For Kids | Reading Lists | Summer

Summer Outdoor Activities Based on Books for Kids

We may earn money from the products/companies mentioned in this post. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more information, read our Terms & Disclosures.

Thanks for sharing - You're awesome!

Summer Outdoor Activities Based on Books for Kids

Summer is here and I’m so excited to team up with a few of my blogger friends to bring you this summer fun blog hop.

I’m sharing some of my favorite summer outdoor activities based on books. Not only do these activities get your kids outside, but they also get them reading over the summer.

I love to read and some of my favorites summer memories are full of imaginary play with my siblings and friends. Books and imaginary play go well together, so read a book and get outside this summer!

Backyard Camping

summer activities for kids

You don’t always have to travel to go camping. One of my favorite ways to camp is in our own backyard!

Kids love watching the tent get set up, sleeping bags unrolled, and shining their flashlight around in the dark.

If you have a fire pit you can even roast s’mores!

While you’re settling in for bed use a flashlight or lantern to read all about Curious George’s camping adventure.

Plus these other camping books for kids…

Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping

Llama Llama Loves Camping

A Camping Spree With Mr. Magee

Build a Fort

It doesn’t have to be elaborate to be magical. Build an outdoor fort for kids and they can imagine that they’re in the Magic Treehouse too!

Here are some great books…

The Magic Treehouse Sets

The Fort (a fabulous adventure about sharing)

A Kid’s Guide To Building Forts

summer activities for kids

Make Your Own Ice Cream

There are so many great kids books about ice cream that are perfect for summer reading together.

Should I Share My Ice Cream (an Elephant and Piggie book)

I Like You More Than Ice Cream (a toddler board book with finger puppets)

Gorilla Loves Vanilla

summer activities for kids

Churn ice cream or make these sweet popsicle treats with sprite and gummy bears (there’s even a sugar free option!). Also, check out THIS RECIPE BOOK for more wonderful popsicle recipes (we love them!)

Beach Day

Even if you can’t get to the beach, you can read about it. But even better is reading about it and then getting their toes in the sand.

Here are some fun beach books to enjoy together:

Stella, Star of the Sea (a Stella and Sam book)

Pete the Cat: Pete at the Beach

Fancy Nancy: Sand Castles and Sand Palaces

Clam I AM!: All About the Beach (Cat in the Hat book)

summer activities for kids

Head to the beach after reading, Stella, Star of the Sea. Kids can go on their own beach adventure using this Beach Scavenger Hunt printable.

What are some of your favorite books to read during the summer months?

Head to the library and join a summer reading challenge, then comment your favorite summer reads below!

Thanks for sharing - You're awesome!

Similar Posts

6 Comments

  1. HI Rebecca, these are all such fun ideas to reinforce reading and make it fun. I really like Curious George and building a tent. That is always fun. Some of the links to the other blogs are not working. Please check them so you can fix them. Thanks!

  2. These are all great ideas for incorporating reading into your summer activities. I love how you connected different books to fun outdoor activities.

  3. What a fun post! I love all of these ideas especially the Backyard Camping with Curious George! We love incorporating books into our daily play. Can’t wait to check some of these out!

  4. Now that is a wonderful idea: to combine outdoor fun with books & stories. My goddaughter loves reading. She can’t on her own actually as she is only 4 but after you read a book to her she pretends later on to read it to you and she is actually pretty good in reconstructing the story (even weeks later) by only the use of her memorie and the illustrations of the book. Children rock!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.