Fun in the Summertime Songs/Poems
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Seasonal Kids Activities Summer Fun in the Summertime Songs/Poems Mr. Sun Oh, Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun Please shine down on me. Oh, Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, Hiding behind a tree These little children are asking you To please come out so we can play with you. Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, Please shine down on, Please shine down on, Please shine down on me! You are My Sunshine Song Lyrics You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away. The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamt I held you in my arms. When I awoke dear, I was mistaken, So I hung my head down and cried. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away.
Seasonal Kids Activities Summer Sunshine Poem The sun makes the outside a warm place to play (put arms above head in a circle) It makes the flowers grow each day (hold up hands wiggling fingers) The sun hides its face during the night (cover face with hands) But during the daytime it shines-oh so bright (put arms above head in a circle) Summer Days In the summer, when days are hot (wipe forehead) I like to find a shady spot (sit down) And hardly move, even a tiny bit (sit still-freeze!) And sit and sit and sit and sit. This is July (Sung to the tune of Frere Jacques) 4th of July! 4th of July! Independence Day! Independence Day! Hear the bands playing. See our flag waving. 4th of July! 4th of July! On Independence Day (Sung to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb) Fireworks go snap, snap, snap! Crack, crack, crack! Zap, zap, zap! Fireworks make me clap, clap, clap On Independence Day!
Seasonal Kids Activities Summer Wave the Flag (Sung to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat) Wave, wave, wave the flag, Hold it very high. Watch the colors gently wave, Way up in the sky. March, march, march around, Hold the flag up high. Wave, wave, wave the flag, Way up in the sky.
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Summer
Outdoor/Science Activities:
Pass the Ice Cube
This game is similar to Hot Potato, but much more fun on a hot summer day.
Directions:
1. Have someone be in charge of playing music during the game. Everyone else
should form a circle.
2. When the music starts, the players must pass the ice cube around the circle.
When the music stops, the person left holding the ice cube is either out has to hold the ice cube
in their hands until the music starts again.
3. Continue playing until the ice cube melts or only one person is left.
Water Ball Toss
Materials:
Small balls (water balls) or rolled up socks
2 buckets of water
Directions:
1. Have two players standing across from each other with one player holding
the ball. Each player has a bucket of water nearby.
2. Have the players start standing closer to each other. The first player dunks the ball in the water
and throws it to his/her partner. If the partner catches it, he/she dunks the ball in the water and
throws it back.
3. If both players catch the ball, they both take a step back and continue playing until the ball is
dropped.
Make a Water Blob
Materials:
Big roll of plastic sheeting
Duct tape
Hose/water source
Directions:
1. Fold the plastic sheeting in half and tape the three open sides
with duct tape. Leave a small hole in one of the sides to insert a hose.
2. Insert the hose and fill the blob with water. When it’s full, tape the small opening shut. Don’t fill
it too tight or there won’t be room to slosh around.
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3. Let the kids loose! Optional: Add glitter, confetti, or food coloring to the inside.
Water Ball Toss
Directions (Option B):
1. If only one child is playing, hand the child several balls and place the bucket
of water about 2-5 feet away.
2. Have the child try and toss the balls into the bucket of water.
Bucket Brigade
Materials:
2 sand pails or buckets
Paper cups
At least 2 players (no more than 4 per team if having teams)
Directions:
1. Have the children make a line. Place a pail or bucket filled with water in the
front of the line and an empty one in the back of the line.
2. The child in the front of the line scoops a cup of water with his/her cup and hands it to the person
behind him/her. This person passes it to the person behind him/her until it gets to the last person
who puts it in the empty bucket.
3. The cup gets passed forward and play continues until all the water from the front bucket has
moved into the back bucket.
4. You can use a timer to see how long it takes to accomplish this goal and try to beat that time or
turn the line around and have the last person in line now be the first person in line and try again.
Car Wash
Materials:
Buckets of water
Mild soap
Clean sponges
Towels
Bikes or toy cars (or your own care if it needs a good cleaning)
Directions:
1. Put some mild soap into the buckets of water and mix well.
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2. Have children soak their sponges in the buckets of soapy water and wash off their vehicles.
3. Rinse with clean water and use the towels to dry.
Ice Cream Parlor
Materials:
Ice cream scoops or big spoons
Cones made from brown paper
Small plastic or paper cups
Spoons
Apron
Pretend money (cut sheets of construction paper and put numbers on)
Different colored pompoms, balls of colored construction paper (for ice cream)
Directions:
1. Have your child come up with a name for his/her ice cream parlor and help your child write it on
a sign to post near his/her materials. Help build your child’s vocabulary by talking about the
different items used at an ice cream parlor (scoop, cone, different flavors, apron, etc.)
