Don't Get Bored, Get Busy This Summer!

You’ve been waiting all year for summer to arrive, and you’ve probably already created a bucket list a mile long, but despite your best laid plans, some days seem to stretch into uninspiring infinity. Don’t hop into yet another Fortnite marathon just yet. Here are some things to try alone and with friends to beat summer boredom and spark some fun!

Blow Stuff Up

…using chemistry, of course. If you haven’t tried adding Mentos to Diet Coke to create a monster explosion, suit-up in some old clothes and head outdoors to an open area with a pack of mentos and a new 2-liter bottle of diet soda ASAP! Open the bottle to break the seal, then replace the cap. Pound a nail into the cap using a hammer. Set the bottle on the ground in an open area and make sure everyone stands back. Open the cap again. Drop six Mentos into the soda and quickly replace the cap. Move away from the bottle — quickly — as the soda geyser shoots up into the air!

Bottle Top Shooter

 

Try this Bottle Top Shooter for more explosive action.

Visit Lemon Lime Adventures’ science page for even more ways to make things explode. If that ignites your sense of adventure and curiosity, try one of 60 science projects from Kidzworld or challenge yourself to try them all by summer’s end!

Make a Mess

If running a 5K isn’t your speed, try a charity run that focuses more on making a mess and having fun than on setting any land speed records. Start out wearing white and end up covered in color in a Color Run. Get ready to slog through a course covered in foam in a Foam Run. Or, if you think you can handle it, try your skills in a Tough Mudder (or a mini-mudder if you’re under 12) obstacle course.

...Or Make Good Clean Fun

At home mani-pedis are kind of fun, but you can amp them up by making rainbow mani-pedis instead. Make rainbow foam by mixing dish soap, warm water, and two or three drops of food coloring in a blender. Soak your hands and/or feet in the rainbow foam for 5 minutes, then follow Kidzworld’s steps to do an at home manicure with a twist: paint each fingernail a different color; use manicure tape or washi tape to create stripes of alternating colors; or use nail stickers to decorate your nails with awesome rainbow designs.

Take a Snacktivity Break

What do you get when you turn a snack into an activity? A Snacktivity, of course. Like completely homemade banana splits using homemade ice cream and whipped cream. Follow the directions to make your own ice cream. Then slice a banana lengthwise and place it in a bowl. Top the banana with two scoops of ice cream. Top the ice cream with a combination of two or three toppings like: strawberry jam, pineapple jam, chocolate syrup, marshmallow Fluff, peanut butter, and caramel syrup. Top that with homemade whipped cream, made using 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and whipping the cream with a hand mixer for one minute, until the cream forms stiff peaks. Add nuts, sprinkles, and top with a cherry for the best homemade sundae on the block!

For a healthier treat, pour a mixture of fresh fruit juice, lemonade, and seltzer into ice pop moulds. Drop in fresh raspberries and freeze for a couple of hours while you head to the beach or try one of the other activities. Like having a lemonade stand, making your own solar hot dog cooker, or building edible sculptures out of pretzel sticks and mini marshmallows.

Beat the heat with water

The hottest thing on the internet this summer is water blobs — totally dry, yet cooling in the heat — a water blob is a giant plastic pillow filled with water that's big enough for several friends to roll around, slide, and play on at the same time. They’re really easy to make and lots of fun, too. Of course, holding a good, old-fashioned water balloon fight on your front lawn or inviting friends over for some slip-n-slide action is twice as wet and takes less prep-time.

Show off your skills

Sing karaoke with your friends or at a local karaoke night or open mic night. Or if your sense of humor is better than your singing voice, get an air-band together and lip sync to your favorite tunes. If you're feeling really daring, create and perfect a 5-minute standup comedy routine and perform it for friends and family.

If writing is more your speed, start a topic jar or collect sentence starters and pick a topic every time you’re looking to write a song, story, or poem. Or try this listening exercise to stretch your creative muscles: Go to a park or other public place and listen in on a conversation between two people you don’t know for one minute. Try to write it down word for word as best you can. Then write a scene based on the snippet of conversation you’ve overheard. Create names and a backstory for your characters.

Are you more of a visual artist? Try this: Take a sketch pad outdoors and draw outside in the fresh air using pencil, chalk and charcoal, or pen, or go to a museum, sit in front of one work of art, and sketch it or write a story about it.

Don’t worry about the finished product — just practice copying snippets of what you see. You could also spend the summer creating your own comic strip or cartoon series.

Be Productive

If you’re the type of person who can’t start an activity unless it has a purpose, we have plenty for you to do before school starts. You can get ready for next year by making your own school supplies, go fishing and catch dinner for your family, redo your room with wall art or an all-out room makeover, or clean out your closet with a clothing swap party. You could also spend your time learning a useful skill, like getting certified for first aid and CPR, or learning to cook one breakfast, lunch and dinner perfectly so you’ll always have a go-to menu. You can even spend your free time learning something new in a free MOOC (a massive open online course) like learning Norwegian, or learning how to make the best of the digital camera on your phone by watching videos.

Have Your Say

What is the most interesting and innovative idea you've ever come up with to beat summer blahs? Share your ideas and thoughts about the activities mentioned here in the comments below!