Busy kids are happy kids! Summer vacation is coming up, and keeping kids busy is key to avoiding the summer slide and maintaining parent sanity! That’s why I’ve put together this list featuring my favorite kids’ activities for all ages!
Favorite Kids’ Activities
What You'll Find on This Page
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Baby and Toddler Activities
How do you find a safe range of activities for young children who put EVERYTHING in their mouths? This list of baby and toddler activities is taste safe.
You might also enjoy this list of gross motor toys for babies, and this collection of board books for babies. Don’t forget my old cardboard box baby play standby!
Preschool Learning Activies
Preschool aged children are curious and eager to learn. These preschool activities will keep them busy while teaching a range of skills.
Active Indoor Play
Rainy day? Cold weather? Just a mom trying to get some chores done? These active indoor play activities keep the kids thinking, learning, and building gross motor skills.
Elementary School Kids’ Activities
My son and I put together a list of over 25 boy-approved summer activity ideas for kids. I’ve also got some great STEM activities for kids that only require items you probably already have in your home.
Pretend Play Inspiration
I LOVE pretend play! Besides building important social and emotional skills, pretend play helps children problem solve and develop storytelling skills. It also strengthens sibling relationships!
Pretend Play Keep Kids Busy!
A solid pretend play game can keep my kids busy – and NOT fighting – for hours on end.
LEGO, DUPLO, and Playmobil are my kids’ favorite pretend play toys. They set up entire towns and devote hours and sometimes even weeks to a particular setup before moving on.
Besides my favorites, I stock special items like car tape for difficult days. Sometimes I’ll do something special to jump start a game, like making dinosaur eggs or setting out everything you need for a play dough bakery.
My kids come up with elaborate play shops and even school role play games that they also enjoy.
Summer Activities for Kids
I try to keep my kids busy outside as much as possible in the summer! This is a fantastic time to pull out messy sensory play – somewhere where you can hose everyone off at the end!
Bubbles, friendship ice cream, cardboard canvas art are other favorites.
Make the most of sprinklers and other water toys to cool down while watering the lawn!
Tween Activities
Tweenhood is a funny age where kids want independence but also still crave their parent’s attention.
My tweens love family movie nights, and special activities I come up with that we can do together.
Favorite tween activities include making dry ice ice cream and these other fun dry ice experiments. They love experimenting with polymer clay and making paint pour art.
How do you keep kids busy – especially in the summer? What are your favorite kids’ activities?
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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
This looks so much fun! Great way to engage not only kids but adults too. Our family love playing games on weekends. I think games is one such activity which brings entire family together. Saved your list to enjoy many fun games with everyone. Thanks for sharing this with us.