2. Have your child set up his/her ice cream parlor materials on a low table and stand be- hind it.
Then go up to the counter or have other children go up to the counter and place their orders.
3. Help your child to count and take money for the purchases. All children can take turns doing
different roles.
Picnic Time
Materials:
Plastic food or clean, empty food boxes or containers
Plastic spoons and forks
Paper or plastic plates and cups
Large blanket
Bag or basket for carrying picnic items
Directions:
1. Have your child spread out the large blanket in an open space either inside or outside on a nice
day.
2. Talk with your child about the types of food they will be having at the picnic to build
vocabulary. Have your child set out the plates, cups, and plastic utensils for everyone on the
picnic.
3. Help your child to “serve” the food to everyone. Talk about what you might see or what you
do see around you while on the picnic (weather, trees, temperature, taste of the food, etc.)
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Dramatic Play/Cooking:
Day at the Beach
Materials:
Plastic shovels
Buckets or pails
Beach ball
Sand toys, fish or ocean stuffed animals/toys
Towels
Water bottles
Plastic beach chairs
Seashells
Directions:
1. Designate an area of your house or back yard for the “beach”.
2. Have your child spread out his or her beach toys/animals, blankets, etc. and pretend they are
spending the day at the beach. Help your child learn new beach vocabulary such as seashells,
sand castles, waves, seaweed, etc. as you relax by the ocean.
3. Maybe bring along a beach themed book from the library to read as you enjoy your beach day or
let your child put on his/her bathing suit during playtime.
4. If you have a plastic pool or sandbox, pretend these are the ocean or the beach and really put
your toys to good use.
Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag
Materials:
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1-2 tsp. sugar
Ice cubes
1/4 cup salt
1 pint-sized Ziploc bag
1 gallon-sized Ziploc bag
Directions:
1. Help the children measure out the milk, vanilla, and sugar and put it in the pint-sized bag. Then
seal the bag closed (make sure to get the air out)
2. In the gallon-sized bag, put several ice cubes and the salt. Put the smaller bag inside the big bag,
on top of the ice. Then seal the bag closed, making sure to get the air out.
3. Have the children rub the big bag for 5-10 minutes-shake it every couple of minutes. Tip: Have
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kids wear mittens or gloves so their hands don’t get cold.
4. Every few minutes, open the bag to see if the milk has become slushy.
5. When done, let the kids eat the ice cream out of the small bag or bowls, be careful not to let the
contents of the big bag get into the small bag.
6. Add your favorite topping for more flavor.
Sunshine Snack
Ingredients:
Canned pineapple rings or fresh pineapple cored and sliced into rings
Low fat vanilla yogurt (or other yogurt flavor)
Strawberries, sliced (making triangles)
Other berries optional
Directions:
1. Give your child one of the pineapple rings to put on a plate.
2. Have your child scoop out yogurt to put in the middle of the ring.
3. Have your child place the strawberry slices around the pineapple ring to make the rays of the
“sun”. Add blueberries or other fruits to give your sunshine a smiley face or other decoration.
Enjoy!
Homemade Popsicles
Ingredients:
One or several flavors of 100% fruit juice
Ice cube tray
Craft or popsicle sticks
Measuring spoons
Aluminum foil
Directions:
1. Pour the juices into different small bowls. Have the child choose which juice they want and then
use the measuring spoon to scoop the juice into one or more of the compartments of the ice cube
tray. Tip: Put the ice cube tray on a baking sheet or baking pan in case juice spills out of tray.
Easier clean up.
2. When all the sections of the ice cube tray are filled, cover the tray with aluminum foil. Then
gently insert a craft stick through the tin foil and into each ice cube section.
3. Place ice cube tray in freezer. Once frozen, the popsicles are ready to eat!
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Fourth of July Parfait
Ingredients:
Blueberries and strawberries
Low-fat plain or vanilla yogurt
Plastic knives and spoons
Clear cups
Directions:
1. If old enough, have your child wash and cut the strawberries.
2. Place the strawberries in the bottom of the cup, then put in a few scoops of yogurt. Top with
blueberries, Now you have a red, white and blue dessert.
Fourth of July Snack
Ingredients:
Graham crackers
Low-fat vanilla yogurt
Skinny Licorice strips
Blueberries
Plastic knife or spoon
Directions:
1. Spread the yogurt over the graham crackers.
2. Arrange the licorice strips as stripes and add the blueberries to represent the stars for the flags.
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Art Activities:
Sunshine Handprint Craft
Materials:
Dinner plate or circular lid (must fit on a piece of construction paper.
