Summer is the best, isn’t it? The long, sunny days. The beautiful gardens. The kids home all day, everyday. It is nice to have everyone together but it is helpful to have some ideas of what to do to keep everyone busy and active. Here I will share with you 10 FREE things to do with your kids this summer. These are all things we do regularly to keep our son and his friends immersed in summer fun.
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10 Free Things to do With Your Kids This Summer
My son is 7 and will be 8 this August. The ideas on this list are geared more towards school aged kids but can be altered to work for younger or older kids as well. These are the things we do all summer long to keep busy and enjoy the beautiful weather. I just don’t like always spending money so I try to keep a list of FREE places and ideas handy so we can have fun without spending any money.
Go to the Library
The library is such a great place for an outing. Especially on days that are too rainy or too hot to be outside for a long time. We go to the library in our town at least once a week during the summer time.
The reason I love the library is that it is free to go inside and they have lots of free programs for kids during the summer. Our library does a weekly reading program as well as tons of crafts and activities. Where we live, it is all free and it is always fun!
Whether you attend a program or just go to read some books, it is a great outing for the whole family.
Make a Treasure Hunt
I got this idea from our local library (which is another one of my free activities I recommend). We were there the one day and they made such a fun treasure hunt with all the clues being related to the books in the library. When the kids finished the hunt, they got to choose one toy out of a treasure chest. It was so much fun!
This takes a bit of planning on your end but it keeps kids busy for ages and they love the adventure of it!
All you need is to make the clues (I usually do clues around our home, backyard and neighborhood) and have something as the treasure. For the treasure I usually make cookies or a yummy snack that they get to have when the treasure hunt is complete.
Here are some easy homemade recipes to use as “treasure”:
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bars
- No Chill Sugar Cookies
- Magic Cookie Bars
Go for a Walk or a Hike
I find that it is hard to convince my son to just go for a walk around our neighborhood so one way I get us out is by going hiking. The hikes aren’t always into the Rocky Mountains but just calling our walk a hike tend to help us get out.
I try to make it fun by bringing some of our outdoor gear with. I usually bring a compass, binoculars, and have lots of granola bars and trail mix handy. We also have some books on identifying animal tracks and edible wild plants that are fun to bring along too.
As mentioned above, sometimes we do go for big hikes. However, more often than not, I just take my son to the closest provincial park and we go for anywhere from 1km to 15kms depending on the terrain and the day. The main idea is to just get outside and enjoy nature. And the best part is that it is absolutely FREE!
Fishing
I know you’re thinking that this costs money because you need to buy a fishing license and all the gear. I agree that this is true. However, many people have the gear already and you can often times rent gear for very cheap (or free) from places like your local library.
Also, in our area, kids can fish without a license up to the age of 14. So, if you have the gear, it can be a free activity.
Lastly, it is just as much fun to catch minnows with a bucket as it is to catch a big fish with a rod and reel. For years my son and I would meet up with friends on a weekly basis and catch minnows with any cup we happen to have in the car and the kids had a blast! And it cost us nothing.
Meet Friends at a Playground
The playground is always a hit! And it is always free! I generally try to meet friends at the playground to make sure there are enough kids to make it fun. It always amazes me how a group of kids at a playground will come up with so many different games and be entertained by their own imaginations for hours.
One way to make playgrounds more fun in the summer is to choose a different playground each week to meet at. It makes the activity more exciting and gives everyone something to look forward to. It also allows you to explore your town in a fun and active way!
Picnic
Food is a big motivator in our house. If I am having one of those days where I just need to get us out of the house for a little bit (you Mamas know those days), I will offer a picnic lunch.
All you need is a blanket or towel and the food you were going to eat for lunch.
I generally try to make the picnic happen somewhere away from home. I like parks or near the river. I find that if we make lunch something special, such as a picnic, it makes the day more fun. It also get us outside! Often times the picnic lunch will lead to all kinds of other fun outdoor summer activities just because we are outside and not near our house.
The best part is that we were going to eat lunch anyways so we are not spending any extra money doing this activity.
Scavenger Hunt
I like doing a nature themed scavenger hunt so that we get outside. You can make this as long or a short as you want. There are some great free scavenger hunt making websites. I’ve used Celebratally before with good success.
You can do all different kinds of themes throughout the summer to keep your kids entertained. This is also a nice thing to have handy if you are visiting with people and want the kids to be playing outside and working together. It gives the kids and the adults some much needed time apart while everyone is still having fun!
Backyard Pool
There is a lot of fun that can be had in your own backyard! We have a small kids pool that gets a lot of love and attention in the summer. There are many afternoons that we just take a bunch of snack out back and sit by the tiny little pool. We make our own pool party fun even though the pool is so small!
If you don’t have a pool you can still have lots of water fun with simply a bucket and some sponges. Any way you can cool down and simulate a water fight will be hours of FREE fun!
Bikes and Scooters
The freedom of riding bikes or scooters is priceless! But honestly, if you own these items already, this is a great activity to do as a family to get outside. Try using them as your transportation in the summer and enjoy being outside and active more than normal.
If you don’t own a bike or scooter, you can often find free kids ones on second hand apps and websites. It is worthwhile trying to have one for the summer months.
You can make bike rising more fun by decorating the spokes with pipe cleaners or by placing a card in spokes to turn the bikes into motorcycles!
Sticks and Stones
You might think I sound crazy now but I have honestly found that the best toys in the world are sticks and stones. They are free and you can find them everywhere!
Kids are the best because they will make a game out of anything! Sometimes I just say to my son, “let’s go find the best stick” and off we go on an adventure. It is always a bit of a competition to see who can actually find the best stick. But it also turns into sword fights, walking sticks, a tool for digging etc. The possibilities are endless.
We also collect beautiful stones and other treasures from nature. Once we bring the stones home, we often paint on them and then leave them out in nature again for someone else to find and enjoy.
Make Your Own List
If you are reading my list and thinking; “We live somewhere completely different to Canada in the summer and cannot use a lot of these ideas,” I would suggest making your own list and using that throughout the summer months.
To start a list, simply think about all the things your kids enjoy doing and then write down the ones that are free. Also think about ways to make costly outings and activities more cost effective. For example, if your kids really want to go to an amusement park, look around for sales or people trying to sell tickets they wont be using. Sometimes you can find really generous people who just don’t want their tickets to go to waste so they will advertise them for free on place like Facebook Marketplace.
Making a list takes the pressure off of you each day. You can simply get up and see what the weather is like and then choose a free activity for the day and enjoy!
Final Thoughts
I hope this list gave you some ideas for free things to do with your kids this summer. I would love to hear your favorite free things to do while school is out and the weather is nice. Please feel free to share your ideas for me and for others to benefit from!
Thank you for taking the time to read this article and I would love it if you shared it with a friend who is looking for some free things to do this simmer. Sharing is caring!
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