Try It at Home! - Summer Fun

The Museum's play specialists compiled a list of some of our favorite activities to keep kids busy and having fun throughout the summer.

BUBBLE PLAY

• Basic Bubble Solution  Mix one cup of Dawn® dishwashing liquid with a gallon of water.  Let it sit open to the air overnight for stronger bubbles.
• Bubble Wands  Gather ordinary household items and recycled materials with hoop shapes and built-in holes, like slotted spoons and plastic six-pack rings, and use them to blow and launch bubbles. 
• More about bubble play

WATER PLAY

• Sidewalk Spray Art  Ask a friend to lie down on the sidewalk or driveway.  Using a spray bottle, squirt the ground around your friend’s body with water until it is completely outlined, then check out the shape that’s left behind!  Try spraying other designs and patterns.
• Water Painting  Paint with water on a large rock or the sidewalk.  Use natural materials as brushes.
• Float a Boat  Build boats out of tree bark, sticks and leaves and race them down a stream or across a puddle or pool.

MUD PLAY

• Mud Pies  Use kitchen tools like muffin tins, condiment containers and a garlic press to mold mucky “treats” and decorate them with found natural materials. 
• Mud Painting  Use brushes, grasses or your fingers to make a marvelous mud-painted mural on the sidewalk or driveway. 
• More about mud play

 AROUND THE BLOCK

• Obstacle Course  Set up a crazy course in your yard using jump ropes, hoops, balls, chairs and more and have a relay race.  Take turns designing new courses.
• Neighborhood Safari  Talk a walk through a park or around your neighborhood.  Take paper and crayons and do rubbings of tree bark, buildings and other surfaces.  Collect leaves and twigs for a nature collage or other art project.
• Bug Out!  Capture insects, worms, spiders and other cool creatures and use a magnifying glass to compare their parts.  Find a field guide at the library and learn how to identify insects.  Be sure to release the critters when you’re done with your observation!

AT THE BEACH

• Rock On  Stack rocks of different shapes and sizes to create artful stone sculptures. 
• Shadow Art  With a friend, take turns forming funny positions and different shapes with your bodies.  Trace each other's shadows with a stick in the sand and decorate them with shells, pebbles and other beach materials.  (Also try this in dirt, or with chalk on pavement.)

What favorite activities would you add to the list?