24 Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy This Summer

Kids are home for the *entire* summer — a situation that's equally as fun for kids as it is daunting for parents. Summer break equals a lot of days to fill with activities to avoid hearing the dreaded, “I’m bored.” No need to rack your brain for moment-filling ideas; keep reading for our best kid-tested party ideas, entertaining games and fun crafts.

Encourage your kiddos' entrepreneurial spirit by letting them set up a lemonade stand or other make-and-sell endeavor. It can be a fun way to raise money, whether for a new video game or for a charitable cause. Pick up a copy of The Lemonade Stand Cookbook, which includes plenty of ideas for foods, drinks and crafts your kids can make and sell. It also includes tips on how to set up a stand and success stories from kids.

Start with your local public library to see if they offer a summer-long program to encourage kids to read. Many libraries offer fun learning activities as part of their program, like storytimes, science shows and author meet-ups. Some even give away prizes for completing reading-oriented activities. Barnes & Noble has a nationwide summer reading program that lets kids earn a free book when they complete a reading journal. Half Price Books also has a Feed Your Brain summer reading program that encourages kids to read 15 minutes a day. And don't forget to download books to your kid's tablet for on-the-go reading.

Host a kid-friendly gathering that’s as entertaining for your little ones as it is for the grown-ups. Invite over neighbors, family and friends — reach out to some of the kids they haven’t seen since the last day of school for a fun get-together. Our handy guide, below, walks you through easy-to-craft decorations, yummy foods and activities that’ll keep everyone entertained for hours.

Help your kiddos create their own summer fun bucket list. Make it checklist style so your kids can tick off each item they complete, like "fly a kite" or "create chalk art." The items should be both easy to complete and fun to do. Aim for at least 50 bucket-list items. Encourage your kids to review the list each morning to see what they can check off that day. Blogger Jody Arsenault of Mommy Moment has created a sample summer bucket list to help get you started.

Long days and lazy mornings make summer the perfect time to invite friends over to spend the night. Amp up their next sleepover with cozy handmade sleeping pods — all you need are basic sewing skills and a collection of pillowcases and pillows. Simplify snacking with a kid-friendly charcuterie board with crackers, grapes, cheese and mandarin oranges, as well as a dessert version with cookies, fruit snacks and candy.

An outdoor movie night is the perfect sleepover activity. Have the kids grab their sleeping pods and head outside to watch a movie under the stars. Project a favorite film onto your garage door or an exterior wall or even make an easy DIY movie screen; then pop popcorn and fill an outdoor cooler with single-serve drinks. For a true theater experience, pick up a variety of boxed candy at your local dollar store.

Get an assist from the kiddos in the kitchen. In addition to letting them be creative, cooking is a great way to teach them about measurements, planning meals, how to cut food safely and so much more. Start with simple snacks, like sticking chocolate chips in raspberries, and let them work their way up to sous chef status.

Hot summer days call for a watery cool-down. Turn pool time into game time with one of our easy-to-create dollar store pool games: water word find, slippery sponge toss and nautical noodle race. Learn how to create them, below.

Pitch a tent in the backyard, and your kids can have camp-outs all summer long. It’s like a staycation, only more fun. Plus, there’s no need to pack and unpack the car, wonder whether you thought to bring lanterns or worry about the weather. At night, kids can roast marshmallows and play flashlight tag, then lay back for an evening of stargazing. During the day, the tent makes a perfect reading nook or quiet nap spot.

Let their artistic energy fly with a container of sidewalk chalk. For older children, encourage them to come up with their own storyboard they can literally step into, like this imaginative journey flying on butterflies.

A photo scavenger hunt is a fun way to get kids outside while engaging their curiosity. Create a checklist of items kids need to photograph, either with a camera or a smartphone, like flowers, street signs or sand castles, as well as group shots, like the family eating snow cones. Pull together a short list of items for an activity that can last a few hours or create a long list that'll take them all summer to complete.

Whether you want to create a small herb garden on your kitchen countertop or grow a bumper crop of veggies in your backyard, gardening is a fun activity that can keep kids busy all summer long. It’s also a great project that will get kids involved in all aspects of the garden — from choosing what to grow to learning how to care for plants.

No boring backyard this summer. Transform your outdoors into a mini water park, complete with an obstacle course, wet-sponge corn hole and water balloon piñatas. Grab everything you need the next time you’re at a big-box store or place a quick online order, along with some freezer pops for mid-play break.

This easy no-sew project, below, turns your dining room table into a kid-sized hideaway. When it’s play time, pull out the adorable tablecloth, then when it’s dinnertime, quickly stow it away. Since it’s such an easy project, include your kids in the craft so they can truly make it their own.

Set aside an area in your home, like the dining room table, for a craft station that you can leave up all summer long. Lay out everything your kids might need to make fun summer crafts, like glitter, scissors, construction paper, feathers and crayons. Look to recycled materials, too, like toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes and milk cartons. Get our best kid craft ideas, below.

Chat with your kid about what project they’d love to create this summer. Maybe the idea of a fairy garden brings light to your child’s eye, maybe they’ve been asking for an aquarium forever or they want to turn their bedroom into the ultimate bookworm’s haven. Learn what their current passion is and embrace it with them.

Give kids the chance to practice their bowling skills even when not at the local alley. Design an at-home bowling alley with a yoga mat, pool noodles and chip cans, letting everyone play in rain or shine.

Summer is for family road trips, so why not let your kids plan out a family vacation? They'll love having a say in the destination and activities, even where to eat during the road trip. Give them a paper map (though you may need to show them how to use one) and some guidance on how to find things to do and places to eat (e.g., TripAdvisor, Yelp). Checking out travel books at the library is another way to help them plan.

The summer brain drain can come on quickly, so start each day with a summer writing prompt, like “If I could travel to the future I would ..." or “I love to read books about ...” It’s a great way to get little minds moving before they’re preoccupied with cartoons and swim team practice. Blogger Melanie Edwards of ModernMami.com has created a list of 60 summer writing prompts that you can print out or use to generate ideas for your own writing prompts.

Give your kids the chance to fill your flower beds with color and pattern. First, take kiddos on a hunt for flat rocks and gather up paint supplies. We recommend using paint markers, which are easier for little hands to hold and not as messy, but you can also use up any paints you have leftover from other projects. Encourage them to paint fun themes, like their favorite characters from movies or books. Learn more, below.

In summer, you’ll find plenty of fun runs and obstacle courses that kids can participate in for exercise and prizes. Two fun races to check out are The Color Run, which will leave your kids bright and colorful, and Bubble Run, which will have your kids running through loads of wet, soapy bubbles. For athletic kids looking for a challenge, check out Kids Adventure Games, which is a weekend-long adventure course that includes biking, hiking, rappelling and zip lining.

This combo of farm animals and balloons is guaranteed to be a hit this summer. Let your kids help you cut out the free printable designs, below, and attach the animal faces with double-sided tape. In no time, you’ll have an entire barnyard of animals — from cows and horses to dogs and sheep.

To preserve summer memories, help kids create a scrapbook filled with photos, journal entries, museum brochures and souvenirs, even scraps of paper maps identifying places you visited during the summer break. It’s a great way to capture the fun of summer in a book they can flip through again and again. Let them personalize their summer scrapbook with stickers, markers or paint pens.