Summer Theme For Little Kids

Below you will find some projects and activities centered around a Summer Theme. Keep in mind that this theme page is really aimed at younger children, up to about age 5. Don't be fooled into thinking that these projects and activities are too simple for this age group. Young children thrive on simplicity - it gives them the opportunity to work independently, to understand the task at hand, and to "own" their work. Immersing them in projects and activities that center around a particular theme allows them to gain a greater understanding of the theme and internalize it.

For parents or caregivers, working around a theme makes it easier to craft with your kids. Things will be more organized, and you won't have as much trouble coming up with ideas. In addition, you can plan out a few days ahead of time what you want to do with your child.

Theme Craft Projects

Paper Plate Sunflower

Paint the back side of a paper plate yellow and let dry. Tear small strips of yellow paper and glue around the outside of the plate to make petals. Glue sunflower seeds to the center of the plate. You can also make a stem out of green construction paper.

CD Sun Catchers

Decorate both sides of a CD any way you want with glitter, paint, stickers, etc. (You can use the one's that you get free in the mail) Tie a piece of fishing line through the center hole and hang it up.

Chalk Shadows

Have the child stand so that their shadow is on the sidewalk or driveway and then trace around it with a piece of chalk. When tracing is done, you can draw in clothes, hair, face, etc. with different colored chalk.

Simple Flower

Cut out simple "petal" shapes out of crepe paper. Cut circle for centre of flower and attach to straw with sticky tape. Simply glue petals around circle of card to make a pretty flower. Ideal mother's day or spring/summer craft. ~ Submitted Anonymously

Contact Paper Sun Catchers

Peal back the protective covering halfway down a piece of contact paper, exposing the sticky side (The contact paper can be any shape or size) Tear small pieces of various colors of tissue paper and stick to the contact paper. Peel off the rest of the protective cover and fold it over the tissue paper side. Trim the sun catcher to any shape or size desired. Punch a hole in it and string a piece of fishing line through it to hang.

Leaf

Cut out simple leaf silhouette (could draw round a real leaf from garden) - give children box of green bits (in the summer) or orange/red/yellow bits (in the autumn) and glue onto leaf shape - another excellent way to facilitate talking about colours or the seasons. ~ Submitted by Julie

Peanut Buzzy Bees

Turn packing peanuts into "buzzy bees" - just added a little tissue paper to make the "wings" and color the peanut "body" with black and yellow felt tip pen. ~ Submitted Anonymously

Bubble Pictures - This is a great craft idea for the summer. We tack up some pieces of construction paper on a fence at the children's face height. Then we mix a little bit of food coloring in some bubble solution. We usually mix up a couple of bottles in different colors. Then we have the kids blow bubbles onto the paper. They have a ball doing this, but make sure they are wearing old clothes or swimsuits so they won't get food coloring on good clothes -- it could stain.

Painted Flower Pots - Use a clean terra cotta flower pot for this project. Have each child decorate the flower pot with markers, paint, stamps, or anything else you want to use. The terra cotta soaks up so much of the pigment that you don't have to worry about the color staying put. If you're worried about the designs staying place, however, you can always spray the pots with a sealer. Once you get the pots done and dry, then help your child to put a plant in their pot. They can be in charge of watering and taking care of their plant.

Shrinky Dink Garden Picks - You'll need shrink it or shrinky dink material to make this project. You can find it at any craft store. Use one sheet of the shrink material and cut out a plant poke shape. It will basically look like a rectangle on a stick. Make sure that the stick part of the plant poke is at least an inch wide and 4-5 inches long to allow for shrinkage. You can write something on your plant poke like "Jason's Plant" with permanent marker and then color the poke with colored pencils. (Make sure you do all your writing and decoration on the rough side of the material) Put the plant poke on a paper lined baking sheet and bake it according to the manufacturer's instructions. It will shrink to about one third it's original size. Let it cool and then find a home for your garden pick. My kids absolutely loved doing this project, especially watching through the oven door while their project curled up and shrank down in front of their eyes.

Washer Windchime - This windchime doesn't sound very pretty, but the kids loved it. You'll need a container of some kind, like an empty margarine tub, some yarn, some half inch washers, and something to make holes in the container. Turn your container over and put 2 holes in the bottom of it about an inch apart and in the center. Thread one end of a long piece of yarn through both holes and then tie the two ends together to make the hanger.

Now poke 6 (or more depending on the size of the container) holes along the edge of the container. Thread a piece of yarn through each hole and then through the center of a washer. Tie the ends of the yarn together. Do the same thing with the other holes. When you hang it up, the washers should hit against each other to make a windchime. When we did this, we strung bells on with each of the washers so that it sounded prettier. You need the washer to weigh down whatever you hang on your windchime, but you could put whatever you want on it.

Color Carnations - This isn't exactly a craft, but it presented a good opportunity to talk to the kids about how plants "eat and drink." Purchase a few white carnations. Create a die solution out of one ounce of food coloring, one pint of warm water, and one teaspoon of sugar. Cut the tip of each carnation stem to make sure the stems are freshly cut and can absorb the water. Now put the stems in the die solution so that it covers about 3 inches up the stem. Set the carnations up somewhere that the kids can see them, but can't knock them down. The color will start to change in about an hour, but could take as long as 24 hours. When you get the color you want, rinse off the stems and use them any way you desire.

Paint With Clouds - Put a lump of shaving cream on a piece of fingerpaint paper. Add a drop or two of food coloring to the shaving cream for color and let the kids paint with the shaving cream "clouds."

Cloud Painting - Give each child a large cotton ball. Pretend it is a cloud. Have them dip their "cloud" in paint and use it to make a picture. What would a cloud paint if it could? This is a great exercise in changing perspectives, empathy, and thinking about how other might feel. The kinds of things that little ones sometimes have trouble with. ~ Submitted by Linda

Dandelion Chains - Pick a bunch of dandelions with long, thick stems. Attach the dandelions to one another by tying the stem in a knot around the previous dandelion stem close to the flower. Double knots work best. Tie the two ends of the chain together when you have reached the desired length. You can make necklaces, crowns, bracelets, etc. with your dandelion chains. In addition, you can also use grasses and other "weeds" to make chains.

Outside Chalk Drawings - This is kind of a no-brainer outside craft idea, but it may be something that you've forgotten. Give your child some sidewalk chalk and turn them loose to decorate your driveway. It will keep them busy for a long time and the chalk will wash off when it rains.

Outside Sand Pictures - For this craft you will need some kind of container like a pie tin or recycled plastic container. Fill your container with sand (you could also use dirt). Collect things from the yard like flowers, leaves, sticks, etc. and push the objects into the sand to create a picture. This is a project that you wouldn't want to take indoors, but the kids can do it over and over again outside.

Outside Water Painting - Fill up a small container with water and give each child a paintbrush. Show them how they can create designs on a driveway or sidewalk with the water. It's a good way to keep them busy, talk to them about what happens when the water "paint" dries, try out different brushes for different affects, etc.

Confetti Wedding Picture - Print off the picture of a lady wearing a wedding dress (or you can get one from a magazine and photocopy it). Give children glue and real confetti to stick over the picture - and you have a beautiful wedding picture. You could also stick on tiny petals or circles cut from a hole punch if you didn't want to use confetti. ~ Submitted by Jeanette

Summer Cupcakes

Frost a cupcake with light blue frosting. Put a gummy ring (or any kind of candy that is inner tube shaped) on top. Put a Teddy graham cracker in the middle to make it look like he is floating on an inner tube.

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