Frugal Friday: More than 100 Frugal Summer Family Activities

When I was growing up summer meant visiting family, exploring the outdoors, playing in the water, reading books, and plenty of free time to let our imaginations take us places we'd never imagined before. Summer for me meant freedom to live as a child in a child's world. And I treasure those memories that I have from my summers. 

Now that I'm creating my own family, I've realized that it doesn't have to cost money to make memories.  In fact, some of the best memories don't cost a cent. Over-scheduling our children's (or our time) away from home and family means robbing our children of precious memories that can't be made elsewhere. With so many responsibilities and obligations, I've found that family time (and even free time) often needs to be scheduled in order to happen. Here are some frugal ideas that hopefully will get you started to brainstorm how you can make your own family memories this summer!

1. Paint the sidewalk with ice cubes
2. Go camping in your backyard
3. Bubble Dancing
4. Make Homemade Ice cream in a bag
5. Make a Homemade Hot air balloon
6. Go to the parade
7. Explore the artist in you with some corn syrup paintings
8. Dejunk the house and host a garage sale or donate it!
9. Have a bike wash
10. Make Balloon Rockets
11. Feed the ducks at a local pond
12. Make a secret hideout in your backyard
13. Go summer sledding - find some cardboard boxes and a big, grassy hill and sled away!
14. Create Water Bottle Bubbles
15. Make a Super Slip and Slide
16. Have each person design and make a boat out of things around the house. Then, take them to a river/stream and race them.
17. Make some easy homemade sponge bombs and have a water war!
18. Run through the sprinklers while you're watering the lawn
19. Shop at a yard sale and see who can find the best item for under $1 or $5
20. Host the Olympics in your backyard
21. Make your own rainbow
22. Sleep out under the stars
23. Have a no-media day (or week or month!)
24. Make a family tree
25. Set up a bike obstacle course and have a bike rodeo
26. Play Hopscotch
27. Write a story and illustrate it together
28. Sip lemonade on the patio or out under a shady tree
29. Have a backwards dinner (eat dessert first...)
30. Go to the library and check out as many books as you can and have a read-a-thon
31. Find a long rope lying around the house and play jump rope
32. Go on a picnic
33. Have a water balloon toss
34. Make watermelon slushies
35. Climb a tree
36. Go cloud watching and see what shapes you can discover
37. Make mud pies
38. Have a tasting party. Make different foods, blindfold people and try to guess what foods they are!
39. Make a homemade sprinkler
40. Make Water Balloon Yo-yos
41. Construct something with marshmallows and toothpicks
42. Finger paint with pudding
43. Go to your public library for a story time or have your own at home
44. Wash the Car (and "accidentally" squirt someone...)
45. Have a paper airplane race
46. Go clean up a local park or public place
47. Go caterpillar hunting
48. Have a backyard BBQ
49. Make Ice Cube Boats
50. Make puppets and put on a show!
51. Make Ice Cream sundaes
52. Build an outdoor obstacle course with wading pools, jump ropes, cardboard boxes, sprinklers, etc.
53. Plant a garden
54. Build a Fairy House
    
55. Have an explosion!
56. Build a sand castle
57. Make Robots out of recylables
58. Make Homemade Pretzels
59. Go to a farmer's market
60. Collect Grasshoppers
61. Draw Monster Pictures on paper and squirt them with water until they fade away
62. Make a big pot of witches brew out of water, pinecones, weeds, or anything else you can find in the backyard...
63. Host a neighborhood block party
64. Have a marshmallow roast
65. Hike to a local waterfall and take a free shower!
66. Play shadow tag - try to run away before the "it" steps on your shadow.
67. Find a good spot to watch a sunset or sunrise
68. Make pirate ships - Aargh mateys!
69. Have a watermelon seed-spitting contest
70. Make a nature collage out of things you find in nature.
71. Perform a skit for a neighbor or friend
72. Watch the fireworks on the 4th of July
73. Make microwave popcorn and take it to a park to enjoy.
74. Get out and get some frugal exercise!
75. Pick flowers from your yard and drop them off on someone's door anonymously
76. Play flashlight tag
77. Be a tourist in your own town
78. Invite your friends over for a Beach Party
    
79. Find a construction project to watch from a distance
80. Create a racetrack on the driveway
81. Press some flowers in a book between wax paper for dried flowers
82. Throw a birthday party for your pets or stuffed animals or an un-birthday party for your kids
83. Go to the pet store and look at all the animals
84. Start a collection - rocks, shells, bugs, leaves, anything!
85. Go for a bus ride on the local bus around town - see if you can make it where you need to
86. Go Berry Picking - there's lots of u-pick places where you pay for your berries by the pound.
87. Visit a cemetery and put flowers from your garden on someone's grave
88. Have a family game night with prizes!
89. ABC Hunt- Write all 26 letters on your driveway and find items to place next to each letter.
90. Do a kid fun run
91. Make Rootbeer Floats
92. Make Tin Foil Dinners and cook them in the oven.
93. Go to a new playground
94. Read a chapter book together
95. Have a 3-legged race
96. Look at something through a magnifying glass
97. Practice drawing with your toes
98. Make sand faces
99. Play red light green light
100. Put on an outside dance

And if that's not enough ideas for you, here's a few more!

>100 Frugal Family Activities for Spring

> 100 Frugal Family Activities for Winter

100 Fun Ideas/Activites for Family Reunions or Parties

Summer Activity Jar Ideas

Summer Bucket List ideas

Linked to: Frugal Friday, Hearts 4 Home, Thrifty Thursday, Homemaking Linkup, Weekly Kids Co-op