Don’t get me wrong, we’re pretty heavy-handed with screen time. After too much though, my kids start fighting and they get crabby, so I have to break up our day with other activities. It can be hard to think of entertaining ideas for them to do so let me help you with this dollar store (OR EVEN FREE) summer activities list for your kids.
dollar store summer activity ideas
1. car wash
You can find all the things you need for this at the dollar store. You might have to get an actual car wash after this, but at least it’ll keep them busy! If you don’t have vehicles, pull out bikes or wagons. Using toy cars and creating a Hot Wheel or Paw Patrol car wash could be really fun too!
2. Water balloons
Time-consuming to prep? Yes. Super fun though? YES! I’m excited to try this with shaving cream instead of water!
3. water fights
Get squirt guns or squirting toys, a couple of buckets to use as filling stations, and you’re good to go! Join in on the fun! Make teams and set a timer. Whichever team is the driest at the end wins!
4. chalk messages
5. Chalk pictures
My other favorite thing to do with chalk is to draw a picture on the driveway and make them pose with it. I’m not much of an artist myself so I’m going to do balloons or a basic bicycle, but click here for some Pinterest inspiration.
6. Scavenger Hunts
The only reason I didn’t put this under “Free Activities” is that I bought clipboards to entice my children into doing this. I write a list of objects, animals, or people on a piece of paper. They get a pencil and off we go on a short walk to find our items. I love that it’s so customizable. You could write different things for every kid or harder things for the older kiddos. It makes walking the dogs a bit more fun!
7. fairy garden/dinosaur field
Whether you use all-natural materials or dollar store-bought ones, this can keep your kids busy for a while and turn out really cute. For my sons, we did little toy dinosaurs instead but with the same concept. You can keep adding to it throughout the summer!
free summer activities
8. fire hydrant flush
I recently found out that you can go to your city’s website and find out the dates and times they will be flushing your neighborhood’s fire hydrants. Free splash pad? Don’t mind if I do! Take a toy boat and see how far it will sail down the road. Inform your neighbors of the time and make a playdate out of it!
9. Youtube Challenges
My kids LOVE YouTube.
SEE RELATED BLOG POST “WHY YOU CAN (AND SHOULD!) RELAX YOUR SCREEN TIME RULES”
They are constantly asking to do these challenges they see on YouTube. A couple of the kid-friendly ones would be THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE and EAT IT OR WEAR IT. The Ice Bucket Challenge started out a few years ago as a charity challenge for ALS and it’s pretty self-explanatory. You get a bucket full of icy water and dump it over your child. Whether you want to use it to raise money for charity is up to you!
The Eat It Or Wear It Challenge sounds fun and messy. For this challenge, you need to put random foods in non-transparent bags and number the bags. The goal of this challenge is to eat the random foods in the number bag you roll the dice for. If you refuse to eat something, you will have to “wear it”. Get your phone out and be sure to record because this could be hilarious.
10. family olympics
There are plenty of variations you could do for this. Different races: crab walk, sacks, three-legged, the list goes on and on. I would add also a long jump, high jump, and throwing contests. At the dollar store, you’ll be able to find sacks and even play medals if you really want to make it into a real ceremony.
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