Welcome to our July activities for kids. To my regular readers, thank you for returning each month and reading all about what we do! For any new readers, every month we share what seasonal play activities we will be doing across the month. There is a real mix; food activities, craft, outdoors play and resources / books that we love or are lusting over!
I am a childcare provider, so I have an interest and background in early years play. I also have 4 children ranging from preschool age to teenager, so I try and incorporate activities that could be done with older ones or at least older ones helping their younger siblings.
July seasonal play activities are all about colour, flowers and dreaming of the seaside! We start our summer holidays here in England at the end of the month, so I will also be sharing some holiday activity ideas and our holiday routine etc with free printables at the end of this post.
Indoor play
At this time of year indoor and outdoor play moves freely between the two, so any of these ideas could be done indoors or outdoors. In fact the messy art ones for me are better done outside but also handy for a rainy day project.
Turtle Collages
This activity was inspired by a quick search on ocean crafts on social media. It also caught my eye as we were low on craft supplies. Instead we reached into the store cupboard and experimented with lentils. I love the results and we most definitely will be using them in an other seasonal craft projects. It reminded me of my own creations as a young child around harvest festival time.
- Lentils – we used green ones
- Cardboard
- Eco glitter
- Tissue paper
- Craft embellishments (optional)
I made my own creation just using lentils and eco glitter but my mindees creations turned out to be a little more eye catching for the camera than mine!
Ice lolly Shop
We love doing crafts with cardboard. As soon as we have a delivery arrive I’m thinking of what we can do to re-purpose the cardboard for play!
- Cardboard
- Paint or Paint sticks
- Scissors
- Lolly sticks
This activity is fab. You could set up shop on a play table, toy kitchen / shop. We used paint sticks, as we find they they are relatively mess free and dry quickly ( will share the paint sticks we use in the resources section). We cut slits in a cardboard box as an ice lolly stand stand, add in some money and a cash register and they can role play away!
Banana S’mores
Again this can easily be put together outdoors but we made ours on a miserable wet day in the kitchen, so I have categorised it under our indoor play section. This recipe is great for camping out or just for a fun treat at home. If you’ve never tasted baked bananas then you’re in for a treat. The addition of miniature s’more ingredients makes it an even more delicious combination.
- Ripe Bananas
- Foil
- Mini digestive cookies or broken biscuits / Graham crackers for our US friends
- Chocolate chips / Mini buttons or Rolos
- Mini Marshmallows
Slice the bananas lengthways and then add the filling. Wrap the bananas in foil, in a tent shape so the top of the banana doesn’t stick to the foil. Bake until the topping has melted and the banana has warmed through.
Cook over the BBQ, campfire, oven bake or grill.
Watermelon Wands
The best kind of snack recipes for this time of year are refreshing. We always crave watermelon in July and so I couldn’t resist making a wand for the littles. Top tip make a few as they were gone fast!
- Cookie cutter
- Watermelon
- Blueberries or other berries
- Wooden kebab sticks
Outdoor Play
Nature Egg Box Scavenger Hunt
I know you guys love a free nature activity printable. Having a purpose to get kids out and about walking, even if it’s just around the block makes for a much more enjoyable and fun outing. Simply print the printable off and stick it inside the egg box and they can have fun foraging for a collection of things on the walk.
Flower Pressing and Potions
Garden and wild flowers are absolutely blooming at the moment. I aways find that mine love bringing the flower press out once or twice a year to press some special flowers they have found on a walk. This old video is still one of my all time favourites on our YouTube channel. It makes me want to start up making more!
Clay Butterfly Tea light Holders
Daisy (my pre-teen) and I had a lovely time making these butterfly tea light holders. I can’t wait to light them on a summers evening. We may just pop some citronella tea lights in them as we keep getting bitten with these wet and humid summer evenings. It was really therapeutic working with clay. It made me think that you can still find Hygge moments even in the summer season. We used dried lavender, rose petals and crafty bits to decorate. I think they would make cute gifts for relatives. This craft was inspired by some to the activities in the The Joy Journal of magical play everyday.
- White air dried clay
- Dried lavender & rose petals
- Craft embellishments
- Knife or butterfly cutter
- Tealight candle
Resources for July Activities for Kids
Keep reading for free downloads at the end of this post.
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Summer Routines and Activities
Having them all at home over the summer can seem a little daunting at times. Having an idea of some simple activities to plan in over the coming weeks is always handy. I always refer to our 100 things to do this Summer.
You can download a free copy of this poster here
We find setting some boundaries helps us some weeks and then other weeks being spontaneous and less structured also works for us. For the weeks we’re at home and needing a little more structure and routine, we use this routine sheet with the kids. It gives them the added incentive of knowing they can have screen time but after they have ticked a few things off. You can download a free printable for Summer holiday screen time rules here.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this July activities for kids ~ seasonal play post. I will be returning at the end of this month with a new post for seasonal play ideas for August.
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