Activities to Keep You Busy All Summer Long

As summer draws to a close, things will probably start to slow down with the kids’ schedules. As a summer babysitter, it can be tough to come up with ways to combat the summertime blues. Here at Sitter, we’ve come up with a few of our personal favorite outdoor summer activities that will help you mix up your days and keep things interesting for yourself and the children. Pick an activity from below and get started!

Make your own park passport!

This is a fun activity for kids who love to go to parks and playground. Look up a list of local parks, and create a “passport” with each kid. You can list the name of the park, and the highlights of that specific park. Set a goal to visit a new park each week, and then each time you visit a new park from your list, use a special stamp or marker to show that you’ve been there! If you want to make it really special, you could even take photos at each park and add them to your passports.

Giant Bubbles

This activity takes a little bit of preparation. You’ll need one gallon of hot water, ¼ cup of glycerin (can be swapped for equal parts cornstarch), and one cup of dish soap. Once you’ve mixed the bubble mixture, you’ll need to make your bubble wands. This can be done by taking a straw and putting a string through it then tying the string into a loop. From there, you’ll need to move the string so that the knot is inside of the straw, and voila! You are all set. Dip your wands into the bubble mixture, and have an awesome time!

Driveway Twister

This is a fun twist on a favorite childhood activity. For this activity, all you’ll need is some chalk and a clean (chalk free) driveway or slab of pavement. Pick four different colors, and draw your circles. They can be as near to one another or as far apart as you prefer. Then for your spinner, all you’ll need to do is draw it out on the ground, and use a piece of chalk as the arrow. Spin the chalk, call out the colors, and get all tangled up!

Bike Parade

This activity works best with multiple kids, so you may want to include any neighbor children you can. Allow the kids to decorate their bikes however they’d like—you can get creative with the supplies, streamers, glitter, tape…whatever works! Once their bikes are decorated, you will play the role of the Grand Marshall, leading the parade through the neighborhood to show of the kids’ awesome work!

Alphabet Tour

This activity is great for younger kids who are just starting to get familiar with their ABC’s. All you’ll need is a notebook, or even just your phone. You can walk around the neighborhood or park and find things that start with each letter of the alphabet. For example, if you saw an airplane, you could take a photo or write it down for the letter “A.” Do this for each letter of the alphabet while on your walk!

Sitters, what are some of your favorite outdoor activities? Tweet us at @SitterMe or leave a comment using #SitterTipTuesday!