Wonderful Low-Cost Summer Activities for Kids

One of my fondest memories as a child was what my mother would call, the “what to do” boxes. These were two boxes, one for outside, and one for inside, that contained index cards with various activities written on them. Each morning, my sisters and I would take turns, pulling from the box, and whatever was on the index card, would be our activity for the day. It was not only a fun way to wake up but it also kept us very busy and rarely bored, rain or shine, over the hot summer months.

The amazing thing was that my mother always seemed to have whatever supplies were needed to actually do the activity that we pulled out of the box. In later years I asked her how she ever managed this and she said it was very simple. While we were at school, she would begin planning the summer boxes and would keep an ongoing list of things she needed, handy in her purse. Being the bargain hunter that she was, she would search garage sales or big clearance sales for items that she could use for her ideas. She would then bag items together that related to a specific activity, label the bag, and store it in her closet.

It worked! We always had exactly what we needed regardless of the activity. To us, it was like magic.

Ideas for the Inside Box:

• Put on a theatrical performance.
• Build a fun house.
• Make a trivia game of words and definitions to play another day.
• Draw a self-portrait to frame and put up on your wall.
• Create food sculpture then eat it.
• Have a talent show.
• Have a treasure hunt.
• Make friendship jewelry.
• Have a puppet show.
• Exchange a secret and keep it all day.

Ideas for the Outside Box:

• Have a pet parade.
• Decorate bicycles and go for a bike ride.
• Be a butterfly and fly along side them.
• Have a picnic and play charades.
• Be a bird and sing their songs.
• Make hopscotch chalk and play hopscotch.
• Make bubbles and blow them.
• Have a relay-egg- race.
• Make paper airplanes then fly them.
• Have a block party.

Have a happy summer!