Pencil
Yellow and orange construction paper
Scissors
Glue/glue sticks
Markers
Optional: wiggly eyes, pom poms
Directions:
1. Use a pencil to trace a dinner plate or lid onto the yellow construction paper. Cut out the circle
that you have traced or let your child do it.
2. Trace your child’s hand onto the yellow construction paper 4-8 times and cut them out. Glue
them around the circle without overlapping too much.
3. Trace your child’s hand onto the orange construction paper 4-8 times and cut them out. Glue the
orange handprints behind the yellow ones so that the orange peeks out between the yellow
hands.
4. Draw a face on the plate using markers or wiggly eyes and pom poms.
Chalk or Water Art
Materials:
Bucket of water
Paintbrush or chalk
Sidewalk or flat driveway
Directions:
1. Option A: On a warm day, have your child dip his/her paintbrush in the bucket of water and
draw a design on the ground. As the water dries, the picture will disappear. This is a great
opportunity to talk about water and evaporation with your child.
2. Option B: Have your child dip his/her chalk into the water and draw their pictures on the
ground. He colors will be brighter than using regular dry chalk. Create roads to ride bikes or toy
cars on, or draw anything of interest. Be creative!Seasonal Kids Activities
Summer
Bubble Art
Materials:
Dish soap
Water
Straws
Food coloring
Light colored paper
Paper/plastic cup
Optional: Plastic goggles or glasses
Directions:
1. Fill a few cups ¾ full with water and add dish soap (quite a bit)
2. Add a few drops of food coloring to each cup.
3. Ask your child to take a straw and put it into a bubble mixture and have them blow into the
straw not suck or they’ll get a yucky surprise in their mouth.
4. Have your child blow into the straw until the bubbles are coming out over the top of the cup. As
the bubbles come out, have your child place his/her paper over the cup and when the bubbles
pop it will make a beautiful design on paper.
5. Continue using different cups with different colored bubbles to make designs all over the paper.
Fireworks Art
Materials:
Black construction paper
Sponges or metal/plastic dish scrubbers (these work best)
Variety of paint colors (not watercolor)
Shallow trays
Optional: Glitter
Directions:
1. Have child dip the sponge or scrubber into the paint color and print onto the paper.
2. Repeat with different colors (may want to rinse between colors) to create a great fireworks
display. Optional: Add glitter to the paints to make fireworks really shine.
Sun Prints
Materials:
Inexpensive construction paper
Solid objects/shapes (household items such as coffee can or cut out shapes from paper or
cardboard)Seasonal Kids Activities
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Sunshine
Directions:
1. Ask your child what he/she thinks will happen when part of a piece of paper is covered with an
object and left in the sun. Will it stay the same or change? Write down his/her guesses.
2. Place a plain piece of construction paper on a flat surface in direct sunlight. Have your child
place a solid object (nothing clear glass or plastic) or cut out shape on top of the paper, making
sure the object doesn’t cover the entire paper.
3. Allow at least several hours, possibly more depending on the sun quality and weather
conditions, for the paper to fade.
4. Take the shapes off the paper to reveal a sun print. As your child why he/she thinks this
happened? Look back at the original guesses to see if your child’s prediction came true or not.Seasonal Kids Activities
Summer
Sand Art:
Making Colored Sand
Materials:
Sand
Small bowls or muffin cups
Food coloring
Spoon
Water
Directions:
1. Divide your sand equally among the bowls. Use one bowl for every color you want to make.
2. Add water to each bowl until the sand is entirely under water.
3. Add food coloring to each bowl. Use a smaller amount of food coloring than you think is
necessary, just a few drops at a time. Stir and check the color before adding more coloring.
4. Allow the mixture to sit for at least one hour to absorb the color. The longer it sits, the darker the
color.
5. Pour out the water and spread the sand on a flat surface to dry. **You can bake the sand in the
oven at 200 degrees for 10-1 minutes to speed up the drying process, but do not dry it completely
or the color will fade.
6. Store your sand in airtight containers.
Sand Pictures
Materials:
Different color of sand
Elmer’s glue (may want to add a bit of water for easier spreading)
Cardboard (reuse old cereal or cracker boxes, package boxes, etc.)
Pencil
Paintbrush
Directions:
1. Have your child draw a summer themed picture on the cardboard with the pencil (the beach, a
park, sunshine, etc.)
2. Then, have your child paint the glue over the cardboard with a paint brush. Do each section
of the picture that is a different color separately.
