Affiliate links may be included for your convenience. View our privacy and affiliates policy for details.
I’m beginning to think getting ready for summer is more exhausting than summer itself.
I spent the morning brainstorming a list of easy activities that I can have ready or easily have all the supplies for at any time during the summer, and shopping for a few things I needed for some of them. 
I decorated a flower pot for the summer activity list to go into, and wrote each activity on a craft stick.
I’ll probably give the girl some sticks, too, so she can write down her own ideas, but there are already 65, and if you don’t count weekends she’s only going to be home for 30 days this summer, so that’s a really good start.
Finding Items for Your Summer Activity List
I’ll share my whole list in a minute but I started with easy things like read to me, I’ll read to you, painting, doing coloring pages, building, playing with specific toys we already have.
I’ve been finding lots of good stuff on Pinterest and Facebook lately so I added some of those activities to the list. 
I was going to add things like go to the park, go get a snow cone and go to the library to the list, but I really wanted it to be things we could do at any time, any day, so if she’s “bored” at 8:30 a.m. when the library and the snow cone place are still closed we don’t have to worry about her drawing those.
I’m not sure if I want to let her just draw one and then she has to do that thing or if I’ll let her choose. I also don’t know if the activities go back in the pot when she’s done them. Probably. If you’ve ever done a summer activity list like this before I’d love to hear how you did it.
My Summer Activity List
Here are the activities on my list, generally sorted by theme. I hope some of them will spark ideas for you and you can add to the list with your child’s favorites. 
Outdoor Activities
- fizzy frozen science
- read outside
- build a fort outside
- wash doll clothes and hang on low clothesline
- make mud pies
- artificial flower play (from here, but I might write more)
- nature walk
- weeding
- sidewalk chalk
- make a water blob
- make a sundial
- chalk paint
- frozen paint
- put “treasures” in ice and help them melt
- giant bubble solution
- picnic in the grass
- make a doll swing
- paint with water guns (filled with liquid watercolors)
- sandbox treasure hunt
- make animal prints in paint, mud or sand
Art Activities
- melty beads
- make something with felt
- trace your body and decorate it (could also be done outside with chalk)
- rubber band painting
- make pinwheels
- popsicle stick bracelets
- make clay
- take pictures
- watercolor and salt painting
- condensed milk paint
- coloring pages
- make puffy paint
- make a puzzle
- paint some wooden stars I already purchased
- scratch art
- weaving
- sew something
- work on an embroidery kit
- make greeting cards to send to friends/grandparents
- make playdough
- sew on plastic canvas
- make a felt ornament
Sensory Activities
- play with shaving cream
- make colored rice
Using Toys We Already Have
- magnet blocks
- build with Legos
- Wikki Stix
- do a puzzle
- build something
- find something in your closet to play with
Food-Related Activities
- make popcicles
- bake something
- make a fun snack
- ice cream in a bag
- tea party
Indoor Activities
- do math games online (15 minute limit)
- typing games (15 minute limit)
- you read to me
- indoor fort
- I read to you
- write a story/play with story stones
- stuffed animal roundup (to rotate the toys)
- find an activity online that you want to do
- do some activity pages (she actually loves them)
- find an activity in a book that you want to do
To make the flower pot summer activity list, just write an activity down on each craft stick.
I had this little terra cotta pot already in my office. I decorated it with the Permapaque paint markers I told you about the other day. The result is kind of chalky, but I like it.
I also used a bit of playdough to plug the hole in the bottom of the pot so the sticks won’t fall through.
I think this is a really cute way to welcome summer and to remind the girl that there’s always something to do.
What do you think? What are your favorite go-to activities for summer? I’d love to add to our list!
