Summer Activity Printables for Kids

I know summer is not the best time for learning activities, or at least kids aren’t often into learning activities at this time of year. But it’s a great idea to have some printable activities available for those “I’m bored” times, or when it’s too hot to go outside, when you’re on a road trip, or there’s just not anything else going on. Here are a few great summer activity printables for kids to get you started.

This printable from Artsy Fartsy Mama includes a word search and crossword puzzle with a summer theme.

Views from a Stepstool has a cute summer bingo card set, which includes both words and pictures for kids of different ages.

Grab this super cute memory game printable from Ayelet Keshet. It has 24 pairs of matching cards but you can use fewer of them for younger kids.

123 Homeschool 4 Me has more printable summer games, including I spy, memory and a domino game.

Help kids learn colors with a summer twist with this summer mini book of colors from Real Life at Home. And speaking of colors, you can also use these color by sight word coloring pages from Sara J Creations to slip in a little learning while you’re having fun.

Tot Schooling has an amazing printable pack for toddlers through pre-k that includes a whopping 37 educational activities. From tracing to counting, pattern recognition, I spy games and more, you can grab it all for free when you sign up for emails. And Itsy Bitsy Fun has some great printable file folder games that teach counting, shape and color matching and more.

For older kids, do a math problem every day with these summer math printable calendars from Math Geek Mama.

Summer playdough mats are a fun way to bring some seasonal vocabulary into your playtime. Grab these from Sea of Knowledge.

Planes and Balloons has a bunch of printable worksheets, coloring pages and activities with a summer theme. Shown is a Popsicle shapes worksheet.

Beach-Inspired Summer Art for Kids to Make

Make a First Aid Tin for Father’s Day or Summer Activities

Dinosaur Swap Sensory Play for a Bit of Summer Fun

Make a Jump Rope for Summer Fun

When my daughter was younger I would spend a lot of time trying to come up with activities she could do in the car on long road trips and things to entertain her when we were waiting at restaurants and things that didn’t involve screens.

But it turns out there are a lot of great activities you can do with just a piece of paper and a pen.

What Do We Do All Day has a great collection of pen and paper games, including some that can be done with just one person, though they’re all more fun if you have at least two.

There are some classics on here like hangman and dots and boxes, but there are also quite a few I hadn’t heard of before.

I don’t want to spoil the whole list for you because you should definitely click over there and look around, but I will share about the one that you see pictured above.

This game is called Bridges, and you start by making the big random shape and the dividing it into a bunch of sections (the post says 30-50 sections is ideal but I think this one is smaller than that).

Each player gets their own color marker and you take turns drawing bridges from one space to another, crossing a third. Once there’s a bridge, no other bridges can start, end or cross in those spaces. Keep going until no more bridges can be built, and the person who makes the last bridge wins.

Check out the post over at What We Do All Day for more great ideas for no or almost-no prep games you can play with your kids or that kids can play together. I’d love to know if you have a favorite paper and pen game, whether it’s on this list or a different one.

[Photo: What We Do All Day]

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