This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dollar General for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
I can’t believe we’re 5 months into 2015 already! The kids will be out of school for summer break before we know it. I’m always surprised at how quickly after school lets out that kids start saying that dreaded phrase “I’m bored!”
When I was a child, my favorite babysitter was really my favorite for one reason: she always had play ideas to suggest to us. She would suggest simple things like playing hide and seek, going for a walk or playing school. As a kid I had a tendency to play the same things over and over, and would forget about other options so having ideas suggested was a huge help at reliving my boredom.
Having a list of play ideas can be a great way to distract your kids from their boredom as needed throughout the summer. I have created a list of 50 summer break play ideas below, most of which are completely free, and others that are very cheap.
summer to-do list
- Blow bubbles.
- Play frisbee.
- Chalk drawings.
- Hopscotch.
- Hide and seek.
- Water gun fight.
- Water balloons fight.
- Slip and slide.
- Swim.
- Go fish (Card game).
- Go on a nature hike/walk through woods.
- Nature hunt (make a wish-list of items to find while on your walk – acorns, rocks, a bug, etc) and check them off as you find them.
- When you get a package, keep the box, give the kids art supplies and let them turn it into a masterpiece.
- Backyard obstacle course (use pool noodles to jump over, have them run around trees, go down the slide and mark a finish line with a specific location).
- Make a blanket tent with furniture.
- Have a read-a-thon where you read an entire stack of picture books.
- Go to your local park.
- Color in coloring books (or print off pages from the internet)
- Create with play-dough.
- Catch lightning bugs in a jar.
- Let them help cook dinner
- Go geocaching with a GPS or smartphone.
- Walk around the block.
- Go for a bike ride
- Have a picnic lunch in your backyard or the park.
- Let them wash your vehicle
- Have a “car wash” where they wash their bikes or ride-on toys.
- Have a board game night
- Make necklaces with yarn and beads or cereal.
- Have a bonfire and make s’mores
- Make a lemonade stand (will be more successful during city wide yard sales, parades or other events)
- Save old food boxes once empty and set up a “store” and take turns shopping and being the cashier. You can even work in math skills by letting them pay and make change!
- Have a movie night with popcorn.
- Fill a kiddie pool (or bathtub) with small toys and use a toy net to “go fishing”
- Go fishing at your local lake or river.
- Write a letter to a friend or family member.
- Walk around the block picking up any garbage that you see.
- Play tag
- Staple together paper and have them draw or write a story
- Have a spa day with hairdos, makeup and/or massages.
- Use masking tape to create “roads” on the floor and couches for matchbox cars.
- Line up dining room chairs to play bus driver or train.
- Play card games like war or slap jack.
- Bring out your old wedding or prom dresses or work clothing and let them play dress up.
- Plant a garden and let them help you weed and water it each day.
- Make a paper hat or boat out of a newspaper.
- Cut paper into perfect squares and try online origami tutorials
- Play hangman or tic tac toe.
- Set up water or soda bottles and “go bowling” with a ball.
- Paint with watercolors.
Feel free to copy my list and add to it with some of your children’s favorite play ideas, or neat new projects that you find on other blogs or Pinterest. I’ve seen some parents print a list off and then cut the paper into strips and drop them into a jar, so when their child gets bored they can pull out a piece of paper to make it a bit more surprising and fun.
I also created a Do-it-yourself summer break survival kit. You can Save on summer essentials with Dollar General! I was able to pick up chalk, bubbles, play dough, a net, crayons, pens with colored ink, a swim float, allergy medication, SPF lip balm, flip flops, baby wipes (perfect for cleaning messes at home or on the go), go fish, and a deck of regular playing cards for about $20 total.
You can follow Dollar General on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more summer saving ideas!
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Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has 28 responses.
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Melissa S
My son is a pre teen but I still see a few things on your list that would work. He is definitely in the very bored part of summer right noe=w,
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katie
These are great ideas. I think a few of them can be saved for rainy days later in the year.
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Anne Taylor
This is an amazing list of summer activities! I’m going to bookmark this page for future reference!
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Renee Smith
I love this! I wish I had come upon this earlier as we only have a couple more weeks til school starts up again. Great list and I love the kit idea!
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Amanda Schaeffer
These are great ideas and you cant beat the prices at Dollar General
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Lisa W
What a handy list! This could keep my kid going for a LONG time thank you for shareing
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kara kudro
love this idea, I am wishing that you would do a post about winter survival kit:) have two young boys and live in the midwest so dreading being stuck inside all day!!!
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Crystal E.
This has so many wonderful ideas! My six year old gets bored so quickly, I’m always trying to find new activities to keep us entertained!
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Debbie Welchert
What a great list of things to do. A lot of them can be done in the winter too. My grandchildren will be doing a lot of them over Christmas break.
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Mary Beth Elderton
This is hilarious! I love it! This is giving me some ideas about how to adapt to holidays.
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Teresa Bean
Love this idea. My kids are happy campers the first two weeks of summer. Then I have to work pretty hard to entertain them. Love the idea of putting ideas/activities in a jar and having them pull one to combat the boredom. I am going to implement this during winter break as well.
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ellen beck
Great ideas. I am glad to see so many involve the outside and having fun. I like keeping kids active and the outdoors is aa fantastic place to do things. Most cost nothing or very little!
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So many great ideas. I love finding things to keep my grandsons entertained without costing a ton of money!
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denise low
Thank you for sharing. Looks like everything a child needs.
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kathy downey
This is an amazing list of summer activities,i must make note of these !
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Sarah L
Lots of good suggestions for the summer.
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Katherine Riley
We usually give Easter baskets that look like this for the grand kids to use during the upcoming summer months. Great ideas!!
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Sandy Cain
This time I’m getting an early start! I usually procrastinate and wait for the last minute before I do anything. But not this year! Spring is just 1 month away – so I’m getting my summer stuff together now – I’ll be all set!
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wendy browne
I wish I had lists like this for my now college aged kids.
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This looks like it would keep the kids very busy. Thank you for sharing.
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Karen Propes
This is a great list! I’m going to make my Granddaughter a kit and post a list in her room or in the kitchen at my Daughter’s home. It will be great she can just decide something to do and have fun. My grandson is due this week so it will be a big help for my Daughter for her to have something like this. Thanks for sharing your great idea!
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justin tan
THis is a great long list. I’m sure I could find something for my kids from this list. thanks for sharing!
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Brenda Disimone
I showed this to my mom and she loved it. Its hard to keep my nephews off of the computer or playing video games all day. we went to the dollar tree and bought some of the items mentioned here, thanks !
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Kristina Potter
What a neat idea. Kids are always moping around saying they have nothing to do. Especially these days, we all got kids who don’t want to go outside and they don’t interact person to person like they usually do. Now its just through text and computer.. This would be great to give your kids a challenge for fun!! Thank you for sharing I just copied and saved it.
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Deb E
Anything with water sounds good right now. It’s over 100 degrees this week in the valley but there’s a heat dome over a large part of the U.S. so I can’t be the only one complaining. I love the bubble activities for the kids.
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Dotty J Boucher
WOW! I am loving your list here, I think if I had everything here my grandchildren which are here more wouldn’t get so bored..
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Amber Ludwig
What great ideas!! I love this little survival kit you whipped up!! What a cute idea to welcome kiddos to summer vacation!!
These ideas will come in handy and sound like a whole lot of summer fun.