Amazing Summer Activities for Kids: Fun Indoor Activity Ideas

As promised, here are a list of indoor activities that my boys have been enjoying. I have a list of outside summer activities you can check out here!

It’s nice to go outside during the summer, there are some hours or days that are a little too scorching hot to play outdoors for too long.

These indoor activities are honestly something you can do all year round, but I think they’re particularly more fun during the summer.

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Summer Indoor Activities:

1. Water Beads!

My boys can’t get enough of water beads! I make them about once a month, and I leave it out in the sensory bin for a few days. You can always refresh them by throwing out the broken ones and washing the rest with clean water.

Something to note is that it does take a couple hours for the water beads to grow, so make sure you make them in advance.

2. Play with Ice

Good ole’ ice! My kids love ice, they love to eat ice, but playing with ice is also such an easy way to cool down on these hot summer days!

3. Ice Painting

This probably kept my 3 year-old occupied while my 1 year-old napped. It was glorious!

Materials:

• Washable Paint
• Paint brushes and palette
• Large Bin (from Ikea)
• Bowl or Pie Pan
• Painting Smock (this is truly a game-changer!)

4. Sensory Bin: Rocks

I recently went to the dollar store and bought some…(wait for it)…ROCKS! Who knew they had rocks at the dollar store?! I sure didn’t, but I’m so glad I was able to spend a few bucks and create 2 sensory bins!

And it kept both the boys quiet and occupied while my hubs and I watched a sermon AKA church at home, on Sunday.

My boys are really into these construction vehicles at the moment, so these somehow end up in almost every sensory bin I make for them. And these beach shovels (similar) were helpful to scoop up the rocks.

5. Indoor Trampoline

Our boys love this thing! We live in an apartment and don’t have a backyard, so this indoor trampoline has been a life-saver on some days. Especially on those days when it’s too hot to run outside, the boys just hop on this trampoline and it gets their energy out.

It’s compact, and small enough to fit in our little apartment, but it’s also big enough that both my boys can jump on it together (although I wouldn’t really recommend that). It’s also quite sturdy, and I love that it has a handle and no springs, so it’s perfect for littles. Love it!

6. Take A Cool Bath

We do have a pool in our apartment complex, but since it’s shared with so many people, it gets quite crowded on those perfectly sunny hot days. And since the virus is still lurking outside, I’ve been wary of going.

So, our boys have been taking longer baths on those days, and we keep the water a bit cooler too.

Here are some bath toys that my boys have been loving recently:

Boat and Cars

Pipes

And this is one of my favorite purchases as of late:

Bath Toy Organizer

7. Make Smoothies

Smoothies are an easy way to incorporate fruit (and sometimes veggies) into my kids’ diet. It’s super easy and quick, and my boys love helping me make it, so it becomes an activity in and of itself.

I use frozen fruit, and make it a bit more on the thick side, so it ends up being pretty much like ice cream!

It’s one of our favorite afternoon snacks at the moment!

I don’t have an exact recipe that I follow, but this is generally how I make our smoothies:

• 1 ripe banana (frozen or regular),
• a handful of frozen berries
• add some milk or milk alternative (we like almond milk or oatmilk)

And blend away! I use a Nutribullet, and it works well even with frozen fruit. I do have to make sure there’s enough liquid to blend smoothly.

Sometimes, I add in a handful of spinach, and you can hardly taste it so the kids love it!

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A post shared by Rebecca | Disc Mommyhood (@discoveringmommyhood)