3. Sprinkle the colored sand over the glue sections. For variety, you can mix a little blue and
green sand for water or different shades of blue for the sky.
4. When each section is done, gently shake the extra sand off to be used later.
5. Once the picture has dried, proudly display in a visible place for all to see!Seasonal Kids Activities
Summer
Sand Dough
Materials:
4 cups sifted sand
2 cups cornstarch
3 cups hot water
Old pot
Wooden spoon
Wax paper
Directions:
1. Mix the sifted sand, water and cornstarch in an old pot over low heat.(Adult only)
2. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to pull away from the sides of the pot and then pour
onto the wax paper.
3. Knead well and store in air tight containers.
4. Use cookie cutters, sand molds, or your fingers to make anything you want, just like play dough, but
with a summertime feel. If dough is left out, it will harden. **Food coloring can be added to make
colored dough.
Invisible Beach
Materials:
Large white crayons
Piece of manila paper
Water down blue and brown paint or blue and brown watercolor paint
Directions:
1. Draw a line across the center of the paper (width-wise) to separate the
top from the bottom with the white crayon.
2. On the top (water), have children draw things they might see in the water (fish, boats, floats, etc.)
with the white crayon.
3. On the bottom (sand), have children draw items they might find on the sand (balls, umbrellas,
sand toys, etc.) with white crayon.
4. When done drawing, paint the bottom section with the brown paint and the tip with the blue paint
to reveal what they have drawn. Kids will be surprised that the paint brings out the drawings of
their white crayon.Seasonal Kids Activities Summer
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Seasonal Kids Activities Summer Literacy Activities: Directions: Cut out the ice cream cone and ice cream scoops on the next pages. Color each scoop a different color. Match the correct color word to the same scoop color and glue on the word. **You will need to make several copies of the ice cream scoop page as well as the ice cream cone page depending on how you want to make your ice cream cone.
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Seasonal Kids Activities Summer Great Summertime Books Summertime The Night Before Summer Vacation by Natasha Wing A Summery Saturday Morning by Margaret Mahy Summer Day and Nights by Wong Hebert Yee Carl’s Summer Vacation by Alexandra Dry Mouse’s First Summer by Lauren Thompson Summer by Nuria Roca Clifford Keeps Cool by Norman Bridwell We’re Going on a Picnic by Pat Hutchins The Bear’s Picnic by Stan and Jan Berenstain Teddy Bears’ Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy The Beach/Ocean Beach Day by Karen Roosa Seashells by the Seashore by Marianne Berkes Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef by Marianne Berkes A Swim Through the Sea by Kristin Joy Pratt Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow Curious George Goes to the Beach by Margaret and H.A. Rey Swimming Froggy Learns to Swim by Jonathan London Little Critter: Just a Day at the Pond by Mercer Mayer Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim by Leonard/Shapiro (Water Safety) Swim, Boots, Swim! By Phoebe Beinstein
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Science Activities
Digging for Treasure
Materials:
Plastic or wooden numbers (or letters)
Sandbox or sand at a park or beach
Optional: Blindfold
Directions:
1. Bury different numbers (or letters) in the sand.
2. Tell your child that he/she is going to be digging for treasure. Have your
child look for numbers in the sand. When he/she finds one, ask him/her
to tell you what number they have found.
3. Optional for older children: Blindfold or tell your child to close his/her eyes while they dig.
This will encourage him or her to think about the number based on the shape that he/she feels.
Have him/her try to guess the number based on its shape. See how many he/she guesses
correctly.
Sorting or Counting the Summer
Materials:
Seashells or other summer objects (fruits, flowers, leaves, etc.)
Several small bowls or plastic containers
Directions:
Have your child collect a variety of outdoor objects such as seashells,
fruits, flowers, rocks, etc.
Then, have your child count the number of objects collected.
Or, have your child sort the objects by category (his/her own or you can help select a category)
such as color, size and shape, etc.
Place the objects into different containers based on the sorting category. Once it is done, pick a
different reason to sort and do it again.
Exploding Soda (Adult Supervision Required)
Materials:
Two-2-liter bottles of soda (one regular, one diet)
Several rolls of Wintergreen Lifesavers (Breathsavers do not work) or
Mentos
Think straw-like a coffee stirrer
Open outdoor spaceSeasonal Kids Activities
Summer
Directions:
1. Find a wide-open space outside. Place the bottle of regular soda on a flat surface and open it.
2. Unwrap a roll of Lifesavers and place the straw all the way through them.
3. Have everyone else back way up.
4. ADULT ONLY: Place the straw with the Lifesavers over the bottle and drop all the Lifesavers
in at once and move away.
