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School’s out, and the summer of fun has begun! We’re even more excited for this summer since it seems things are starting to return to normal. Cross out your family bucket list with some of these activities and crafts for your older kids, and teens – some even you will have a blast doing!
1. Make Homemade Ice Cream
Nothing beats sweet ice cream on a warm summer night, and if you’ve ever had homemade ice cream, you know that nothing can compare. This is a great activity to get the whole family involved, even the little ones. You can make it easily in a cute little mason jar!
To make your own ice cream, follow this recipe and these instructions below.
MASON JAR ICE CREAM
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp of vanilla
- A pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- Food coloring
- Sprinkles, gummy bears, chocolate chips – you name it!
Instructions:
- Add heavy whipping cream, vanilla, salt, sugar, and your toppings in the mason jar.
- Shake vigorously for 5 minutes.
- Let sit in the freezer for at least three hours.
- Enjoy your yummy, homemade treat!
BONUS TIP: have the kids decorate their jar with acrylic paint, stickers, ribbons, and bows beforehand for an extra dash of fun!
2. Paint Rocks
This is one of my favorite activities to do with my own kids. Go explore outside and find smooth-surfaced rocks to paint on. Use acrylic paint or acrylic paint pens and doodle away. Doing it outside means virtually no mess! Check out my Painting Rocks Pinterest board for some inspiration.
3. Tie-Dye T-Shirts
This is a fun one because kids feel like they’re allowed to be messy, and we all know how much they love that! You can get tie-dye kits in a variety of colors anywhere that sells craft supplies. The cool thing about this project is that there are so many ways to make it unique. If you have multiple children, it’ll be nice because each will get to feel they have created something unique! Take old t-shirts you own and experiment with colors, or buy a plain white pack of t-shirts as a low-cost alternative.
4. Scrapbook
Remember when we all used to do this? Now we have our phone’s camera album and Instagram to rely on, but this is one activity I miss. My oldest daughter and I used to scrapbook together (circa early 2000s!), and she had a blast. Kids will love this, especially if they love to craft because there are lots of stickers and coloring involved. They have a lot of room to let their imagination run wild.
As a parent, it’s a relatively low-cost option for a few days worth of fun! Just head over to any store that can print out your photos, stock up on construction paper, stickers, markers, glue, tape, and pens, and watch your kids stay entertained for hours.
BONUS TIP: Get a hole puncher and some ribbon to tie all their work together into one album. Have them create a cute cover page that you can look back on when you feel like taking a trip down memory lane.
5. Practice Hand Lettering
Kids love to use their hands, and while attention spans can be short, having them practice hand lettering will help them develop a skill they can use their whole lives and be proud of! They’ll feel just like the grown-ups when working on hand lettering. Try out our Creative Lettering for Kids & Teens workbook, which has over 30 pages of practice that introduces to basic steps of faux calligraphy with several fun, kid-friendly techniques.
There you have it! With these activities, your older kids will be entertained sun up to sundown. For more ideas on kid’s crafting and DIY projects, head over to our Pinterest, where you can find hundreds of ideas for kids of all ages. For toddler’s activities, check out our blog on 15 Fun Things to Keep Your Littles Busy.
