Looking for some fun outdoor activities for kids to keep them entertained?
These creative and active ideas are perfect for the summer months for encouraging kids to enjoy more time outdoors during fine weather.
Many of these are extremely low maintenance and will require very little effort from you to put together! Plus they’re cheap too.
If you are looking for other ways to entertain your kids in summer, check out my summer bucket list and these summer printable activities.
Low prep outdoor summer activities
Summer scavenger hunt
A scavenger hunt is the perfect way to enjoy the great outdoors, especially during the summer months when kids will be visiting various different places.
I have two free scavenger hunts, one for nature and one for the beach, you can download and print to use with kids.
Another cool way to do a scavenger hunt outdoors among nature is to cut out a circle from a piece of cardboard – make it at least 20cm in diameter.
Then use a pencil to divide it up into equal segments and colour each one in a different colour of the rainbow.
Now challenge your kids to go out and find something in their garden or at the park to match with each colour. They can use clothes pegs to clip each item to the relevant colour on the card circle.
Mixing potions
This is a really low maintenance, simply activity for children to enjoy.
Grab a bowl, bucket or jar and challenge your kids to make a magic potion! To do this they need to add things they can find in the garden.
This may include leaves of different shapes and colours, grass, twigs, petals and anything else they choose.
Once they have found all their ingredients, add a little water from a jug and let them give it a stir.
Build a fort
Grab a bedsheet or two, some chairs, boxes and some blankets to build a cosy fort/den in the back garden.
If you’re out and about for a walk in the woods, why not try den building using fallen branches propped against a tree? This keeps my kids busy for ages.
Read books
You could snuggle up inside a fort if you’ve built one or put up a tent in the garden if you own one and settle down to read for a while.
Alternatively, gather some blankets and cushions in some shade and settle down there.
This is a relaxing way to get kids to take some time out to chill and enjoy books.
Create a garden obstacle course
Grab sticks, chairs, tables, blankets (to crawl underneath) and whatever else you can find to put together a fun obstacle course.
Time everyone and see who can complete it the fastest.
Water balloon fight
A good old water fight is perfect to cool everyone down in the summer.
Either use water balloons or water pistols to soak each other. You could also throw soaked sponges.
Make bird feeders
Making a bird feeder is a wonderful way to help your child connect with nature.
It’s really simple to do as well! For a pinecone bird feeder, all you need to do is to spread some peanut butter on your pinecone then roll it in bird seed.
Tie a string around the pinecone then refrigerate for a couple of hours before hanging in the garden.
Plant seeds
Although my kids do not respond well to doing chores some of the time, they are always happy to help out in the garden!
Get them planting seeds, weeding and sweeping the patio. Giving them something to grow is such a lovely way to keep them engaged with nature and they’ll love seeing it change with time.
Playing with water
We didn’t have a paddling pool ready for the first day of warm weather this year, but my kids still enjoyed playing with water outside. All we had to do is fill up a bucket and let them have their fun.
You don’t need a super fancy set-up to allow kids to enjoy playing with water at home! We have a couple of cheap water guns as well for them to enjoy squirting at each other.
Take photos
I find my kids enjoy this activity best when using our Polaroid camera. The film is expensive, but they really love the immediacy of seeing the pictures right away.
Challenge them to take photos of lots of different leaves, bugs and creatures in the garden.
This is also a cool way to add a fresh dimension to a scavenger hunt. Give them a list of things to find, and have them take pictures of each item to prove they found it.
Giant self portrait
Use chalk to drawn around your child as they lay down on the sidewalk, patio or driveway.
Then challenge them to use colourful chalk to fill in the outline. They can do it any way they choose!
Water target practice
If you do have water pistols then you could draw some targets on the side of your home using chalk and challenge kids to fire at the centre of the targets.
Have a picnic
Have lunch in the fresh air! Grab a blanket and bring everything outside. It doesn’t matter you serve but here are some ideas:
- Cold cuts – ham, chicken, turkey, pork.
- Cheese cut into cubes or small slices
- Breadsticks
- Hummus
- Crisps
- Olives
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cucumber slices
- Sandwich quarters or wraps
Play follow the leader
A simple but timeless classic! Choose a leader in your group – it doesn’t matter if it is only two of you – and follow each other around the garden or park or wherever you might be.
Make your own fairy house
Your kids can make a simple fairy house using sticks and leaves. Lean them against the base of a tree to create a basic structure.