5. Talk about what happened and what might have caused it. Repeat the activity with the diet soda
and discuss any differences in the results.
Beach in a Box
Materials:
Shoebox or large plastic tub
Sand
Seashells, plastic fish, etc.
Shovels or spoon
Plastic Tupperware or cups
Sifter or strainer
Directions:
1. Place all of the above materials in a shoebox or plastic tub.
2. Allow child to use his/her senses to explore the sand, experiment with different measurement
concepts by putting sand in the cups and seeing how heavy they feel or how much each cup can
hold.
3. Have children use their sense to feel the different seashells or dig with their eyes closed.
4. Provide a little cup of water to put on the sand in order to change the texture and see how it
enables the child to make different shapes with the sand or make prints with the seashells in the
sand.
Ocean in a Bottle
Materials:
Jar or glass bottle
Hot glue gun or superglue (Adult Use Only)
Water
Vegetable Oil
Blue food coloring
Sand
Seashells
Directions:
1. In a clean jar spoon some sand, enough to cover the bottom (1/2 – 1 inch).Seasonal Kids Activities
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2. Add water until the jar is ½ full. Add 1 drop of blue food coloring at a time until you get the
color you want.
3. Add a few seashells for your ocean.
4. Add vegetable oil until the jar is almost full. Leave a small space for air at the top.
5. Put hot glue or super glue around the lid of the jar and then place the lid on the bottle.
6. Turn the bottle on its side and watch the waves move back and forth. Shake up the bottle, what
happens to the sand? The shells? This is a great opportunity to discuss what happens when
waves wash over the sand.
Dancing Raisins
Materials:
Sprite, 7Up, or other clear soda
Raisins
Clear cup, bottle or other container
Water
Directions:
1. Fill your clear container 1/3 of the way with your clear soda.
2. Drop in several raisins.
3. Watch as your raisins slowly start to move up and down in the container.
4. Fill another clear container with water and drop in some raisins. Compare what happens to the
raisins in the water as opposed to the raisins in the soda.
Why? Raisins will start to sink because they are more dense than water. However, the soda forms bubble
of gas. Those bubbles attach to the raisins and make them float. When the bubbles pop, the raisins sink
again until attached to more gas bubbles. Water has no bubbles of gas to make the raisins float.
Outdoor Oven – Adult Supervision Required
Materials:
Aluminum foil
2 deep plastic bowls
4 large marshmallows
2 wooden skewers
Chocolate bar and graham crackers (optional)
Directions:
1. Cover the inside of both bowls with aluminum foil.
2. Put two marshmallows on each skewer. You may want to cut the ends off the skewers after
putting on the marshmallows, to avoid your child getting poked.
3. Take your child outside and ask him/her to find the sunniest place in the yard. Have your childSeasonal Kids Activities
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look at the bowl with the foil and ask him/her if the light looks any brighter in the bowl. Talk
about how the aluminum foil reflects the sun and makes the rays hotter.
4. Put the skewer with the marshmallow across the top of the bowl. Make sure the bottom of the
marshmallow is not touching the bottom of the bowl.
5. Have your child find a shady spot in the yard. Put the second bowl in this spot and another
marshmallow skewer across the top. Ask your child to notice the different in the light in the
bowl in this location.
6. In about 15 minutes, have your child check on the bowls. Depending on the temperature you
may need to wait another 15 minutes. Talk about any differences that you see in the
marshmallows in each location.
7. When the marshmallows begin to melt, ask him/her why the marshmallows in the sun melted
before the marshmallows in the shade. See if he/she can notice a difference in the temperature
between the two locations.
8. Enjoy the marshmallows! Optional: make s’mores by putting chocolate on top of the graham
cracker, then the marshmallow, and cover it with another graham cracker.
Melting Colors
Materials:
Ice tray
Red, yellow and blue food coloring
3 clear plastic cups
Water
Directions:
1. Fill the ice cube trays with water and make 1/3 red, 1/3 yellow and 1/3 blue. Freeze.
2. Place three clear plastic glasses on a table, inside or outside.
3. Place a different colored ice cube in each cup and observe what happens as it melts.
4. Then place a yellow ice cube in with the red ice cube, a red ice cube with the blue ice cube, and
a blue ice cube in with the yellow ice cube. Have the child observe what happens as the two
colors melt together.Seasonal Kids Activities Summer Summer Activities Websites Education.com Preschool-Plan-It.com Gayle’s Preschool Rainbow - Summer Theme Kids Soup Nuttin’ But Preschool Everything Preschool KidZone All Kids Network Kinder Art Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas PreschoolEducation.com DLTK First-School PBS Parents
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