use as a flag for each team to capture, and a bag for each child to hold their paper wads)

Other Fun Summer Activities to Do Together

These are additional activities that will require more adult involvement.

• Take kids to a farmers market and have them make a salad when they get home from your purchases; use only safe plastic knives for cutting.
• Visit a library in your neighborhood when there is a free activity, such as story time or a craft class; enroll kids in a summer reading program–there are usually rewards for completing specific goals.
• Try a new recipe or cooking technique. In cleaning my kitchen drawers, I found a tortilla press that I had used just once. I’d like to invite Miss T to make tortillas with me. Another project I have in mind is making cannoli with my hardly-used cannoli molds
• I’d like to try to sell stuff on Poshmark; Miss T can be my business partner. We have to learn how to market our products. It will be a learning game and Miss T will reap a percentage of sales. This activity will take principles from our pretend cookie shop into real life.

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