If you need Fun Summer Indoor Activities for Kids, then I have four great no prep activity ideas that will keep your kids entertained on rainy days when you can’t go outside to play! These boredom busters will make moms and kids happy all summer long!
This Post on Fun Summer Indoor Activities for Kids is sponsored by Highlights and The Motherhood. As always, all ideas and opinions are my own. #HiddenPicturesFun
Looking for Fun Summer Indoor Activities for Kids? I have four no prep summer time activities that will help prevent the no school summer slump!
Summertime is one of the best times of the year. The hot weather, the lazy days, and the joys of childhood. While I love for my kids to go outside and play, here in Western PA, we experience a lot of rainy days. And if we are being completely honest, if you know me in real life, you know that I don’t venture outside unless I have to! I am just not an outdoorsy type of girl and am just as happy inside!
Last summer vacation, I learned quickly that rainy days called for planned indoor activities. My daughter had a hard time entertaining herself and I didn’t want her parked in front of cartoons all day. This year, I feel better prepared and have a list of boredom buster activities for any day that we just can’t go outside! All of these ideas are No Prep Activity Ideas and won’t involve you spending hours preparing the activity!
Make A Recipe Bucket List
If your kiddo is into cooking, this is a really fun activity and is different than the normal summer time bucket list for kids! Have your kids help you scroll Pinterest or even better go to the library and check out kid’s cookbooks, and make a list of recipes to tackle through the summer! This helps them try new foods and teaches them basic cooking skills. My daughter always wants to help in the kitchen and I know that she will have a blast making this recipe bucket list and checking the items off as we make them throughout the summer! This is also great writing practice for those kids who need to keep their handwriting up during the summer.
Go here for a fun free recipe book printable!
Make Homemade PlayDough
Homemade play dough is one of my favorite indoor activities. You are actually getting two activities in one here! You have to first make the play dough and then you get to play with! Most homemade play dough recipes are kid friendly and they can help you mix, measure, and stir!
Once the play dough is cooled, pull out some cookie cutters and rolling pins from your kitchen and you get hours of entertainment! This activity is great because it appeals to older and younger kids. While my toddler can’t make the play dough, I know she will enjoy playing with it with her older sister! Here is my favorite recipe for homemade play dough.
If you have never used play dough mats, they are really fun and can be themed or educational! I love printing out a variety of free ones and letting my daughters pick what one they want to try! This extends the activity even further!
Play Hidden Picture Puzzles
My daughter has always loved playing with hidden picture books and those seek and find stories, so I knew she’d be thrilled when we downloaded the Hidden Picture Puzzles App* from Highlights.
The world-famous Hidden Pictures puzzles come to life for your kids in this fun app! There are fun challenges with extrinsic motivators that are fun for kids and adults! I love playing this game with my daughter! The content is updated weekly with new puzzles and my daughter is always so excited to log in and see what’s new!
This makes a great travel activity too for long road trips or plane rides! I know screen time is a hotly contested topic, but these Hidden Picture Puzzles are definitely a great educational form of screen time that is adding value instead of just draining her brain!
Despite looking like she’s dressed for winter here, we are really excited for summer break! It is just freezing in our town today!!
For those of you with younger kiddos, Highlights has another great app, Hidden Pictures Puzzle Town! This is for preschoolers aged 3-6 and has five fun puzzle types! We will definitely be trying this app when my toddler gets a little bigger! Both apps have a limited time free summer bonus puzzles so check them out soon!
For both apps, you get the free 30 days free so you can try it and make sure your kids like it! If you are looking for a kid friendly tablet, we LOVE our Amazon Fire Tablet Kids Edition. It has amazing parental controls and we love the content my daughter can access! It is absolutely one of my favorite kid purchases ever.
You can download the apps on your phone, too! I love pulling this out when we are waiting for a doctor’s appointment or stuck in a long line somewhere!
Download Hidden Pictures Puzzles and Hidden Pictures Puzzle Town today for FREE!
