Simple Ideas to Keep Kids Occupied at Home This Summer

It is a really weird time at the moment, many summer holidays are being postponed and a lot of summer camps and other kids activities are all up in the air. Some of us are still working from home so looking for simple ideas to keep the kids occupied at home this summer.

Well, this is my superpower. I am here to provide you with lots of simple ideas for kids crafts, activities and ways to keep our children occupied at home this summer. There’s no doubt about it: trying to juggle working from home with children is challenging. These activity ideas will help you out!

I am a firm believer in keeping things as simple as possible for everyone and also have zero issues with screens and love popping the kids in front of a movie, especially when I can get them to make it an event by printing off tickets, making popcorn and then writing a review as that keeps them occupied for even longer. parenting win!

How to encourage children to keep them self occupied at home

The best way I have found to teach kids to keep themselves occupied is by using a bored jar. A jar where you pop activities and chores in and they pick one out when they have nothing to do.

You can keep it simple for younger children and I think the addition of chores is the secret as they never know what they are going to pick out, so it might be make a jigsaw or play on the Xbox, but it might also be vacuum the stairs or walk the dog!

I would recommend making one jar for each child based on their age and aptitude – the aim is to take the pressure off YOU keeping them occupied.

• Bored Jar Activities for Teens
• Bored Jar Activities for Younger Children and Preschoolers
• Bored Jar Activities for Tweens

Sometimes it is just about having an idea and prepping. When I need to work then I prep the activities on a morning ready for keeping the kids occupied. Also, you have to plan for the weather as yes this is the UK!

Brainstorming Summer Activities

A great way to fill up your board jar is to brainstorm activities with the kids. I like to pop each activity on a post it note then you can fold it and pop it in your jar.

The activities do not have to be complicated, in fact, simple activities that your children do anyway work really well. Activities like Hama beads, jigsaws, sticking and glueing, LEGO, colouring, paint by numbers etc. Also, it is a good idea to buy some activity books, such as Magic water painting books (UK Link/US Link), or dot to dot books for times when you need them to be really quiet!

Ideas to keep the kids occupied this summer

1. 25 Teddy Bear Themed Crafts and Activities
2. 20 Fun & Creative Boat Crafts for Kids
3. 2 Ingredient Silly Putty
4. 35 Craft Stick Crafts and Activities
5. 10 Cool Kids Activities for Hot Days
6. 20+ Angry Birds Crafts and Activities for Kids
7. 10 Rugby crafts and activities for kids
8. 20 Stick Crafts and Activities
9. 10 Great games and activities for kids to encourage play in the garden
10. Paddington Bear crafts, activities & free printables
11. Seven Great Kids Outdoor Painting Activities
12. Stone crafts and activities
13. Post-it Note art, crafts and activities
14. Bird activities and crafts
15. 10 Last minute rainy day activities
16. Lockdown 2020 Time Capsule Printable
17. Keeping Kids Active in the Garden 
18. Lion King Activity Sheets
19. Fabulous Smallfoot Crafts and Party Ideas
20. Football crafts or Soccer Crafts
21. Shape Rocket – a fab preschool activity
22. 20 Cute and Easy to Make Disney Inspired Crafts 
23. 20 Adorable Button Crafts for Kids
24. Plastic Bottle Wind Spiral Mobile
25. DIY Craft Foam Stamps
26. DIY Dreamcatcher Tutorial
27. Kandinsky Inspired Tree made with Felt Scraps
28. 5 ways to make movie night memorable
29. Make your own Stickman
30. Summer Water Fun
31. Measuring and Estimating with Ribbons
32. Kandinsky for kids – concentric circles in squares
33. Floating chalk prints
34. Free printable paper dolls
35. DIY maths game for kids – Out of this world maths
36. How to make paper beads Necklace from scrap paper
37. Scooby-Doo Kids Colouring Pages
38. Scooby Doo Crafts
39. Paper Plate Weaving Tutorial
40. Balloon Hovercraft
41. Minion Stones – a fab Minion Craft
42. DIY Puffy Paint
43. stress balls from balloons
44. Maths and Art Collide = Parabolic curves
45. Popsicle Stick Harmonica or a lolly stick harmonica
46. Free Minions Colouring Book Printable and Minion craft roundup
47. Make a lolly or popsicle stick catapult
48. 15 Stunning suncatchers for kids to make
49. Homemade flowers for kids to make
50. Ombre Shoe Lace – How to
51. Rainbow Crafts and Activities for Kids
52. How to make a Smash book (scrapbook) for kids – a step by step guide
53. DIY Etched Wooden Heart Keyrings
54. Washi Decorated Toilet Roll Bracelets or Cuffs
55. DIY Garden lantern from a plastic bottle
56. Salt dough jewellery
57. Diy Toy Parachute Craft
58. Tissue Confetti DIY Decorated Photo Frame
59. How to make Animal-Friendly Pavement Paint
60. DIY Butterfly and Flower Fingerprint Mugs
61. DIY Phone Amplifier and Stand
62. Make your own Jelly Bean Watercolours (Taste Safe)
63. 20 Fun and Creative Clothespin Crafts Ideas
64. 20 Easy & Beautiful Cactus-Inspired Projects
65. Easy Monkey Paper Puppet with Templates
66. Simple My Little Pony Craft
67. Make a Toilet Roll Microphone
68. DIY LEGO Fidget Spinners
69. How to Make a Craft Stick Wall Hanging
70. Make your own Blow Art Paper Plate Lion
71. Bleeding Tissue Paper Canvas Art
72. LEGO Batman Crafts and Activities
73. How to Make Rainbow Milk Marbled Paper Art 
74. Simple Stop Motion for Kids
75. Mondrian Inspired Jar Luminaries
76. DIY Superhero Masks – Crafting with Tweens
77. Design a Dream Pet – A simple drawing prompt
78. DIY Colouring Page Bookmarks
79. Pete’s Dragon Colouring and Activity Pages
80. Polymer Clay Monsters
81. Washi Decorated Toilet Roll Bracelets or Cuffs
82. Cotton Pad Calla Lily Craft
83. Shoebox table football/foosball table
84. Faux stained glass art for kids 
85. Floating chalk prints
86. Cute Felt Chick Purse
87. Printing Flowers with Celery Stalks
88. DIY Marble Maze – How to
89. How to make Glove Monsters
90. How to make a Rainbow Windsock
91. Dying fabric with Permanent markers 
92. Children’s Craft Showcase – Masking Tape
93. Home Made Scented Playdough

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