Embrace Summer Fun with Open Ended play and Screen Free Activities
3 MINUTE READSummer is a perfect time to encourage creativity, exploration and play in our children's lives. At Little Berry Button, we believe in the power of open ended play and the magic of screen free activities to nurture imagination and develop critical skills. Here are some delightful ways to engage your children in meaningful fun play this summer.
1. The Great Backyard Adventure
Transform your backyard into an enchanting world of exploration. Encourage kids to create their own adventures by setting up a scavenger hunt. Provide them with a list of items to find or challenges to complete, such as spotting different types of leaves or counting ant hills. This activity not only stimulates curiosity but also cultivates a love for nature.
2. DIY Craft Station
Set up a craft station with a variety of materials like coloured paper, pipe cleaners, buttons and clay. Let your children’s imagination run wild as they build, create and experiment. The open ended nature of crafting empowers children by giving them the freedom to design their own projects, fostering creativity and problem solving skills.
3. Obstacle Course Extravaganza
Design an obstacle course using everyday items like chairs, ropes, and hula hoops. Invite your children to navigate the course, timing each round to add excitement. This activity is great for improving physical coordination and encouraging friendly competition all while ensuring they’re active and screen free.
4. Imaginative Role Play
Encourage kids to dive into different worlds through role play. They can become chefs with a makeshift kitchen, astronauts exploring space or shopkeepers running their own store. Provide costumes or simple props made from household items to spark their creativity. Role play helps develop social skills and emotional intelligence as children learn to empathise and collaborate.
5. Story Time Activity Books
Take a break from all the activity and snuggle up for some story time. Usbourne books have always been a firm favourite with my two boys and still remain a staple within their bookshelf. Ragan is an independent Usbourne partner and has some great special offers over on her website. Check out the collection here
Here are her top 3:
Bring the jungle to life with this jigsaw story book. Young children will love recreating jungle scenes whilst listening to the captivating story about their favourite jungle animals. Also great for developing fine motor skills.
For the ideal mess free, on the go activity. Magic Colour activity board books are a summer essential! When you add water to the black and white pictures, using the brush included, the world below the waves fills with beautiful colours. Once the water dries, the colour magically vanishes so you can keep painting it and bringing the colours back.
This Little First Sticker set includes the books, Farm, Jungle and Seashore. Toddlers will love meeting all of the animals and decorating scenes in these beautifully illustrated and interactive sticker books.
6. Tune into Nature
(Ok this ones a bit of a cheat as you will need a screen but 🤫 this ones allowed)
Grab your kids and dive into bird listening with the free Merlin Bird ID app. Head outside, maybe to a local park or even just your garden. Use the “Sound ID” feature to identify different bird calls around you. I recently discovered this app and I have to say I’ve become a little obsessed with what birds are around me. 😃 I quickly realised that my boys love it too. It encourages good listening not to mention a moment where we all have to practice the quiet game in order not to scare away the birdies. ☺️
7. Movies and Snuggles
Support your local Cinema or wind down after a long day with snacks and a movie. There are some great new releases this summer including the cult classic Toy Story 5 and the latest Disney film to get the live action treatment, Moana!
For Amazon Prime members I can totally recommend The Sheep Detectives with Hugh Jackman. We all sat down one evening to watch this and my two boys (8 and 12) were captivated and laughed from the start. They loved it!
No matter what you have planned this summer, make sure to enjoy every moment and take things at a relaxed pace. These are just a handful of ideas to help, but don’t feel like you need to fill every day with endless activities and outings. Embrace slower days at home where your little ones can invent their own imaginative games and adventures, those moments are valuable too!
