350+ Summer Activity Ideas

I typed up a list of more than 350 activities, projects, trip ideas, and patches  the kids can work on this summer. When I handed these pages to the kids you should have seen them pour through the list! Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads, they were so excited!  Each of the items on this list have patches that scouts (and others!) can earn. But let’s face it, it’s just nice to have a go-to list when they are restless whether or note they collect patches.   The girls are currently have their sights on these patches (plus a dozen more!!!)

• “I love to read” (I told the kids they had to read 10 books)
• Drawing (I told the kids they had to use different drawing techniques and finish 10 “museum quality” drawings. They grinned at me!)
• Arts and Crafts (DD started a paper mache pig… and now has to paint it.)
• Canoeing
• Rock Climbing (indoor)
• Star Gazing and Astronomy

Some of the activities they can do on their own, some are group activities (like plan and throw a 60s Party or participate in a Costume Party), and some require adult participation (going canoeing or touring a donut shop).

I’ll paste in a couple snippets from the list: 

Here are the Cs:

Cabin Camping, Camp Fire Songs, Candle Making, Candy Making, Candy Tour, Canning, Car Wash, Card Games, Card Making, Cardboard Boat Race, Carnival, Caroling, Cave Tour, Cemetery Walk, Ceramics Mug Pottery Wheel, Challenge Course, Chemistry Day, Chess. China, Chili Cook-off, Chinese Culture, Circus, Citizenship, City Hall Tour, Civil War Re-enactment. , Clean Up, Climbing Wall, Clinic Tour, Community Awareness, Computer Knowledge, Constellations, Cooking – Make 5 Meals with your Parents for this badge, Corn Maze, Costume Party, Craft Project, Creativity, CSI, Cupcake Decorating.

Here are the Ps:

Pajama Party, Pancake Breakfast, Paper Making, Park Bench (clean up the park), Peace, Peacemaker, Penny Drive, Pet Care  – Dog Kitten. Pet Store Visit, Petting Zoo, Picnic, Pioneer Day, Pizza Party, Planetarium, Plant a Seed, Plant a Tree, Plant Study,  Poetry, Police Visit, Pony Ride, pool Party, Post Office Tour, Pot Luck Dinner, Pottery, Pow Wow, Power Plant Tour, Pretzel Tour

You can find patches for sale over at eBay and the Connecticut Girl Scout Council also has a HUGE selection of patches!

So, here is our long, long list of activities. The activity ideas on this list are appropriate for elementary and middle school kids.  It’s about 5 pages long and better yet, it’s free to download!  If you get some good use out of this, I’d love to hear from you! ~Liesl

Summer Fun Activity List – for Elementary and Middle School Kids

I also bought the old Junior Girl Scout Badgebook (affliate link), which has a half-dozen activities that the girls can do to earn a badge. Even though the Girl Scouts did away with the badge system, this gives the kids concrete activities they can do — and I told the kids that if they finish the suggested activities we’ll find a patch to go with it.

P.S. If you have younger kids, you might enjoy this HUGE List of Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers!! It has more than 100+ activities to do with your 2-5 year old (and it too is free to download!) 🙂

You might want to check out this post with more Creative, Fun Summer Activity Ideas

Other fun summer activity posts:

• 7 Fun STEM – Engineering Activities for Kids
• Engineering Activities for Kids
• Free Engineering Curriculum (for Grades 3 to 8)
• 7 Fun Summer Activities
• 15 Fabulous Family Board Games and Card Games
• Make Marbelized Paper
• Make a Bead Bowl
• Play the Game SPUD
• Play the Game Kick the Can
• 7 Active Summer Games Our Family Loves
• Sun-sensitive Paper Projects
• Big Bubble Wands and Foam Snakes
• Make a Sponge Ball
• Make Marshmallow Towers

You might also be interested in these posts:

Outdoor Treasure Hunt Printable

Free Nature Scavenger Hunt Printables

See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter. You might also want to check out some of our resources pages above (such as our Science, Language Arts, or History Units Resource Pages) which have links to dozens of posts.  You might want to join our free Homeschool Den Chat Facebook group.  Don’t forget to check out Our Store as well. ~Liesl

Again, if you are interested in joining our Homeschool Den Newsletter, feel free to subscribe here. It’s a great way to hear about our latest packets and to learn about many of the hundreds of printables & other materials we have tucked away on the blog!

Happy Homeschooling!

~Liesl

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the Clouds, Winds, Weather Packet.  It comes with the Natural Disasters Packet as well).  My daughter is finishing up the documentary series Raging Planet and has really enjoyed that unit!

Disclosure:  Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.