Be Makers
The makers movement is so popular right now. Turning nothing into something is an incredible thing and is great for both adults and kids. Save grocery items that you normally throw away, cereal boxes, pasta boxes, jars, soda bottles, newspapers, magazines, etc. and once you have a good collection, challenge your child to create something with those items! Supply some tape, markers, and glue and let them be as creative or as messy as they want and see what they come up with! Not only does this teach them to create with their hands, but you can also throw in a valuable lesson about recycling!
Your kids will be so excited to share their homemade creations and I bet you will find them playing with their invention the next day too!
For more fun ideas to keep your kids entertained all summer long, check out my Fun Kid’s Ideas board on Pinterest!
*Available for iOS and Android. FREE 30-day trial, only $3.99/month after. Users auto-roll into subscription after the trial completes. Cancel anytime.
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These are such fun ideas! I love the recipe book idea!
I can’t wait to make it with her! I think it will be fun!
So many fun and creative ideas!
Thanks Lydi! Hopefully it entertains us for a while!
We will have some visiting littles this summer and we love the recipe bucket list idea. Love all of your activity suggestions too! Thanks!
Ah that is so nice you will have littles with you this summer!! The recipe book is going to be so much fun!
You have so many great ideas here. I actually do have a running list of recipes on my phone, so once my kids get out of school for the summer we will have to get started on them!
I always loved Highlights when I was a kid. I’m so glad that my grandkids can download the app and enjoy it as much as I did.
No prep is very appealing. Highlights has been around and entertaining and educating children for years. Never go wrong with highlights.
No prep is my favorite!
I remember those Highland hidden picture pages in the book! I always love them when I was a kid. They bring back such great memories. I love everything that you mentioned here! It is so hot here in the summertime that we typically do not go outside so all of this will be fun to do.
Yes! They were always one of my favorite activities as a kid!!
What a great ideas, kids will surely have so much fun playing this. My nieces and nephews love to playdough.
Mine too!
These activities look like really fun ideas! Keeping the kids occupied is pretty important!
It is, or we all might go crazy!!
I’m always looking for indoor kids activities. There is only so much time you can spend at the pool. I love the Highlights idea. I always felt like this company provides really good mental stimulation for the kids and I can feel good about spending their time this way.
It is great mental stimulation and educational! Much better than some of the other apps out there!
I have saved all our bottle caps and we have been making it into a project each time. It’s great to upcycle stuff and avoid throwing it in the landfill.
It is great!
How do you get kids to be interested in cooking? They can learn to cook basic stuff. My problem is that I myself don’t like spending time in the kitchen.
My daughter sees me cooking everyday so I think that’s why she’s interested. Its best to show by example, I think!!
It can get too hot outside for the kids to play and it’s good to prepare summer activities for them that they can do in the house instead! I really like the recipes idea, it’s nice to be able to have them in the kitchen and learn more about cooking on their own!
My six year old has been so into cooking, I’m so excited to teach her easy recipes!
These are wonderful tips. I love the idea of creating a recipe bucket lit. I know the kiddos would love that.
Thanks Tasheena!!
You have some great ideas. I love hidden pictures myself. And those chicken tenders look good, I’d eat them.
Me too! I always loved doing Hidden Pictures!
These all sounds like great ways to keep kids entertained while stuck inside. Although in the south most days it’s just too dang hot to get outside, UGH!
We are in PA so not as hot, but since we don’t have central air, sometimes its cooler outside than in!!
I love these ideas. We have an ongoing recipe bucket list in this house. I love it!
I’m thinking of doing a Christmas themed one too! So fun to make it ongoing!
I LOVE the idea of a kids recipe book! I think I will have to make one for our family – thankfully my son has a very good palette so it won’t be only full of mac and cheese haha
haha my daughter too!! A mac and cheese and chicken nuggets book would not be too exciting!
I miss having activities planned for the kids! Now that they have children of their own, they’re the ones who ask me for suggestions. I think these are all lovely things to do during the summer!
You must have done a great job with activities if they are asking you for suggestions!!
These are some really great ideas for kids in the summer! I love the idea of the recipe book.