Over 25 boy-approved summer activity for kids ideas selected from some of my favorite blogs. Of course, girls can enjoy all of these activities as well!
Some links on this site are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you! Learn more.
As the only boy with three sisters, my son sometimes feels (justifiably, at times) that the girls rule the house. I polled my blog friends for their top summer activity for kids ideas that might appeal to 8-12-year-old boys. Then I went through the list with my son and had him down-select the activities he truly loved. We scheduled them through the summer and are sharing them today. I hope your kids love them as well!
Boy Approved Summer Activity For Kids Ideas
What You'll Find on This Page
Flying a kite is one of our favorite summer activities, but here are some fantastic ideas you can do closer to home.
Engineering Summer Fun for Kids
- Build a helicopter that flies
- Create a tinker box engineering kit
- Angry Birds game
- Balloon archery games
- Circuit bugs (see also light-up bugs)
- DIY fidget spinners
Balancing Themed Summer Fun for Kids
- DIY kids juggling sticks
- Weight bearing bridge building challenge
- Everyday items bridge building challenge
- Make a Cartesian diver
STEM Summer Fun for Kids
- Build a solar oven
- Test foods for starch
- Make sun-upcycled crayons
- Build a LEGO volcano
- Try a wind powered STEM challenge
- Explore magic color-changing potions
Exploratory Summer Fun for Kids
- Make Harry Potter slime potions
- Blast off Minecraft inspired rockets
- Set off on a photo scavenger hunt
- Make your own log catapult
- Be wowed by this ancient Greek architecture STEM challenge
Fine Motor Summer Activity for Kids Ideas
- Send marshmallows flying with a popsicle stick catapult
- Race rubber band cars
- Explore chemistry with this Harry Potter potions class activity
- Make R2D2 out of Perler beads.
Even More Boy-Approved Activities
Here are some activities that were added after I published the post – ideas my son came up with as well as recommendations from readers (thank you!)
- Build a house out of playing cards. Thank you @inkscrblr for this activity.
- Set up dominoes to knock over. We recommend bulk dominoes for this activity.
- Make a stop motion video.
- Fly giant paper airplanes.
- Build a maze using sticks.
Do you have more ideas? Please let us know!
Do you have a favorite summer activity for kids idea that should be on the list? Please share in the comments below, on my Facebook page, or tag me on Instagram.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Awesome ideas for sure!
There’s definitely great ideas for boys here.
My son would love any activities that included Minecraft or Star Wars!
Wow! Some really neat ideas in this round-up!
I can’t believe that summer is just around the corner, time does fly. You have a lot of great ideas here that I’m going to save – I always liked flying a kite (and still do) but the balancing games are new to me and look to be both educational and fun. Thanks for sharing!
Amalia
xo
My daughter feels much like your son, and laments the lack of sisters quite often. We see a lot of these types of activities going on at my house.
Great round up of activities for boys! I’ll be using this for my son!
I love the internet for inspiration like this!
Wow! so many great ideas!!
So many great ideas here. I am sure Johnny will be a happy boy this summer :)