Alternatively, grab a small cardboard box such as a shoebox and decorate it to create a fairy house. Cut out a door and windows, and use little pebbles and other items from nature as furniture.
Have a relay race
This works best when there are a few of you so do it when the kids have some friends over.
You can use a stick as a baton, or a ball to have something to pass to each runner.
Gather and paint with leaves
Challenge your kids to get a selection of leaves and then they can use them to create pretty prints.
Paint the surface of the leaf and then hold it down on paper to make a print. You will find this works best with a small amount of paint, you could use a sponge to press the leaf into immediately after painting, to soak up some of the paint, then press it to the paper.
Toy car wash
If your child loves their toy car collection then hold a car wash in the garden! Get a bucket or tray of soapy water and challenge your child to scrub the cars clean.
Play tag
A simple but fun way to enjoy an afternoon in the sunshine.
Paper boat race
Make your own paper boats then race them! If you have a paddling pool then that’s the best option.
Everyone with a boat places it in the water and then blows to make them move from one end of the pool to the other.
Bug hunt
Give your kids a container (a small plastic food pot works) and send them on a bug hunt.
Remember to tell them to pick up any insects gently. Having a magnifying glass is great for this so that kids can examine the bugs up closely. Remember to put them back where they were found!
Paint rocks
Gather rocks from the garden and then decorate them however you wish.
You could paint ladybugs, a cat’s face, a self portrait or a sunny nature scene.
More outdoor activities and crafts
Ice painting
This fun ice painting activity is great for all ages and keeps my kids happy for ages. It’s also a brilliant way to cool them down. However be warned, it is a bit messy!
All you need is some kid-safe paint, an ice cube tray and some craft sticks.
Pour paint into the ice cube tray segments, using whatever colours you want. then put one craft stick in each segment. Most of the stick will be sticking up out of the paint, so be careful when putting the tray into the freezer.
After a few hours you will have frozen paint cubes, on sticks so you kids can push them around paper or card easily. Simply pop each cube out of the tray.
Alternatively, your kids may like to hold the paint cubes and push them around with their hands or finger paint.
We always do this one outside, usually on a large tray where possible.
Free the toys
Grab some of your child’s smaller toys – such as cars, small action figures, Polly Pocket dolls etc – and freeze them in ice. You could use ice cube trays or get a small bowl filled with water.
You could also freeze some tiny flowers in the ice.
Now place the toys trapped in ice outside and challenge your child to free them. They need to melt the ice.
Stomping bubble wrap painting
Kids love bubble wrap and they love to paint, so combine the two and you’ve got serious fun!
This idea involves wrapping bubble wrap around children’s feet and then challenging them to stomp on paper to create works of art.
DIY Sidewalk Chalk Paint
Getting a simple pack of chalk and challenging your kids to draw beautiful pictures, doodles and shapes on the driveway or patio is such an effective way of occupying them.
But you could go one step further and make your own chalk paint for their artwork!
Under the Sea bubble art
This pretty bubble art project involves adding sea animals to create a cool ocean artwork.
Kids make the bubble art, by blowing bubbles to create a pretty ocean on paper, and paint watercolour sea animals to be added to the final piece.
Bubble art can get a little messy, so it’s a good activity to do outside, where kids can blow their paint bubbles without worrying about splatting paint on the walls.
Bouncing bubbles recipe
Blowing bubbles is the perfect summer activity to enjoy in your garden. But how about trying this magic bubbles recipe, which creates bubbles your child can actually catch and hold in their hands?
I just love this idea and kids will enjoy putting together the recipe.
Printable mud kitchen recipes
These fun mud kitchen recipes are a great way to encourage creative, sensory-rich outdoor play. You do not have to own a mud kitchen to do this!
Any surface will do to put together these muddy pies, leafy soups and nature cupcakes.
Chalk bombs
These cool and colourful chalk bombs make for a really fun art project.
All you need to do is mix up a batch of chalk paint to make homemade Chalk Bombs and you are ready to have an ultimate art experience with your kids!
Plus, the bonus is that it makes your sidewalk super colourful.
Rainbow nature weaving
This beautiful weaving craft for kids is a great nature activity for kids of all ages with a creative streak.
It will take you on a nature scavenger hunt to find all the colours of the rainbow through natural materials and is a fun way to get outside this summer!
Giant bubble recipe
What’s better than blowing bubbles? Making giant bubbles!
Create huge bubbles your child will love to catch and pop with this cool recipe. You only need a few key ingredients, such as dish soap and baking powder.
