10 Fun Tot Approved Summer Activities

Home made splash pad?

It's summer time again and another opportunity to enjoy some fun in the sun with our little one (s). Here's a list of 10 fun activities you can add to your child's summer fun checklist.

1. Go for an early morning or late afternoon nature walk. 

2. Have a bubble fest. Use a bubble machine or make your own! Picture lots of dish soap in a bucket of water and something to blow or create big bubbles like an old strainer with the mesh cut out. Fun, fun, fun!

3. Make a scrapbook of different leaves & flowers.

4. Make mud pies or mud bricks. You  an use and old container for the mud bricks. The key is to set them in the sun long enough to dry. 

5. Grow a plant

You can grow it straight in the ground or in pots or do the classic pea or chia seeds in a jar. Add a lid, some glow in the dark sand and painted stones to your jar and you have your own home made terrarium. 

6. Have a scavenger hunt. This is a fun one that can literally be played anywhere; indoors at home, in the backyard, on a nature walk, in the car, on the bus, train, you name it. Just have a list prepared ahead of times of things you excpect to see and have your child look for them or if you're like me you can skip the list and have an impromptu as - you - go scavenger hunt. 

7. Have a picnic. Picnics at the park are fun and so too are picnics at home especially on a hot or rainy day. An indoor picnic can transform a routine lunch time into a new and magical at home experience. 

8. Make sandcastles at the beach

9. Play outdoor games like hop scotch 

All you need are some coloured side walk chalk and a paved concrete surface. For more on how to play check out Crayola's breakdown of the hopscotch game.

10. Visit a splash pad or make your own splash pad at home. All you need is a slippery surface, think disposable plastic table cover from the dollar store, some water and some slippery dish soap like Dawn.