15 Fun and Creative Ways to Beat Boredom During the Summer

Summer doesn’t have to be a time of boredom and knowledge loss. Check out these fun ideas to keep your kids engaged and their minds active. These are 15 summer boredom busters.

Summer Boredom Buster #1: Journaling

If your family hasn’t discovered the fun of journaling, summer is a great time to do so. Grab a few notebooks (the dollar store has many to choose from) and start brainstorming topics to add to their journal.

Family happenings, daily doings, nature, hopes and dreams, reading logs, “about me”. . . the ideas are limitless. And if your children hate writing, don’t fret. Journals don’t have to be written. They can be sketched, colored, painted, or cut and pasted. Use family photos or magazines for a collage effect.

Paper and pencil isn’t your thing? What about a vlog project? Video is all the rage. Let your kids explore their skills in videography using journal prompts to keep the momentum.

Turn your Family Vacation into a Project

Family vacations are all about fun, but they can also be educational. Take a trip to a national park, historical museum, zoo, or even the lake or beach.

Take some notes, grab some literature, and have great conversations. Learning doesn’t have to be boring, it always has the potential to be fun and engaging.

This is also a great addition to that summer vlog. The journal pages above are an excellent start to your vacation keepsake. Check out my other journal and notebooking resources.

No plans for a trip this year? Take a virtual field trip to exotic locations. Explore India or Thailand online and then head to a restaurant or make a dish at home.

Create special activity boxes

Grab some plastic tubs, cardboard boxes, or even storage cubes and label them with ideas like “craft”, “science”, “water”, “outdoors”, and anything else you can think of.

Fill the boxes with items found on clearance racks, garages sales, thrift shops, or things you already have around the house.

Whenever the kids start getting grumpy and need something to do, simply point to the boxes and give them free rein to explore, create, and get messy.

You can also create challenges for the kids in these boxes. Number the boxes and have students pick a #. You can start with this great STEM challenge or you can check out one of the many subscription boxes. I suggest Kiwi Crate, especially the Tinker boxes. Save 30% Off Shop orders $50+ on outdoor projects with code SERIOUSFUN30

Reading is the BEST Summer Boredom Buster

Many libraries have summer reading programs. These programs are an awesome encouragement to keep the kids reading during the warmer months. They usually offer prizes- sometimes quite extravagant ones.

If you don’t have a local library that offers this, make one up!

Get together with a few moms (or do it as a family) and have fun with it! Check out this post for some suggestions for summer reading.

Get a new pet

If you have been considering getting a new pet, summer is an excellent time to get a dog, learning about raising it and teach it a few tricks. We got this little girl last year during the summer.

Or, if you live in an area that allows it, get some chickens, geese, or ducks! Work as a family to build a housing structure and learn about the species.

Nature Study and Other STEM Activities

Do you live near a national park or nature park? Do you have trees in your yard? What about bugs, birds, and other critters?

Odds are you have something in your area available for study. Even grasses and flowers are fun to watch. Grab a notebook, some colored pencils, and a field guide and get outside. You can just use google or apps to help you explore. My favorite outdoor tools are binoculars and a Fandex. A great water bottle is also important.

Nature study not your thing? No worries! Check out some other Summer STEM Activities.

Arts & Crafts

Keep a supply of paints, construction paper, glue sticks, googly eyes, colored pencils, crayons, beads, pipe cleaners . . . and any other messy items your children love.

Give them a space to work and leave them free to create. The mess will likely be large, but so will their smiles and creations. Not into the mess of an open-ended art project OR have a resistant artist? Check out some of our favorite summer crafts and online art resources.

Get Involved with 4-H

4-H offers fun, friends, and knowledge – the perfect summer combo! Check to see if you have 4-H in your area.

Astronomy

Summer is a great time to study the sky. Read about astronomers. Sleep under the stars. Get some constellation books from the library and see if you locate them in the night sky together.

Make it even more fun by painting/drawing the constellations or copying art already done by famous artists. This can be a great activity for the whole family or to let Dad take the lead.

Build Something

Forts, tree houses, and derby cars are great fun to build together. Of course, smaller scale items like bird feeders, wooden airplanes, or step stools are fun too.

If you aren’t sure where to start with a project like this on your own, search online for kits. There are many to choose from.

Look for workshops at your local craft or building supply stores.

Volunteer

Volunteer at a local museum, library, nature park, zoo, or another fun spot. Some places offer family volunteering. It is a great way to model empathy AND make some new friends. Volunteering is a great benefit to teens.

Work on a Big Goal

If you have been trying to get something done for a while but haven’t been successful, summer is a good time to give it a good go!

Work together as a family to plan and plant a garden, clean the garage, rearrange the house, have a garage sale, or clean out the attic or basement.

With school being out, this is the perfect time to take on big tasks like these.

Consider this a life skill lesson. Work through how to plan and divide a project into smaller doable steps. You might consider making a Trello or Asana board.

Learn a New Skill

Have you been wanting to learn to crochet, knit, or bake? Perhaps the kids have been wanting to learn how to shoot an arrow, bale hay, woodwork, sew, or get better at photography.

Often times you’ll find classes on such topics during the summer. Check with local universities, libraries, and museums.

Or if all else fails, just get a book from the library or watch a couple YouTube videos and dive in!

Work on Extracurriculars

If your children were especially interested in a “non-essential” topic during the school year but didn’t get to experience it as much as they would have liked, focus on it during the summer. Your kids loved studying medieval history but didn’t have time to dive in deep. Summer is a great time to explore all those things that they didn’t get their fill of during the school year.