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School is out for the summer and we are planning a summer extravaganza! Just kidding, we are planning on staying home with the chickens and taking advantage of our local library, along with creating our own fun. Lots of summer activities for tweens! Our local library has tons of summer activities for kids; magicians, reptile handlers, movie afternoons, crafts, and, of course, books. They’re also planning some cool tween activities, like a ComicCon, “After Hours Adventures”, and more. We can’t wait. That, however, won’t stop the summer boredom whining. Kids are used to school days where every minute is scheduled. Summer is not and all too soon, I’ll be hearing about how bored they are. Tweens, especially, can fall into this pit as they try to figure out what is too “babyish” and what is an acceptable activity.

Summer Activities for Kids Roundup

I’ve also been haunting Pinterest for the past few months, searching for fun things for us to do that won’t break the bank! I hate having kids sitting all day in front of the tv or game system, never using their brains until the end of August. If nothing else, these ideas will keep them thing up plans to thwart the activities to sit in front of the tv every day! This is what I found:

29 Dollar Store Finds that Will Keep Your Kids Busy – A Buzzfeed roundup of really simple ideas for obstacle courses, DIY water toys, and other ideas to keep those minds engaged and active. Plus, I love Dollar Tree!

Nature Hunt – with our big yard, including parts that haven’t been totally reclaimed from years of neglect, I figure this scavenger hunt is good for at least one summer day when no one has any ideas of what to do. I will probably offer prizes for the quickest hunter and the one with the most interesting finds. I found other ones for the park, swimming area, and camping when you are getting away from the house.

Play Water Hockey – Combine our slip-n-slide with a hockey type game? What’s not to like? Adding water to games in the summer is the best on a really hot day.

Outdoor Home Movie Theater – Super detail instructions from High Tech Dad on set up and what to look for in buying the components. I loved going to the drive-in as a kid! Nowadays, they’re hard to find, but setting one up at home is fairly easy. I can’t wait to set up the movies and host the watching parties.

Build A Straw Rollercoaster – use straws to build a rail contraption or “rollercoaster” for a ping-pong ball. Use those math and engineering skills, as well as problem-solving, to get the ball from the top to the bottom, without it falling off. This can be a real challenge!

Painted Rocks – I think almost every town around here has a “find a painted rock” page. The kids love to find them. This summer, we’re going to paint some of our own and hide them for someone else to discover!

We love to tye-die shirts and shoes! I found a cool list of new ways to fold the clothes to get new patterns and create a fun summer wardrobe!

DIY Jello Lip Gloss – We’ve already tried this one and it required minimal help from an adult the first time. I doubt I will need to do anything the next time.

We are going on at least two trips and I’ll be checking the Tween Road Trip Checklist to make sure it’s a good one!

What is your go-to activity for summer fun?