For students, summer is a fantastic time to relax and rejuvenate from the previous school year. Students can make the most of the summer and time in the sun by participating and engaging in fun activities, whether they take place inside or outside, alone or with a group of friends.
Check out the list below to find summer activities that your middle schooler will enjoy right up until the need to return to school!
1. Geocaching
Your students can participate in a treasure hunt outdoors simply using a device that has GPS capabilities. Your students will learn about coordinates as they work to find a hidden treasure! Their sense of direction will improve as well.
Learn More: Run Wild, My Child
2. Build a Campfire
Your children will benefit from learning how to build a campfire, especially if you are discussing survival skills. Having a campfire with s’mores is a classic tradition and a memory that your students will always remember.
Learn More: Parents
3. Bake
Life skills, such as baking, are essential for any young adult. Children can make these adorable chocolate-dipped ice cream cone cupcakes. This kid-friend recipe is sure to be a hit with your young learners, especially because they can participate in making the recipe with you.
Learn More: Taste of Home
4. DIY Solar Oven
Using a few simple materials that you probably already have in your house or classroom, students can learn about solar energy. Including this activity in your next science lesson about solar energy will ensure your students learn and have a blast too!
Learn More: Climate Kids
5. Make Slime
Making slime is a creative and often messy activity that students can do in their spare time at home during the summer. You can challenge students to make different variations on the traditional recipe by using slightly different colors, textures, and add-ons.
Learn More: The Best Ideas for Kids
6. Hiking
Get back to nature and take some time to connect with your children on a hike this summer. Bringing along a scavenger hunt list or binoculars are a great idea if you would like to make the hike that much more engaging. Students could learn all about plants and animals!
Learn More: Recreational Equipment, Inc.
7. Pool Noodle Olympics
Turn a blah summer into an amazing summer by introducing some competition in your pool noodle Olympic games. Elementary students are especially going to love competing with their siblings or friends with something as simple as a pool noodle.
Learn More: And Next Comes L
8. Draw Comics
Your artsy students will be thrilled to receive a drawing tutorial about how to draw comics. Your creative middle school students can draw multiple panel comics and then, they can share their creations with the class. This activity can be for beginning students or advanced.
Learn More: How to Draw Comics
9. DIY Lava Lamp
This activity is the perfect support for your next science lesson about oil and water. Middle school students will definitely enjoy this task. One of the best aspects is that they can customize them. Students can take their lamps home as well!
Learn More: Brisbane Kids
10. Marshmallow 3D Shapes
Getting back in touch with their academic lives, the students can design and construct 3D shapes using marshmallows as vertices. Students can even participate in this type of activity if they are attending a virtual summer program since they only need toothpicks and marshmallows.
Learn More: Frugal Mom Eh!
11. DIY Terrarium
These terrariums are a fantastic addition to many summer programs. Your students can learn about ecosystems, plant habitats, and plant life cycles as they design and construct these terrariums. The possibilities are endless with the different shapes of jars, rocks, and types of plants you can include.
Learn More: Sci Show Kids
12. Plant a Herb Garden
Planting can be a rewarding activity that you and your children can bond over. Teaching students about patience and persistence is paramount when working with the garden over time. Their summer break will be an excellent opportunity to refine their green thumbs.
Learn More: Very Well Family
13. Build a Bird House
Building a bird house and then bird watching after you place it in a tree are additional educational summer activities that your children will enjoy. They can incorporate research and writing skills by learning about the types of birds they saw.
Learn More: Fab Party Planning Mom
14. Museum Virtual Tours
Stuck at home for summer break? That is not a problem with virtual museum tours. You can take this activity further by extending it into your art lessons. Students can browse information and exhibits from the comfort of their homes or classroom.
Learn More: National Museum of Natural History
15. Rock Painting
Add this rock painting craft to your next craft class. The students can take some time to find and collect the rocks before starting this activity or the previous day. This activity is completely customizable as the students can design any image they like.
Learn More: Hello Wonderful
16. Marbled Flower Pot Painting
These marbled flower pots are a creative way for your young learner to spend their time in the summer. You can include this activity in your art classes for students or in your art camp in the summer. Your students can create beautiful designs around their plants.
Learn More: The DIY Nuts
17. Learn to Play an Instrument
Learning a new skill is always an excellent idea for students and they can practice building on this skill the entire summer. Successfully learning how to play an instrument can be an achievement for students and they will be proud of what they accomplished.
Learn More: NAMM Foundation
18. Volcano For Kids
You can pull off this classic science experiment with a few simple items that you probably already have! Your children or students will enjoy watching the chemical reaction take place. You can add books about volcanos to your student’s summer reading list to support this.
