15 Ways to Keep Your Child Entertained and Engaged This Summer

Summer is almost here (or already here for some of you) and that means lots of days of keeping your kids entertained at home!

I’ve collected 15 of my favorite resources for keeping your kids engaged and interested over the next few months in ways that are fun and creative.

I hope this list helps make your summer a little more manageable this year!

15 Ways to Keep Your Child Entertained and Engaged This Summer

1. SAVVY READING. Obviously, I have to tell you about Savvy Reading here. It’s just the best way to make sure your child has consistent and fun reading practice this summer, especially after a very strange school year. Savvy classes are 25 minutes long and meet in real-time online, Monday through Thursday.
2. CRAFTSY. If you have a child (or you!) who loves projects and crafts, this is for you! Right now, you can get a year long membership with access to all their 1500+ online classes for $2.49 instead of the regular $79.99.
3. CODESPARK. Ella has been doing a ton of coding this year and Ani has been anxious to try it out too – CodeSpark is the perfect fit for our summer where it’s kid-friendly, self-paced, and really fun. You can try it for a week for free here!
4. WONDER MATH (FORMERLY KNOWN AS WONDERLAND MATH/ REVOLUTION MATH). I LOVE Wonder Math and we’ve been doing it for nearly three years. It’s real-time weekly math classes that are story-based and very engaging. I’ve heard from so many of my readers who love it for their advanced child AND for their struggling child. You can sign up for a month for $1 right here (this $1 deal is ending in a few weeks, so if you’ve been on the fence, sign up now and you can always cancel after your $1 month). I wrote a whole post about it here and I cannot recommend it highly enough, especially for keeping math skills up in a FUN way over the summer.
5. KIWI CRATES. You already know HOW much I love these STEM projects that show up right at your doorstep with all the supplies you need for several projects. My 4 and 6 year olds get the Kiwi Crates, Ani (age 8) gets the Tinker Crate and Ella (9) loves the Doodle Crate. You can use this link to get 30% off any of the lines!
6. SUMMER READING CHART. If your library is closed down through the summer or not hosting their annual summer reading challenge, this printable summer reading chart is the perfect (FREE) way to do your own at home!
7. WATERCOLOR CLASS FOR KIDS. We bought this video watercolor class for Ani for Christmas two years ago and it’s SO good. It’s super affordable and you can use the code JANSSEN15 for 15% off. I also listed the supplies we bought from Amazon in this post. There is also an adult version if your child is a little older.
8. MY FIRST COOKBOOK. I’ve looked at my fair share of kid cookbooks over the past decade and this is far and away my favorite. It has beautiful step-by-step photos, recipes your child would actually want to make and eat, and, as you would expect from America’s Test Kitchen, flawless results.
9. EPIC! This is the largest digital library for children and it’s free for 30 days. Some of the books will read aloud to your child while they look at the images which is extra fun.
10. GLOBAL CHILDREN’S BOOK CLUB. My amazing friend Preethi organized this virtual book club that helps children appreciate and understand other countries and cultures over the summer, either through picture books or chapter books.
11. ABCMOUSE. We’ve been using this for the last year and my girls LOVE it. It’s aimed at kids 2-8, has no ads, and a full range of games from math and reading to colors and shapes. You can get a free month here or a 3 month subscription for $9.95. There is also Adventure Academy for kids 8-13 with programs around science, math, reading, etc. You can get a free month trial here or a 3 month subscription for $9.99.
12. CODE.ORG. Both of my older girls use this free coding program which is project based and broken down by age level. So good and so fun.
13. COSMIC KIDS YOGA. This is yoga like you haven’t seen it before. Story-based yoga practice is such a genius idea and great for when you’re stuck inside but need to stretch a bit! There are so many options on their YouTube channel and it’s free!
14. TYPING CLUB. Ella used this free program when we homeschooled to learn to type and she still loves practicing on it. I’ll be using it with Ani this summer! Nitro Type is also a really fun one that’s like racing cars around a track. Ella LOVES this one.
15. SHELF STUFF SUMMER READING CHALLENGE. This is hosted by Harper Collins for middle grade readers (approximately ages 8-12) with weekly challenges, quizzes, and prizes. Sign me up.

Any other favorite suggestions for keeping summer boredom at bay? I’d love it if you shared!

If you liked this post about Summer Activities, you might like these posts too:

• The 2021 Summer Reading Guide
• Where to buy books for a major discount!
• The 2021 List of 100 Picture Books