It’s officially summer! And you know what that means?
Fun in the sun! School’s out, camping trips, swimming, roasting marshmallows, sleeping under the stars, water balloon fights and so much more!
Summer is the best time to let your kids be kids. To let them fuel their imagination and help them develop their creative minds.
Additionally, these activities are excellent ways to bond with your kids/stepkids.
Help them keep the excitement of summer alive with these four creative awesome summertime family activities the whole family can enjoy.
Water Gun Painting
Sounds like a mess? It is!
But it will be so much fun! Dress your children up in some old play clothes you don’t mind getting paint on.
You can even put a disposable rain poncho or plastic trash bag over them to prevent getting paint on their clothes. Set up a plastic tarp on your driveway or in the grass.
Water down your paints and fill a couple small water guns (you probably don’t want to use super soakers for this activity) with different colors.
Set up some paper or a large canvas on an easel. Hand off the water guns to your kids and let the fun begin!
Let them be creative in a new and exciting way. Of course, lay down the rules to make sure they aren’t shooting each other in the face.
You should even join in on the fun. After all, it’s always a good outlet to let your inner child out now and then.
Slip’n’Slide Kickball
Your entire family will have a blast with this one. For set up, find a large grassy field, get four inflatable kiddie pools, a beach ball and four long narrow stretches of plastic tarp.
Space the kiddie pools out in a large square – with one at each corner – and place the lengths of tarp in between each pool. Fill the pools with soapy water.
For play, declare one of the pools as your “home base” and set the pitcher up in the middle of the field.
Roll the beach ball in to the first kicker and then let them run into the first base pool. Everyone will have fun sliding into the bases and getting soaked under the summer sun.
Just be careful, because as you can imagine, running and sliding with little control can be dangerous (especially for the adults who fall a little harder). And just remember, if someone does knock a tooth out after a hard fall, get into the dentist right away.
Water Balloon Volleyball
Water balloon volleyball is a great activity for older kids to enjoy with their parents. Not that younger kids can’t have fun too, it might just be more difficult for them.
Fill up a good amount of water balloons (a cooler full works). Set up a volleyball net (not totally necessary if you don’t want to go out and buy one).
Grab a couple towels or small blankets (one per every two people playing). Split up into teams on either side of the net, or determined line if you’re not using a net.
Have every pair grab a towel. One pair of people will start with a water balloon in their towel.
They’ll toss the balloon over to the other team as the first serve. Toss the water balloon back and forth until it bursts and then grab another.
To make it more fun, toss the water balloon as high as you can to the other team so it will fall harder and burst in their towel when they catch it.
Shaving Cream Twister
Ready for another messy but super fun idea? Try mixing colored shaving cream and Twister. It’s exactly what it sounds like.
First, mix up four large batches of shaving cream, one for each color of dot in Twister – red, yellow, green and blue. Use food dye (just a couple drops) in the shaving cream to get the color.
Layout the Twister mat in the grass and drop a nice glob of colored shaving cream on to each corresponding colored dot. Then play the game!
The shaving cream will make the game more challenging as you’re kids (or you, adults can play too!) slip around in the foam trying to hold their position. Enjoy the laughter as someone falls into the foam, splashing it up onto everyone else.
Try some new things this summer and let the fun begin!
Do you have any suggestions for other summertime family activities? Please list it in the Comments.