Learn More: Life Over C’s
19. Beaded Friendship Bracelets
Summer camp planning can include these beaded friendship bracelets. Friendship bracelets made out of yarn or beads are popular among middle school kids and they will have a blast creating as well as sharing their bracelets with their friends.
Learn More: Projects with Kids
20. Water Balloon Ring Toss
If you have access to water balloons and a few hula hoops then you can put together this fun summer activity! Use up some of that additional time students have in the summertime by tossing water balloons at each other and cooling off at the same time!
Learn More: Milwaukee with Kids
21. Skipping Games for Kids
There are so many skipping games your students can learn to play with a skipping rope. They can even add an additional challenge to their game by including more than one rope and more than one of their friends can skip with them at the same time.
Learn More: New Folks
22. Indoor Sports
Don’t let heat waves or rain dull the excitement this summer. There are tons of indoor sports games you can purchase or build that will entertain your children even when they are stuck inside on some of the summer days. Turn this challenging time into excellent exercise!
Learn More: The Joy of Sharing
23. Movie Night
Making your living room or backyard into a movie theatre during these summer nights will help you create memories that your children won’t forget. You can add to this scene glow-in-the-dark stars and snacks, which are always appreciated at the cinema.
Learn More: Come Back Momma
24. Board Game Championship
Another idea to bust the boredom that ensures from a summer heat wave is to host a board game championship. You can invite your children’s friends or it can be a family tournament. Teamwork can also enhance the communication skills of your children as they work together.
Learn More: The Strategist
25. Popsicle Stick Catapult
Popsicle stick catapult activities and contests are fun summer learning activities that students will have a blast doing! They can compete against their friends to see who can make their load go the furthest or highest. You can use marshmallows or styrofoam balls for example.
Learn More: Mom Brite
26. Cooking
Making pizza with your kids this summer is an awesome way to build on a fundamental life skill. If you are running a cooking summer camp this summer, pizza is an excellent place to start if you premake the dough and have the kids add whichever toppings they like.
Learn More: Taste of Home
27. Yarn Bracelets
These friendship bracelets will have your students focused and engaged all summer long. Customizing bracelets and learning new techniques is an excellent way to build social connections as students trade them with their new best friends! They can add beads with letters or sparkles if they want as well.
Learn More: Wonderful DIY
28. Design A Water Filter
Designing and building a water filter will is a great way to teach students how to be environmentally conscious. The coffee filters will serve to filter out most of the unwanted dirt and rocks that are inside the water poured on the top.
Learn More: National Geographic Kids
29. Create Instruments
Use and save all of the soup cans you can leading up to this activity! Create a class band or concert in your kitchen with balloons, elastics, and soup cans. You can ask the students if they think they will produce a different sound based on how wide their can is!
Learn More: It’s Always Autumn
30. Relay Race
There are so many games that can be turned into a relay race. The egg and spoon race is the perfect example of this. You can use real eggs or styrofoam balls. Real eggs would be best used outside, however. This game is sure to produce lots of laughs.
Learn More: Very Well Family
31. Obstacle Course for Kids
If your child has a summer birthday, creating a spy training obstacle course would be an exciting addition to any birthday party. You can add the spy theme to a traditional obstacle course or even have the kids dress in all black to add to the theme.
Learn More: One Creative Mommy
32. Free Online Classes
If your learner does not enjoy spending time outdoors very much, there are lots of free online classes for students to take advantage of. Create & Learn is a website that offers free coding lessons for kids as well as lessons about AI and robotics. This is an exciting summer activity!
Learn More: Create & Learn
33. Flower Ice Cubes
Make any year-end class party fancier with these flower ice cubes. You can dress up the drinks of your kids by including these colorful flowers in their cups. They can choose which color is their favorite and they can even coordinate it with the color of their drink.
Learn More: Garden Therapy
34. Make Your Own Ice Cream
Teaching kids to make their own ice cream is a fantastic and educational way to stay cool this summer. They won’t believe that they can make their own ice cream at home! You can even take this one step further by having an ice cream sundae party with their favorite toppings.
Learn More: The Best Ideas for Kids
35. Knitting
If you are looking for a more complicated craft for your middle schooler to take up this summer, knitting is the way to go. The patterns range from simple to complex. You can even involve community partners by asking locals or neighbors to join your knitting circle
Learn More: Noble Knits
March Preschool Activities: 31 Spring-Themed And St. Patrick’s Day Crafts And Ideas