Unique Summer Activities for Kids

Many kids often claim to be bored during summer vacation and try to fill up their time with unhealthy activities such as hours of video games, computer games and television. Instead of seeing kids sit around the house all summer long being couch potatoes there are fun activities kids can take part in to help keep them busy and help the summer pass quickly. Here is a look at three different, fun activities for kids to take part in during summer vacation.

The first activity is one that most kids will love to take part in and it the treasure hunt! Most kids love the adventure of trying to find treasure! This is great for one kid or several kids depending upon how many supplies you want to buy. To begin with you will want to make a treasure map. Plan out a place where you can hid the "treasure". The treasure can be a box filled with small, inexpensive goodies. Popular items include inexpensive jewelry and dolls for little girls, small cars and trucks for little boys or if you have both boys and girls looking for the items can you put in things such as water guns, water balloons, candy or even bags of "gold coins" for fun. Once you have determined where you want to hide your treasure you can make out the treasure map and give sever hints. Be sure to do something similar to mark where exactly you have hid the treasure so the kids can find it easily enough. You can make this more time consuming by putting a different part of the map in separate locations so the kids have to look for it in several different places.This activity can be done indoors our outdoors depending upon what your weather allows and is fun not only for the kids but for the parents to take part in as well. Another benefit to this activity is it is all fairly inexpensive. Most of the supplies you need can be found at places such as the Dollar Tree.

If your summer days are filled with rain and thunderstorms it will make playing outdoors impossible. One indoor activity that both boys and girls enjoy is a "cooking class". Here you can plan out an entire meal where your child (or children!) can be the chefs for the most part. Include an easy to make appetizer, entree and dessert. A popular, healthy appetizer that is fun for kids is "Ants on a Log". Here you will want to take some celery, wash it and cut it into pieces. Next put some creamy peanut butter on each piece and put some raisins on them to represent the "ants". It's very simple and kids LOVE IT! For the entree, you can make something very simple such as a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. While parents of course will have to handle the stove part kids can butter the bread and assemble the sandwiches. To finish things off in their "cooking class" they can then move on to making a dessert. A great choice for kids and adults is ice cream sandwiches. Depending upon the age and skill level of the kids you can either bake some homemade chocolate chip cookies ahead of time or buy some packaged cookies. Next you will want to get out a container of vanilla ice cream. Let the kids put a scoop of the ice cream in between two cookies and top with a small amount of whipped cream for the finished product. Kids will love the feeling of accomplishment they get after they have made the meal and it is great for giving parents a break too.

Lastly, if you get the chance to get your kids outdoors, try to visit some of the local parks in your area. Be sure to bring along important items such as sunscreen, bug spray and plenty of water. If you want to make a day of the trip you can also bring along a picnic lunch. Plan small activities ahead of time for older kids such as a scavenger hunt or by buying them an inexpensive disposable camera where they can take their own pictures. Have them look for special birds, bugs or other types of wildlife that are known to be seen in the park. If you have smaller children or toddlers look for parks that have playgrounds for kids so they will get an opportunity to play.Many of these parks including state parks will have special activities just for kids. This can include learning the history of the park to special arts and crafts.