Summer Fun Guide for Kids

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With the sunshine finally out, and the summer holiday fast approaching, you may be looking for ways to entertain the kids outdoors. The stores are full of fun things and you may have thought about the obvious, swimming pool, slide, swing etc. But this guide is all about fun toys you may not have thought of. 

Check out the following 8 toys that will provide great fun for your kids this summer.

1. Find it Activity Books

These activity books are great for keeping kids busy and are also a little different with their theme of finding things. My kids love a good hunt, so they found these super exciting to use. So far we have used Find it in the garden and we plan to use the car journey and at the beach when we go on holiday. Each of the books has 25 things to search for and find, and they are also packed full of facts to learn and puzzles to complete. Plus for every 3 books completed, a parent can send off for a Free Find it badge. Each book is £4.99 and are aimed at children aged 5 to 7 years old. 

2. Learning Resources Camp Out Set

Children of all ages love playing out, so this toy is for the younger children to enjoy. It's a super cute camping set that is specially designed for little hands. The set comes with 11 pieces. A campfire with removable fire and logs that come apart, a lantern, a fork, sausage, marshmallow, and smores, plus a camping bag to keep it all in. The toys are all very lightweight which means they are perfect for young children to carry about and the plastic is also super soft with no nasty sharp edges. Henry loves walking about carrying the little lantern and we are currently teaching him how to pretend to cook the marshmallow on the fire. This set is perfect for early role play and imagination development and will be wonderful to play out in the garden with. The set is £25 and can be bought from the Learning Resources website.

3. Brainstorm Mega Globe

We have had so much fun with this Mega Globe, and it has been perfect to play with in the garden. This globe is a blowup ball, which took all my effort to blow up because it's massive. But massive means more fun and the kids firstly took to play catch and piggy in the middle with it. Of course, this isn't just a beach ball, it's a globe, and so it has great learning advantages to it. To make learning fun, we played a game of Alphabet Globe. Each time you caught the ball, you had to shout out a country or place that you could see written on the globe, starting with the letters of the alphabet. We played all the way from A to Z and the kids didn't get bored for a second. This ball is also waterproof so perfect for paddling pool or swimming pool fun. Even Henry enjoyed pushing it around the floor. You can buy this fun summer toy online. 

4. Waboba Backnine Disc Golf Game

Sporty games are always a firm favorite to play with in the garden and this one is no exception. The game is played like golf, where you keep taking a turn until you get it in the hole. Apart from this game involves discs and throwing them into the centre of a hoop. You want to get the discs into the hoop in as little turns as possible, as the person with the lowest score wins. The way to score low points is to land directly into the centre, as if you land on the hoop, you gain more points as the hoop has landing zones that give you either 1, 2 or 3 points. The game contains the hoop and 4 silicone discs and also has a score pad and a bag to keep it all inside. We have played this game over and over and it is so much fun. To keep the game varied, you throw the hoop in a different place each time. You can even make it trickier by making it a crazy path to throw it down, a little like crazy golf. You can buy this for £14.99 on Amazon.

5. Hape Toys Periscope

Having fun in nature is always great. And so this Periscope can make exploring even more fun. It also helps a great game of hide and seek by letting you see without being seen. It is also great for peeking over walls or for looking for animals without disturbing them. This lovely periscope is great for nature as it's all made out of natural materials. The plastic is made from green PE which is a plastic derived from sugarcane, and the wooden part is made from bamboo. It comes with a handy strap that can be put around the wrist or attached to things like backpacks. The periscope is £9.99 and can be bought from the Hape Toys website.

6. Geosafari Bugnoculars

Bugs, you either like them or don't. But these bugnoculars mean that your child can get up and close with bugs, without having to touch them. (Well, as long as they get an adult to help get it into the tank.) Lily isn't a big fan of bugs but she loved using this to be able to have a good look at them. We found a ladybird, a baby snail, an earwig, an ant, and an interesting looking fly that I could not identify. The tank is made from a light weight plastic, so if it is dropped it does not break. You can either look down on the bug through the soft eye pieces at the top, or you can look through the magnified areas that are on the side of the tank. The lid is easy to open and shut and it also comes with a handle so it can be carried around. If your little one really doesn't like bugs, this is also great for looking at other aspects of nature like leaves and flowers. These can be bought from the Learning Resources website for £12.50.

7. Zimpli Kids Toys

Messy play is best done outdoors, so these Zimpli Kids activities are perfect for outdoor play. Zimpli kids has so many different fun messy play packs, but these are 3 really good ones for the outdoors. Firstly Snoball Play, this is pretend snow which is perfect for throwing around in summer pretending to have a snow ball fight. Each pack can make around 30 snowballs. It all washes away after too, meaning you don't have to worry about the mess staying. The colour-changing Gelli baff is great fun, perfect sensory fun in the garden, as it is perfect to feel and to watch the colours change. And best yet, the crackle baff, which is perfect to make your outdoor paddling pool more exciting. Its perfect to add to the water to splash in while it goes crackle and pop. You can buy these and more from the Zimpli Kids website. 

8. Early Years Resources Tuff Tray

This is something every garden needs if you have kids. A tuff tray. There are so many activities you can do, and the tray keeps the activity all in one place. I also found that Henry was more likely to play with things when put inside the tray. I think he found it more comfortable to sit down on than the floor. We have done drawing sat in the tray, played with mega blocks and we also investigated rocks, which was his favourite activity to do. These are also perfect for messy play activities, sand or water play. These tuff trays are heavy duty, but also super smooth, so they are perfect for babies and small children to not hurt them self on. They also clean super easy as you can just wipe them down. You can get them in 2 sizes, and there is also a choice of colour. To see more of the range, head to the Early Years Resources page. 

Which of these summer ideas do you think your child would love?