14 Summer Holiday Games & Activities
min read
Summer holidays are a great time for families to spend quality time together but with six weeks of holidays, it can be challenging to come up with new and unique ways to keep the family entertained the whole time, especially in the Aussie heat! So we've found a few things that will keep all ages entertained and, in some cases, cool in this hot weather.
1. Create Your Own ‘Water Park’
Don’t have a pool or access to a local water park (or maybe you do, but do you really want to go there every day, this summer)? No stress! Create your own water park at home. All you need is your play set, a tarp and a sprinkler to create hours of cooling, water fun.
2. Play Balloon Pinatas
A cool take on your normal candy pinata, this uses water balloons filled with water will see the kids get showered with water instead candy as they try to break them. They also make for a colourful backyard decoration!
3. Make a Pillow Quilt for Backyard Slumber Parties or Movie Night
Finally, a use for all those pillows and cushions you have lying around. Attach them at the corners with a safety pin or even sew a couple of stitches in and let the kids find the perfect spot in the backyard to lie back and chill with a book or to listen to music – or maybe even meditate. The quilt is also perfect for a backyard movie night – find out more about setting up for a backyard movie night here.
4. Shaving Cream Pool Fun
Fill up a paddling pool with shaving cream and let the kids go crazy covering themselves in it, only to wash themselves off in the sprinkler. No doubt, they’ll do a few rounds of covering themselves up, washing off, covering up, washing off…
5. Make a Rope Course
Rope courses are a great way to keep the kids entertained for a good little while. Using string, rope, streamers, or anything that you can string between different structures, find a few areas where you can create a ‘tricky’ criss-cross of ropes for the kids to try and navigate without touching it! You can make it part of a bigger obstacle course (link) to make it last longer.
6. Make Bouncy Bubbles
Bubbles are always a great go-to as children try to see who can blow the biggest without them popping in their little faces. But up the fun with ‘bouncy bubbles’! With a little science experiment, you’ll have bubbles that last longer and come with a little bounce. Find out how here
7. Real Life Angry Birds
Bring the world’s favourite app game to life with just a few boxes, stuffed animals and balls! Get create stacking the boxes in different formations and place the stuffed animals (or anything else you want to use to resemble the pigs – bowls, buckets, balloons etc) at different levels. Each player then just takes a turn at throwing a ball (eg angry bird) at the boxes to try and knock down the ‘pigs’. Keep rebuilding and playing for as long as you all have the stamina!
8. Make a Water Blob
Another cure to the ‘no pool’ situation is a water blob! Great for keeping the kids cool in a safe and unique way. You can find out how to make one here
9. Lawn Twister
Use circular stencils and spray paint the lawn to turn it into this family favourite game. Not only does it keep the kids outdoors, it’ll also help them burn a little bit of energy.
10. Colourful Water Tag
Prepare to get messy and have a heap of fun in the process! Fill water balloons with water and a little food colouring (make sure everyone is wearing play clothes). The person who is ‘it ‘ must tag someone by throwing a colourful water balloon. Once the person is tagged with colour, they are ‘it’. Keep playing until all the balloons are gone. A person without any (or the least amount of) colour wins the game.
11. Glow in the Dark Bowling
Add glow sticks into ten bottles of water to making bowling pins you can use at night! Set up your bowling lane and find a suitable sized ball based on the size of your water bottles to get your game underway.
12. Balloon Stomp
Tie a balloon around each player’s ankle and have everyone run around the yard trying to pop other players’ balloons using their feet. The last one left with an un-popped balloon is the winner!
13. Frozen T-Shirt Race
Soak a bunch of t-shirts in water, place them in plastic bags and stick them in the freezer overnight. The next day, hold a race to see who can ‘defrost’ and pull on a frozen t-shirt the quickest. This is a great game for those scorcher days, especially keeping the chilly t-shirt on even after the race is over.
14. Chalk Games on Your Springfree
Skip the sidewalk and head straight to your Springfree to set up popular chalk games such as hopscotch, noughts and crosses, avoid the shark, dots, maze etc on the trampoline for an extra challenging and bouncy version of the games. Once you’ve finished, clean the trampoline off with a sprinkler with the kids on there for extra summer fun!
We have no doubt that your family will have a great time trying out some or all of these activities this summer. If you end up sharing on your socials, be sure to use the hashtag #springfreesummer as we'd love to see how you go!
Wishing you all a safe, fun and bouncy summer!
