Amazing OUTDOOR Summer Activities for Kids

We’re in the thick of summer. Can you believe that we’re past the halfway point of the year?!

For me, time has been really weird this year, with the pandemic and everything going on.

Sometimes I feel like this year has been a standstill with our everyday mundane routine of staying home and practicing social distancing. Other times I feel like there have been so many things going on, I’m having difficulty keeping up with all the news. Anyone else feel me?

Whoa, that was an unexpected tangent…Let’s get on to the reason you’re reading this post!

Summer is a great time for you to take your kids outside. Any water activity can keep children occupied for hours, and helps them cool off as well. Win win!

But understandably, during certain hours of the day, it may be a little too hot to stay out in the scorching sun.

Lucky for you, I have a collection of amazing outdoor summer activities. And I’ll be posting one on indoor summer activities very soon! I hope you find these ideas helpful and give you ideas to pass the time while keeping safe.

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Water Balloons

I’ve been looking for these water balloons, but they’re sold out in most stores! We tried the regular old school single water balloons (cause that’s what we could find in-store), but they were so difficult to fill individually. Many of them ripped while we were filling them or they had holes in them. So frustrating!

Anyways, I found these Bunch o Balloons on Amazon and I also just ordered a pack! So excited to be able to fill a whole bunch of them at the same time and not have to tie them individually as well. I honestly think the tying part is the worst part of it all.

With older kids, I would totally do a water balloon fight, but I think with my littles, we’ll probably practice catching them or giving them a target to hit.

My boys even just loved watching them pop when they threw them into the grass. Easy entertainment!

Slip and Slide

I so want to get one of these when the boys are older and when we have our own backyard! This would be such a great outdoor summer activity!

Kiddie Pool

These kiddie pools are awesome! They’re large enough to fit the whole family and not too deep, so that even little kids can stand up in them.

Another popular Kiddie Pool option

Splash Pad Sprinkler

This splash pad is so much fun! It’s perfect for littles to either sit of jump around in. I also love that this one has the letters of the alphabet on it.

I love getting my 3 year old to practice his letters at random times throughout the day (while having fun) rather than just with paper and pencil. This would be a great letter recognition activity!

Activity Idea: You could call out a letter or say the sound of the letter and get your child to jump on the letter.

Water Table

I think a water table is the perfect summer activity for toddlers! This one is super cute and comes with many accessories for littles to play with.

Take Walks

We have been taking lots of walks this spring and summer. We’ve found some local nature trails that are quite close to our apartment. And we’ve also been taking walks at a nearby college as well.

Since classes have all been moved online during the spring semester and since it was summer break, the whole campus has been empty. They have nice paths and even a running track.

Sometimes we take the boys’ bikes and scooters with us to practice on the paths. Since it’s smoother than the nature trails, it’s been a great place for our littles to practice.

Banana Balance Bike

We just recently got this balance bike for our 3 year old and it’s been great! The size is perfect for him.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with balance bikes (I didn’t know about these until last year). The concept is to learn how to balance first and then it’ll be easier to transition to a regular bike, since the balancing part is usually the more challenging part of learning to ride a bike.

So pretty much, they sit on the seat and walk/run and then lift their feet up and they learn to balance on a bike.

This banana balance bike is really great quality. This GT version in particular comes with alloy wheels and tires that you pump up. The seat is very comfortable, and it’s very sturdy while not being too heavy.

There’s a LT version that is supposed to be lighter and those tires you don’t have to pump.

YBIKE Balance Bike

We just got this for our 1.5 year old, and it’s also been great. The banana bike was too big and heavy for our 1.5 year old to ride on his own, so this one fits him much better. The other nice thing about this one is that there are two back wheels, so it’s much wider and it can stand on its own.

My 3 year old actually has been liking this one a lot too, since it is easier to balance. He was able to ride this one down a slope and lift his feet off the ground. He’s not able to do that with the banana bike just yet.

Side note: We got this one second-hand through Facebook marketplace. I would totally check out second-hand options since they’re so much more affordable and still in great shape!

Scooter

It’s also been really fun watching our boys learn to ride a scooter. We love this one from GOMO. It’s really sturdy and the wheels light up.

Helmet

Of course safety is of utmost importance! This is the helmet we have for our 3 year old.

Play in the Rain

This just happened randomly the other day, but it was POURING when we were driving home. And even after we parked, the rain wouldn’t let up. We don’t have a garage, so we decided to just run into our apartment. We all got soaked, and my 3 year old loved it!

So we let him run around a bit before going inside.

Play in the Sprinkler

Similarly, this also happened at random when we went for a walk at the college campus and the sprinklers just happened to be on at that time. My 3 year old had a blast!

But if you have your own backyard, you could turn on the sprinklers and have your kids run around. I’m sure that could occupy them for quite a while!

Chalk

We have been loving just going outside and drawing with chalk. It’s also a fun way to practice letters and numbers. I sometimes dot the letters and my son traces them.

And he’s been really into drawing different shapes, so it’s been a great alternative to just paper and crayon.

I’ve also been loving being able to write short quotes that make me feel better, but hope to bring a little bit of joy to other people that may come across it.

Hopscotch

To go with chalk, we’ve been starting to do more hopscotch. It’s a fun way to practice jumping and also a great way to practice numbers as well!

Trampoline

My boys love jumping on trampolines. This one is really great for the summer time outside. It’s also really great that it’s enclosed on the sides.

Bounce House

This bounce house is a little on the smaller side, but I think it’s perfect for younger kids. It’s also awesome since it comes with the blower!

Have a Picnic

We’ve been on several picnics this season. Some of them have been planned and some have been impromptu. We usually just keep our picnic blanket in the car so we can use it whenever we need it.

If we’re out and it’s meal time, we just get some food to-go (since most restaurants are still not open to dining in) and find a place outdoors to eat.

Our boys love it since it makes meal times a bit more special, instead of always eating at our dining table.

Lay on the Grass

Also, it’s been fun to just go out and find a nice shaded place, and just lay out of the grass (with the picnic blanket). My 3 year old loves to look at the clouds and say that they look like certain shapes or objects. And just feeling the grass and finding bugs has also been a lot of fun.

Go Fruit Picking

Lastly, go fruit picking! Several weeks ago, we went strawberry picking and had so much fun! I will be honest, it was quite hot, and we couldn’t stay out for too long. But, it was a lot of fun picking strawberries (also tasting them–so delicious!)

Being a city girl myself, it was the first time I had been strawberry picking as well! It was really amazing to see actual strawberry patches and to hand pick them.

At home, we also made strawberry shortcake out of them too! I was planning on freezing some for smoothies, but we ate them all before we could!

Check with your local farms about fruit picking season. I believe blueberry season is coming up really soon. We plan on going blueberry picking in the next couple weeks.

There You Have it!

Hope this list of outdoor summer activities was helpful to you! I will be creating a post on INDOOR summer activity ideas very soon!

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