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Hi friends! Is school out in your neck of the woods? My kids are all home on vacation now, and as much as I love having them with me, sooner or later, the dreaded boredom will set in. We like to keep to a very relaxed schedule when the kids are home, but I like to have a few fun activities planned throughout the summer months. 

These are all super easy, and they’re inexpensive too! And since my kids enjoy these 8 fun summer boredom busters, I thought I’d share them with you!

fun summer activities for kids

I have to admit that I am super lucky to have my oldest help out with many of these kid-friendly activities. She loves science, and she’s always on the lookout for easy experiments and such for the younger ones. Actually, I think she likes these as much as her siblings do! 

I also included a few other fun ideas that we’ve done before and plan to try again this year. Some boredom busters never get old!

Easy Ooblek  

  • Cornstarch
  • Water
  • Food coloring
Take some cornstarch, water and a few drops of food coloring, and you’ve got Ooblek! If you want to get technical, it’s known as a non-Newtonian liquid, meaning it has the properties of both a liquid and a solid. We didn’t get too techie with this, and we just mixed the ingredients until it was easy enough to work with. 
 
When you mix it up and pour it, you get a gooey, slimy liquid, but squeeze it, and watch it become a solid ball. Honestly, this one is messy, so we did this outside. But it cleaned up easily enough, so no problem!
 
how to make ooblek with cornstarch and water and pink food coloring

 

Baking Soda and Vinegar Balloon Experiment

  • Baking soda
  • Vinegar
  • Balloon
There are a million of these experiments out there, but we just had to test it out too! We added about two teaspoons of baking soda to an empty balloon and poured about 1/4 cup white vinegar in an empty water bottle. Carefully, fit the balloon over the bottle opening, and then hold the balloon up to let the soda drop into the bottle. The reaction of the baking soda with the vinegar produces carbon dioxide, which inflates the balloon. Awesome, right?!
 
My little scientist loved this one! he even insisted on wearing on of his dad’s old white shirts as a lab coat and borrowed safety goggles from his sister.
 
baking soda and vinegar balloon experiment


Gummy Bears and Water Experiment 

  • Distilled water
  • Salt
  • Gummy bears

This one is probably the easiest experiment of all. Fill two cups about halfway with distilled water, and add about two teaspoons of salt to one of the cups. Pop a gummy bear into each glass, and note the difference in the bears after an hour or two.

Basically, the salt will shrink the bear, and the bear in the other glass will expand. The kids measured the size of the bears after one hour and again after two hours. You can throw the test bears away, but feel free to snack on the bears you don’t use!

gummy bears and water experiment

Other Fun Activities to Try

pool noodle lightsabers
 
summer polymer clay earrings
lego earrings
 
hair dye with food coloring
make usa and europe maps with salt dough
 
Excuse the photos on the salt dough maps! They were taken with a flash and before I even started blogging, but these maps were a lot of fun to make, so I had to share. 
 
Thanks so much for stopping by. If you try any of these summer boredom busters for kids, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did! And if you have any of your own ideas for entertaining the kids, feel free to share some.
 
Happy summer!
 
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2 Comments

  1. Natasha In Oz says:

    Lots of great ideas here, Dee. I think a good rule of thumb for kids' activities is the messier the better!

    Thanks so much for sharing your post at the #sundaysdownunder linky party! I have pinned this!

    I really appreciate you and your support!

    Best wishes,
    Natasha in Oz

    Reply
  2. Julie V says:

    Kids would love the temporary hair dye one (and the others too).
    I was watching some kids yesterday and we definitely tried some boredom buster type things, but not these. I have to admit yours will be a good addition, as mine were pretty generic (but got the job done)
    What we did:
    1) Played with some balls I had, first rolling them into a basket, and then taking turns hiding and finding.
    2) Bubbles
    3) Dominoes (making towers. The kids were 5 and 3)
    4) Pretend trip to the library (marched around the house until we reached the bookshelf where I had a few kid books, and then sat and read)
    5) Ring Around the Rosy
    6) Exercise (jumping jacks, push ups)

    Reply