Fun summer activities for kids: ideas you’ll want to try in childcare and at home

smart ball

Discovered a giant, DIY retro-game smart ball at a summer festival! Nikko Kinugawa Spa Hotel Mikazuki ~

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

[Easy] A Fun and Learnable Cooking Challenge! ① Squeeze-Squeeze Ice Cream — Nico☆Puchi × Kodomo Orange Page

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.

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Fluid art

[Fluid Art] Fun craft pouring paint from paper cups 🎨 [Easy with 100-yen shop materials!]

Let’s play with “fluid art” that takes advantage of paint’s flow.

You’ll need liquid laundry starch or school glue, paper cups, acrylic paint, Kent paper (heavy drawing paper), wooden chopsticks, and a box to tape the Kent paper onto.

A box about 5 cm deep and a bit larger than your paper is easier to use.

First, choose several paint colors.

In separate paper cups for each color, mix paint and glue at a 1:1 ratio using a chopstick.

After mixing, pour several of these glue-mixed paints, layering them into another clean paper cup.

Press the box—already fitted with the Kent paper—down onto the top of the cup, then flip the whole thing so the cup ends up on top.

Set the box and cup down, lift the cup, and the paint will flow out to create beautiful patterns.

You can tilt and move the box with both hands to change the flow, or add more paint from above for extra fun.

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Ghost busting with a water gun

Water play with everyone at the nursery—fun times with the pool and water guns.

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!

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Let’s grow summer vegetables!

[Home Gardening] How to Grow Fruit-bearing Summer Vegetables [Garden Beds and Planters] Grow cherry tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, green peppers, bell peppers, cucumbers, and bitter melon in your home garden.

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.

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