Here Are 36 Inexpensive Activities That Will Help Keep Your Kids Busy All Summer

It’s almost summer and when kids are away from school, it can be easy for them to get bored real fast. While it’s fun to take them to the movies, museums, science centers, or even the beach, it can get expensive planning outings every day. Some parents may avoid doing activities for kids because they think it’s expensive but not always.

These 36 fun activities for kids cost less than $10 and they can help pass the time while also enhancing their social, creative, and problem-solving skills. These activities for kids are perfect for rainy days or when spending quality time at home. If you like these, here is how to entertain toddlers with even more activities!

1) Great example of activities for kids that cost virtually nothing…Have a paper airplane competition!

Build and experiment with different planes and have a race afterward. Here are many great paper airplane templates to get you started.

2) Use colored tape to make roads for your children’s toy cars.

They can create different roads every day!

3) Activities for kids where you create a giant game board including DIY giant dice.

The best part of making a giant game board is coming up with a fun activity for each space. Singing a song, being a clown, or a spoon egg race are just some examples of activities you can have.

4) Make a sponge bullseye game.

All you need is chalk and sponges for this plan a fun sponge bullseye game.

5) You can also use chalk for a fun dress-up doll activity.

A great way to have fun with their old clothes.

6) Activities for kids where you unleash their creativity with exploding paint bags and turn your sidewalk or driveway into a work of art.

It’s non-toxic and easily rinses away when they are done playing.

7) Create unique sun-catchers by painting wet glue with food coloring.

You can use old plastic lids to paint on and here are full instructions for creating colorful sun-catchers.

8) Create stomp paintings with bubble wrap.

They’ll have fun pretending to be giants and here is what you will need.

9) Create a DIY throwing tarp.

Great activities for kids to practice their pitching skills.

10) Building a fun Jenga-style tower game with sponge pieces is just one of many great activities for kids.

Wet or dry, it’s a fun game of sponge towers to play by yourself or with a group.

11) Make a river in the backyard with foil.

This would be perfect for a plastic duck race.

12) Tape a paper roll to a wall for fun activities for kids and toddlers.

Toddlers will have a blast filling the tube with fuzzy pom-poms and it also helps improve their motor skills.

13) Fuzzy pipe cleaners and a colander can keep toddlers busy for hours.

Activities for kids like this one help improve their motor skills while also having fun.

14) Use burlap to make a preschooler-friendly tapestry table.

Sewing is another activity that is great for improving motor skills and it only takes a few items to build a tapestry table.

15) Activities for kids where you make learning fun with a sugar-writing tray.

Great learning games for kids that only need a few supplies.

16) Bring the camping experience indoors.

This is perfect for rainy days and kids will love building a DIY toy campfire.

17) Keep kids mesmerized with activities like water marbles.

You can find Jelly Marbles in most craft stores or on Amazon.

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18) Create fun face paintings.

Create awesome face paintings that they’ll want to show their friends.

19) Get kids excited about science by making cool alien bubbles.

Here is how to make these alien bubbles using dry ice and other supplies.

20) Activities for kids where you extract DNA from strawberries with this science experiment.

Fun activities for kids AND adults so here is how to extract DNA from strawberries.

21) More fun science with balloon rockets.

Kids love balloons so they’ll also love making balloon rockets.

22) Build a DIY marble bowling game.

This one is addictive and more fun than most board games. Here is how to make a DIY marble bowling game.

23) Create a field of lasers to avoid using only strands of yarn.

They will love avoiding the “lasers” and it can be a fun competition for a group of kids.

24) Learn about shapes with activities for kids such as this “Escape the Volcano” game.

Learning about colors, shapes, counting and so many other skills has never been more fun. Here is how to make an “Escape the Volcano” shape game.

25) Make soap clouds by putting a bar of soap in the microwave.

This is fun to watch in the microwave and here is how to make soap clouds.

26) Have your kids compete in the Popcorn Olympics!

The list of popcorn games is endless and here is a list of them to organize a popcorn Olympics or your own!

27) Play an indoor balloon ping-pong game.

This is fun and easier than regular ping-pong. Here is how to make a balloon ping-pong game.

28) Build a sticky spider web using painter’s tape.

Here is how to make sticky spiderwebs at home for your kids to enjoy.

29) Make a super slide with an old cardboard box.

Large appliance boxes are perfect but this activity will require some supervision!

30) Fun activities for kids where you make rainbow bubble snakes!

Here is how to make rainbow bubble snakes using plastic water bottles and other ingredients you probably have around the house.

31) Build a bubble wand for making giant bubbles.

To make giant bubbles you need a giant bubbles recipe!

32) Build wacky sacks with play dough-filled balloons.

These are soft and squishy so kids will love them. Here is how to make play dough-filled balloons.

33) Kids can create personalized t-shirts with crayons and sandpaper.

This is a great idea that kids can get creative with. Here is how to make creative t-shirts with crayons and sandpaper.

34) Activities for kids where you build a marble race track using a pool noodle.

Kids will love racing their marbles for hours. Here is how to make a marble racetrack.

35) Pool noodles are also great for creating safe backyard obstacle courses.

Here is how to make your own pool noodle backyard obstacle course.

36) Make Wombat Stew.

They’ll love hearing the story and then show them how to make wombat stew with this wombat stew recipe.

H/t: ViralNova

There are so many activities that kids can have fun with and they don’t need to be expensive. If your kids are tech-savvy, there are also many learning apps for kids to try too!

Please share these inexpensive and fun summer activities for kids with your friends and family.

Last update on 2024-12-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API