Summer is upon us and that means sunshine, heat, and a whole lot of unplanned hours. After a week or two at home, you may be scratching your head thinking of new things for the kids to do after hearing cries of, “I’m boooooored,” for the tenth time that day. The solution is to use these 25 fantastic kid friendly backyard ideas to create memories, fun, and escape the boredom.
25 Must-Try Kid Friendly Backyard Ideas for This Summer
Some of these ideas are things that you can purchase to make your life easier and more fun for your kids. Things like trampolines and swing sets. Items you can use to create a haven of entertainment and memory-making abilities for your kids.
Purchasing some great backyard items for kids can really make your life more relaxing and enjoyable. Plus it’s really handy if you work from home. It’s so much easier to send the kids out to the trampoline for an hour or so if you need to get some work done. Plus that can help you justify the cost. That’s almost even a work-related expense! Think of it as summer-time childcare.
But don’t worry. Most of the ideas on this list are very budget-friendly backyard entertainment ideas! You will find those ones FIRST and the big ticket items will follow.
Also check out educational activities that will keep your kids busy and happy all summer.
Kid-Friendly Backyard Ideas for a Budget
Some of these ideas are free and can be put together with things I’m sure you’ve already got sitting around the house! If not, the supplies are very affordable, think $20 or less.
Set Up An Obstacle Course
Scrounge through the garage and backyard and use whatever you can find to set up an obstacle course with as much space as you’ve got! Add in wood scraps, ropes, ladders, pool noodles, cones, chairs, everything! Challenge the kids to race each other or let them turn it all into a game once they wear themselves out.
Make a Water Play Area
Most of the world is burning hot all summer, so there’s a good chance shade and water play will be a big part of your backyard plans in the summertime. Making a water play area can be as simple as setting up a sprinkler, making a sprinkler with a water bottle, or making a sprinkler with a pool noodle. Or it can be as intricate as setting up a kiddie pool, splash pad, and slip-and-slide altogether!
Help the Kids Build a Garden
While having a big garden of your own and growing your own food is a wonderful thing to do and to teach your children, consider helping them build a garden of their own for fun! Either use pots, their own part of the yard, or a small raised garden beds. Let them plant quick growing seeds like radishes, let them pick a few vegetable, herb, or flower plants at the nursery, and let them select other seeds as well to see what they can grow!
Make An Outdoor Chalkboard
Drawing on the sidewalk is fun, but somehow kids always want to keep drawing with chalk in other places. Make that dream a reality by creating them their own outdoor chalkboard! This does not have to be difficult. Of course, you can make it fancy and framed, but you can also just screw a piece of wood (paint it black if you want) to a wall or fence for a special chalk-is-ok wall!
Make a Mud Kitchen
Playing in mud can be a fantastic kid-friendly way to stay cool in the summer. Pick a location you don’t mind getting muddy and bring some water! You can buy or build a fancy mud kitchen if you want, but you can also just use a hose to make a mud pit and give the kids a bunch of bowls, strainers, funnels, and spoons to play with!
Make a Fairy Garden
A fairy garden can be something your kids play with again and again. You can always create crafts for new decor and find accessories for your fairy garden. They can add pieces of nature to it, expand the design, and have fun creating a tiny little wonderland. Learn how to build a fairy garden.
Build a Climbing Wall
You can buy rock climbing steps extremely cheap on Amazon or you can simply use small chunks of 2×4’s. Screw them in a climbing pattern up an exterior wall, up a tree, onto a swing set, or even on a piece of plywood that you attach to a tree or patio.
Create a Scavenger Hunt Area
Hide treasures around the yard or fill a sandbox or dirt area with treasures for the kids to dig up. You can get really creative and make clues or even a treasure map. Or it can just be fun for the kids even if you just hide treasures in the ground.
DIY Giant Checkerboard
Imagine how much fun the kids or entire family can have all summer long with a giant checkerboard outside?
Make a Sensory Area
Create a path with different textures like stones, sand, and grass for your kids to explore. This is great for young kids and neurodivergent kids too.
Make a Swing
A swing is so simple to make and will be used all the time. Use a simple rope and tie a knot at the end, use a tire, drill a hole through a piece of 2×4 and tie it on, or go fancier if you want!
Play Sports
Try having a lot of sports equipment on hand like soccer balls and cones, a badminton set, baseball gloves and mitts, and a football. Have a sports station where your kids can easily access it all and set up a game!
Make a Bubble Station
Set up a bubble machine, give your kids bubbles, or make a giant tub of homemade bubble juice to use.
Make Chalk Paint
Go beyond sidewalk chalk and make your own sidewalk chalk paint! It takes mere seconds to whip up with items you probably already have in your kitchen and will quickly become a summertime favorite activity.
Make a Sandbox
It can be so easy to make a sandbox! Either pick a corner of your yard and dump a bunch of sand in it along with beach toys or build a frame with 2×6’s and fill it with sand! Of course, you can buy a sandbox too, but it isn’t necessary if you don’t want to.
Backyard Camping
Set up a tent in the backyard for your kids to play camping! You can get really creative and build a tent with a rope and sheet and let them gather sticks for a pretend campfire. OR you can build a real tent and light a real firepit! Here are the top 5 tips for outdoor camping fun.
Pricier Kid Friendly Backyard Ideas
If you have it within your budget, it can be really nice to splurge on some fun backyard items. Consider just picking one up a year and eventually, you will have a kid-friendly outdoor oasis!
Add a Swing Set
A swing set can be pretty small and relatively affordable or really large and fancy. Adding one to your backyard brings the fun of a park home.
Build a Treehouse
Are you or your spouse handy? Try building your own treehouse for the kids to have a grownup free zone!
Buy a Trampoline
Whether your kids are 2 or 12 a trampoline provides endless hours of fun. The bigger you can go the better because they bounce higher, bump into each other less, and can grow into it.
Build or Buy a Fire Pit
It is very easy to build a fire pit with some bricks or stones. You can also buy one. This is a supervised activity but kids have a lot of fun roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire.
Buy or Build a Playhouse
If a treehouse sounds a bit daunting to build, try putting together or purchasing a playhouse! This is a perfect activity for small kids. You can even put the mud kitchen with it!
Get a Zip Line
You can purchase a zipline kit on Amazon and set one up right in your own backyard!
Buy a Hammock or Saucer Tree Swing
A hammock or saucer tree swing can be a really cool place to just chill and hang out. Kids will make memories relaxing and playing on either device.
Set Up An Outdoor Theater
Use a projector and a white sheet or wall to set up an outdoor movie! Once the sun has set and the day is finally cooling off is the perfect time to snuggle up and munch on some popcorn in your very own outdoor theater.
Set up games like cornhole, giant Jenga, or giant tic-tac-toe.
Some holiday favorite games like cornhole can be great to play all summer. If you have super sized yard games, leave them out every day.
Help Your Kids Make Fantastic Backyard Memories This Summer
By including even just a few items from this list in your backyard your kids will have so much fun! Whether you select big-ticket items or smaller activities that will foster creativity, you are ready to help your kids make a memorable summer this year and for many to come.