“Mom, I’m bored!” (Be sure to drag this out with a high pitched whiny voice.) My kids used to love to tell me this after a couple of weeks of summer vacation. They usually stopped when I offered them a list of all the activities I had available to do right now; wash the car, clean their rooms or mow the yard. I knew I could spend a large chunk of change keeping the kids occupied over the summer, but wanted low cost ideas we could all enjoy. When Lunchbox asked me to share some of my favorite kid approved ideas that won’t break the bank in a sponsored post, I immediately picked out some of my favorites.
1. Picnic in the Park with friends. When the kids were younger, one of my best friends and I would pack a lunch of fun finger foods and go to a local park for the day. We spread out a blanket in the shade, had lunch and let the kids spend the afternoon playing in the park fountain. It gave me a chance for some adult company and allowed the kids to see their friends. If we felt especially energetic, we’d all take a turn around the walking bridge. The cost was free and the only downside was getting sprayed with water from the elephant statutes around the fountain.
2. Take part in the local library summer program. Our library had a weekly craft session and story time, along with everything from magic shows to English teas. Plus, the program offered prizes for reading books. We received passes to local restaurants, attractions and more.
3. Garden. I made a small 4″ by 4″ flower bed and allowed the kids to purchase flowers to plant and care for over the summer. The kids loved being able to show off their herbs and flowers to everyone who passed by and I got my yard beautified. Definitely a win-win.
4. Have a family game night. We would allow each child to pick a game they wanted to play with our family. I am not ashamed to admit I tried to encourage them to pick Sorry, usually without success. Pop a bag of popcorn and spend a few hours playing their favorite games.
5. Host a DIY ice cream party. This one is my favorite because there’s nothing like a delicious ice cream bar on a sultry summer evening. Pick up several flavors of ice cream and ice cream bars, toppings and syrups. Allow the kids to make their own sundaes and milkshakes. This is the perfect opportunity to buy the flavors you like and join the fun.
That sounds so good! I love ice cream anytime of the year.
I love Family Game Night – in fact, I think we need to have them more often!
Oh wow the DIY Ice Cream Party sounds like so much fun! I really want to try that.
When my kids were younger we would do as many activities as we could. We loved to go and spend the day at the beach or go to the amusement park a few hours away.
Our local library program is really great for the kids in the community. They read books to the kids and provide workshops.
We’re looking forward to the library program this summer.
These are all fabulous ideas! I definitely want to host a DIY ice cream party now
the beach is always great fun in the summer. As a Jamaican, that is where I used to spend my days growing up
What a fun giveaway! I replied to your tweet!
What great ideas! We LOVE to go on picnics with friends, and game night is always a big hit.
Seeing this made me get the Klondike bar song stuck in my head and now I am craving one! Haha.
Those are great ideas for keeping the summer fun! We try to stick to a schedule but throw in a few new activities every week.
We do quite a few of these things. I find that it is really important to just keep things simple. Much less stressful and more fun.
These are all great ideas! It is so hard to keep kids busy sometimes and to avoid the dreaded “I’m bored!” but these tips will help for sure!
We love picnics, the beach and the kids park are two of our favorite places.
These are great ideas. We usually participate in the summer library programs. They have great activities
I am excited about the summer plans that I have created. I hope that I won’t hear that whine this summer.
I like to picnic. A garden is also a good project.
Such great ideas! We homeschool so it won’t be much different for my kids besides less school work so I’m sure there will be lots of I’M BOREDS…… This will be helpful!
We love having family game nights! These are all great ways to keep the kids entertained!
These are all great ideas! We try to do a family game night at least twice a month. With Summer vacay coming up, I’m totally working in an ice cream party night too!
These are such great ideas! I hated when my kids would say they were bored during summer vacation.
Those are some awesome summer ideas! Seems like we end up at the library and the pool a lot in the summer! It’s so much fun!
It’s already getting hot here. I think a DIY ice cream party is a great idea for this weekend!
We picnic at the park a few times a week. My preschooler loves it. My older kids are loving taking care of our whisky barrel full of tomatoes.
The kids and I do games a lot. We don’t have a specific night for it though,and I think that’s a good idea.
You had me at ice cream, I swear my obsession for it goes into full action in the summer; I just can’t get enough of it!
I’m definitely big on ice cream in the summer! Klondike bars are classics!
I love those ideas! I plan on doing at least four of them. I need to do a game night!
My kids have been begging me to start a food garden, so I just planted one yesterday. I think it will be a great summer project for them to help out with.
I love all of these Summertime tips. Gardening with kids is still one of my favorite pass times. It takes advantage of their love to dig holes!
These are great as summer usually gets boring half way through for my kids
I love these ideas. Especially the gardening one. That’s a great way to tech responsibility!
An ice cream party after a good long hike sounds like a great idea. My kids know better than to tell me they are bored, I will give them the worst chore ever to show them they were not as bored as they thought!
Those are all great ideas. Since we have such short summer around here in MA, we spend most of our time at the beach.
Fun ideas…..game night is always a win win at our house! We also like to go on nature walks.
We do both of those things a lot, too. Game nights are so much fun!