If you’re looking for ways to entertain your kids try a few of these handy suggestions… (Your A-Z guide. Enjoy!) By thoughtful mum, Susan Baker (thishappymom.com)
1. Act out a play
2. Alphabetise your books
3. Arrange photo albums
4. Bake a batch of cookies
5. Bake a cake
6. Basketball
7. Bathe a pet
8. Bird watching
9. Blow bubbles
10. Braid hair
11. Brush the pet
12. Brush your teeth
13. Build a clubhouse under the dining room table
14. Build a fort in the backyard
15. Build a fort in your rooms
16. Build a fort with all the wrapped rolls of paper towels and toilet paper
17. Build a marble maze
18. Build a rabbit trap and bait it with a baby carrot
19. Build a reading nook in the guest bathtub with all the pillows you can find
20. Build a sandcastle
21. Build a squirrel trap and bait it with acorns gathered from the yard
22. Build huge insects out of found materials
23. Build mud pies
24. Build swords out of cardboard tubes and duct tape
25. Build with blocks or Lego
26. Call a friend
27. Call your grandmother
28. Catch butterflies and then let them go
29. Chase butterflies
30. Check out a science book and try some experiments
31. Check the mail
32. Check the pinterest summer activities board or indoor kid stuff board or summer school board
33. Clean bathroom – unlikely but worth a try
34. Clean bathroom mirrors
35. Clean bedroom
36. Clean garage
37. Clean inside of car windows
38. Clean sliding glass doors
39. Clean under the bed
40. Collect caterpillars and bugs
41. Collect feathers
42. Collect leaves
43. Collect small bugs and build a small world for them
44. Collect rocks
45. Collect seeds
46. Collect sticks and mud and build a bird’s nest
47. Colour
48. Cook
49. Copy your favourite book illustration
50. Count how many days until school finishes / starts
51. Create a potato weapon
52. Create a symphony with bottles and pans and rubber bands
53. Create an imaginary friend and name them
54. Create something out of a few cardboard tubes
55. Crochet or knit
56. Cut pictures from old magazines and write a story
57. Declare backwards day
58. Declare opposite day
59. Decorate a shoe box to hold your summer treasures
60. Decorate bikes or wagons and have a neighbourhood parade
61. Design your own game
62. Do a jigsaw puzzle
63. Do a secret service for a neighbour
64. Do brain teasers (ie: crosswords, word searches, hidden pictures, mazes, etc.)
65. Do crafts with pressed flowers
66. Do extra schoolwork to get ahead
67. Do some stargazing
68. Draw
69. Draw a cartoon strip
70. Dust the house
71. Empty dishwasher
72. Feed the birds or squirrels
73. Feed the cat
74. Find a new pen pal
75. Find an ant colony and spill some food and watch what happens
76. Find bugs and start a collection
77. Find out what happens when you combine vinegar and baking soda – be careful
78. Find shapes in the clouds
79. Finger paint with pudding
80. Finger paint with shaving cream
81. Fold laundry
82. Fold the towels
83. Freeze large block of coloured water. Use the ice blocks to build a sculpture
84. Gather the dirty laundry
85. Give your pet a party
86. Glue noodles into a design on paper
87. Go fishing
88. Have a “texas snowball fight” with wads of white paper
89. Have a marble tournament
90. Have a neighbourhood bike wash
91. Have a read-a-thon with a friend or sibling
92. Have a Spelling Bee
93. Have a tea party with your toys
94. Have a Teddy bear picnic
95. Have leaf boat races when the neighbour over waters their garden
96. Have paper airplane races
97. Host a tea party and invites your friends
98. Hunt for earthworms
99. Hunt for four-leaf clovers
100. Invent a game from all the extra game pieces
101. Invent a new language
102. Invent circus acts
103. Jump rope
104. Learn magic tricks
105. Learn origami
106. Listen to a story or book on tape
107. Listen to the birds sing
108. Make a collage from magazine photos
109. Make a collage using pictures cut from old magazines
110. Make a craft
111. Make a diorama
112. Make a fairy house
113. Make a hideout or clubhouse
114. Make a macaroni necklace
115. Make a map of your bedroom, house or neighbourhood
116. Make a parade float from your wagon
117. Make a sundial
118. Make a teepee out of blankets
119. Make a tent out of blankets
120. Make a terrarium
121. Make a treasure map
122. Make a wind chime out of things headed for the bin
123. Make an obstacle course in your back garden
124. Make lunch and eat it sitting on a log
125. Make and eat fruit salad
126. Make and freeze popsicles
127. Make art on the front walkway with chalk
128. Make bookmarks
129. Make Christmas presents
130. Make dessert
131. Make dinner
132. Make doll clothes
133. Make flowers from craft foam or found materials
134. Make food sculptures (from fruit, sweets, raisins, cream cheese, peanuts, etc.) and then eat it
135. Make friendship bracelets for your friends
