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!
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Fun summer activities for kids: ideas you’ll want to try at daycare and at home (11–20)
Summer at-home fun you can get all at the 100-yen shop!
Everything you need from the 100-yen shop! Here are some ideas for summer play at home.
Have you heard of a sensory bag? It’s a pouch-like item used as a toy to stimulate children’s senses, letting them play while engaging their perception and sensations.
This time, let’s make a DIY sensory bag and play with it! You’ll need a vacuum/compression bag, decorative pom-poms, beads, and liquid laundry starch or school glue.
You can also add glitter for extra sparkle.
The cool, chilly feel makes it perfect for summer.
Summer at-home activities using dry ice
It’s like magic! Here are some ideas for summer at-home play using dry ice.
The bubbling white “smoke” from dry ice is fascinating for kids, isn’t it? This time, let’s try playing with dry ice.
You’ll need a cup filled with water, dry ice, bubble solution, straws, and so on.
If you blow bubbles onto the cup with dry ice in it, it’s fun to watch the foamy bubbles puff up and expand! When using dry ice, be sure to ventilate well and avoid touching the dry ice directly.
smart ball
Let’s make a retro game! Here’s an idea for a “smart ball” game.
Smart ball is a type of pinball where you shoot balls into winning holes on the board.
This time, let’s try making a handmade smart ball.
Hammer nails into a board to set up winning and losing zones.
If you add a spinning mechanism, the ball’s movement becomes unpredictable and exciting.
It’s also a good idea to build a small-scale version using materials like cardboard.
Give it a try!
Knead-and-make ice cream
A perfect summer activity that lets you make a snack while playing—twice the fun in one go.
The idea is to make kids’ favorite: ice cream.
You might think you need an ice cream maker, but this super easy method uses zip-top bags.
The ingredients are simple and easy to get, like bananas, milk, sugar, and heavy cream.
Put the ingredients into a bag and knead well, mashing the bananas until no chunks remain.
Flatten the bag and freeze it, then take it out and knead again, and freeze once more—done! Be careful not to overdo it and tear the bag.
Ghost busting with a water gun
Games where you shoot something down with a water gun are always exciting, right? If you play a game where you shoot down ghosts, it could really bring out the summer spirit and be a lot of fun.
Draw ghost illustrations and use newspaper or calligraphy paper to make something like a string, then hang them from a rope.
It’s easy if you clip them on with clothespins.
Aim for the string part and shoot it down with your water gun.
This way, even kids who are scared of ghosts might enjoy themselves while defeating them!
Let’s grow summer vegetables!
Home gardening is often undertaken as part of helping children overcome their dislike of vegetables.
Even if they don’t like the veggies served at meals, the ones they’ve planted themselves and cared for—watering, thinning, and watching them grow—feel special to them.
Summer vegetables are especially easy to grow and can be raised simply in planters, and they include many of the vegetables children tend to dislike, like tomatoes and bell peppers.
It’s also great for food education, so try it as a form of play.
Once the vegetables are ready, it might be nice to cook something using your harvest.
Fun summer activities for kids: ideas you’ll want to try at preschool and at home (21–30)
Agar play
Agar play is a very popular activity at kindergartens and nurseries.
Children seem to love the jiggly texture and cool feel of agar, so it’s often played with in summer.
Younger children around age three enjoy squishing and stomping on it, while by around age five they can move on to more creative activities like using cutters, making it a recreation that can be enjoyed for a long time.
