Fun summer activities for kids: ideas you’ll want to try in childcare and at home
In the hot summer, children spend more time indoors both at daycare and at home.
For those wondering, “What can we play indoors with the kids?”, here are some perfect summer activities.
Games using water and ice are especially popular this season.
Cool sensations and hands-on activities are exciting for children.
It’s also a great experience to help them feel connected to nature or to incorporate traditional summer events—these memories really stay with kids.
Try these ideas at home, in daycare, or in kindergarten.
Through summertime activities, let’s help children create lots of fun memories!
- [Nursery/Kindergarten] Water play ideas that kids will love
- Let’s enjoy summer-only fun! Cool and refreshing play ideas
- Handkerchief and Towel Play! A Collection of Fun Play Ideas
- [Nursery/Daycare] Recommended for Summer Festivals! A Collection of DIY Game Ideas
- Perfect for summer: Fun at the pool and water spots! Water play games
- Fun activities with newspaper! Recreation games kids will love
- [Childcare] Fun craft ideas and craft activities perfect for summer
- [Childcare] Recommended for summer and winter! Ice play ideas
- [Childcare] August activities: sensory play to enjoy summer, crafts, songs, and hand play (fingerplay), etc.
- [Childcare] Perfect for June! Indoor play ideas to incorporate into childcare
- [Childcare] Summer wall display ideas: fun summer craft activities
- Childcare: Ideas for activities to enjoy in July
- [Childcare] A roundup of summer craft ideas to enjoy with 2-year-olds
Fun summer activities for kids: Ideas you’ll want to try at daycare and at home (91–100)
[0-Year-Olds] What Is Wind? Mysterious and Fun Wind Play!
![[0-Year-Olds] What Is Wind? Mysterious and Fun Wind Play!](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fkqedEYiThw/sddefault.jpg)
This is an easy wind-themed activity recommended even for infants.
All you need is a piece of cardboard with thin strips of vinyl tape attached and a large fan.
When you flap the fan, the colorful vinyl strips flutter in the air, capturing the children’s interest.
It may seem ordinary to adults, but to children it’s something mysterious and fresh—“What is that?” Try commenting, “It’s swaying in the wind—so pretty,” or “It feels cool when the wind blows.” If possible, connect it to experiences outside the classroom too by saying things like, “You can feel the wind blowing, can’t you?”
Where is the goldfish?
Are you familiar with the picture book “The Runaway Goldfish”? It’s one of the most popular books among children, and it’s fun like a game as you search for the goldfish hiding in various places.
This activity, “Where’s the Goldfish?”, is based on that book.
Everyone looks for the goldfish that has hidden somewhere in the daycare room and returns it to the aquarium.
It’s a fun game that engages both mind and body, and finding the goldfish is so exciting.
Returning the goldfish to the tank also seems like a great way to nurture children’s kindness.
Soap bubble play
Wrapped in the warm, pleasant weather and with more days at comfortable temperatures, spring makes you want to head outdoors and play to your heart’s content with the kids, doesn’t it? How about incorporating bubble play into those outdoor activities? Fill a basin with plenty of bubble solution and use things like fans or hangers to enjoy making big, dynamic bubbles.
In the spring sunlight, the bubbles will likely sparkle and shine.
I can just picture the children happily running around with the bubbles.
Give it a try for some inspiration!
playing camp
When it’s rainy and you can’t go play outside, why not enjoy a camping vibe at home? Pitch a tent indoors, try some camp-style meals, or switch off the room lights and spend time by lantern light—there are lots of ways to have fun right at home.
There are also play sets designed for pretend camping, like toy kits that include essentials such as a lantern, cooking gear, and a campfire, so using those is a great idea too.
Just spending your time a little differently than usual can make your at-home hours much more fulfilling.
Making slime
Let’s try making and playing with slime that has an indescribably pleasant, satisfying texture! You might wonder, “Can you really make slime?”—but with laundry glue, water, and borax, you can.
Thoroughly mix the laundry glue and water, then add a borax solution and stir it around; it will start to thicken and turn into slime.
Once it holds together, pick it up and play with it.
It could be fun to add color using food coloring or paint.
Kids are sure to be captivated by the soft, squishy feel!
Bath bomb making
Bath bombs are so fun to watch as they fizz and dissolve when you pop them into the tub.
Did you know you can make them yourself? How about making some with your kids and having a little playtime? All you need are baking soda, citric acid, and food coloring.
Mix the baking soda and citric acid, then add your preferred color of food coloring to tint the mixture.
Pack the mixture firmly into silicone molds and let it dry—that’s it! We recommend using character-shaped silicone molds sold at 100-yen shops.
Fill a large basin with water and enjoy the fizz as they dissolve!
Light play
Drawings of ghosts and black cats that float eerily on the wall of a dark room… a shadow play using light that gives you a bit of a test-of-courage vibe.
What you need: a toilet paper roll, plastic wrap, a rubber band, and a permanent marker.
Cover one end of the toilet paper roll with plastic wrap and secure it tightly with the rubber band.
Draw your picture on the plastic wrap, and you’re done.
Shine your smartphone’s light from the opposite side of the wrap, and the drawing you made will appear on the wall! If you prepare several rolls with different drawings and shine the light on them one after another, the images will appear in sequence and make for a fun show.