136. Make Frisbee’s out of old plastic lids, decorate with markers
137. Make granola
138. Make homemade gift cards
139. Make homemade play dough
140. Make homemade wrapping paper
141. Make lemonade
142. Make paper airplanes
143. Make picture frames from twigs glued onto sturdy cardboard
144. Make sock puppets
145. Make some popcorn and eat it
146. Make some salt dough and then make a sculpture while blind folded
147. Make trail mix
148. Make up a “Bored List” of things to do
149. Make up a game for practicing math facts
150. Make up a game for practicing spelling
151. Make up a play using old clothes as costumes
152. Make up a song
153. Make up a story
154. Make up a story by drawing pictures
155. Match your socks
156. Memorise a poem
157. Organise a dresser drawer
158. Paint
159. Paint the sidewalk with water
160. Paint your face with face paints
161. Perform a circus
162. Perform a family concert
163. Phone a friend
164. Pick flowers
165. Pick vegetables
166. Plan a neighbourhood or family Olympics
167. Plan a special activity for your family
168. Plan a treasure hunt
169. Plan a trip for the weekend
170. Plan an imaginary trip around the world, where would you want to go?
171. Plan an imaginary trip to the moon
172. Plan pranks for Aprils Fools Day next year
173. Plant a container garden
174. Plant a garden or a pot
175. Play “I spy”
176. Play tag but in the dark
177. Play a guessing game
178. Play baseball
179. Play board games
180. Play card games
181. Play catch
182. Play charades
183. Play checkers or chess
184. Play Cowboys
185. Play doll hospital
186. Play with dolls
187. Play dress-up
188. Play flashlight tag
189. Play Frisbee
190. Play Frisbee golf
191. Play hide-and-seek
192. Play hopscotch
193. Play in the house
194. Play in the sandbox
195. Play indoor tennis with a balloon and paper plates
196. Play jacks
197. Play kick the can
198. Play marbles
199. Play musical statues
200. Play with foam weapons
201. Play outside with the pet
202. Play school classrooms
203. Play out your story time
204. Play shopping at a store
205. Play tag
206. Play the alphabet game
207. Play the present game
208. Play with play dough
209. Play with toy cars
210. Play computer games with an adult and see who wins
211. Practice musical instruments
212. Prepare a restaurant lunch with menus
213. Prepare lunch for your family
214. Press flowers and make a card
215. Pretend you’re a cat
216. Pretend you’re a game show host
217. Pretend you’re invisible
218. Pretend you’re super heros (or super villains)
219. Produce a talent show
220. Pull weeds
221. Put on a magic show
222. Put on a puppet show
223. Put together a family newsletter
224. Read a magazine
225. Read a story to a younger child
226. Read as many books as you can in an hour
227. Recite a memorised poem for your family
228. Research your favourite animal, sport, food, or hobby
229. Ride bikes
230. Roller blade
231. Run a lemonade stand in your garden
232. Run relay races
233. Run through the garden sprinkler
234. Search your house for items made in other countries and then learn about those countries from the encyclopaedia
235. Sew buttons onto old shirts
236. Sprout seeds or beans
237. Squirt the garden with the hose
238. Start a club
239. Start a journal of summer fun
240. Start a nature diary
241. String dry noodles or O-shaped cereals into a necklace
242. Surprise a neighbour with a good deed
243. Surprise an elderly neighbour or relative by weeding his/her garden
244. Sweep driveway or sidewalk
245. Sweep front pathways or gardens
246. Sweep kitchen or bathroom floors
247. Sweep the terrace
248. Take a nap in the closet
249. Take a nap outside on your lawn
250. Take a rest on the sofa and watch a film
251. Take a shower or bath
252. Take the rubbish out
253. Teach yourself to play musical instrument (recorder, harmonica, guitar)
254. Try to imitate bird calls
255. Use a potato to run a light bulb
256. Use binoculars
257. Use a magnifying glass
258. Use a microscope
259. Vacuum the car
260. Vacuum the living room
261. Vacuum or dust the window blinds
262. Vacuum under the couch cushions and keep any change found
263. Walk in the wind
264. Wash bicycles
265. Wash the car
266. Wash your face
267. Watch the clouds
268. Watch a movie with a friend
269. Water the plants
270. Whittle bars of soap
271. Work out a puzzle
272. Work with clay and create a new sculpture
273. Write a letter to a relative, friend or pen pal
274. Write a play and act it out
275. Write a science-fiction story
276. Write in your journal
277. Write letters and learn new words
278. Write newspaper articles for a pretend newspaper
279. Write reviews of movies, TV shows or concerts you’ve seen this year
280. Write stories and invent characters using your siblings names
281. Write these ideas on pieces of paper and pick out one or two to do
