Fun Summer Activities! 🌞 (Featuring Reader Ideas)

Making Felt Plushies

I found a felt dog plush making kit online and OMG it really has been so much fun to make these, it isn't easy though. Felt is kind of a tricky material to work with, you have to poke it over and over again to make a smooth shape that stays together, but when you finish making a plush it's super satisfying.

Also it's a kit to make DOGS...so I'm always happy to make these. I've made two, a pug (as a test) and a german shepherd (as a birthday gift for my friend). I'm going to make some more for friends and family. My kit has instructions for making dogs, but if you buy some pieces of felt and the right needles you can literally make any plush you want, the possibilities are endless!!

Foraging

Suggestd by Koi

Thanks for writing your idea, foraging is such a good activity to do during summer! It's the perfect time to find fruits, roots, and mushrooms. It's also a good way to find out what foods are local to your area. You might be living in a place where there's a lot of classic berries, wild apples, and edible mushrooms, but there are also foraging areas where you might find unique edible plants like the desert.

Foraging can also be dangerous, a lot of plants and mushrooms can look like their edible counterpart, but are actually poisonous. If you decide to go foraging please do a lot of research and bring a field guide that is tailored to your area!

Start Reading

I fear that there are a lot of people who don't enjoy reading because it reminds them of being forced to read for school, they find it boring, or they struggle reading. These are very valid reasons, but they can be overcome! Reading is so important, it makes you smarter, gives you new ideas to think about, and it's really fun to escape into a different world!

If you struggle with reading because it reminds you of school, I would encourage you to go to a library or book store and take your time to look at some books you might find interesting, read the backs of it, read the first few pages, and find someting that genuinely captures your interest. You could find a very short book, that way you find a short book that you're interested in and you can read it quickly, and it feels less like school and more like a fun pastime.

If you find reading boring, you might be used to quick dopamine hits that social media and videogames give you (I'm not shaming you! I also enjoy social media and videogames), or you might be picking up books that aren't for you. I think some people feel like they must read literary classics in order to spend their time reading in a productive manner, but if you're forcing yourself to do this, this might be why you find reading boring...My suggestion is: give yourself a couple of short sessions for reading, and find a genre you find fun, you don't have to read serious heavy books!

There are many reasons why one might struggle with reading. I have a hard time reading because of dyslexia, and there are a lot of things you can do to remedy this! Some people listen to audiobooks, others use a ruler to keep their brain from skipping sentences. You can find reading rulers online, or if you prefer to read digitally, Apple Books has a "line guide" that you can use! Another honest tip I would give if you struggle with reading, with dyslexia or without, is to just keep practicing. When it comes to my personal experience with learning disabilities, I've found that the more I practice the better I get, even if the progress is small.

The most important thing is to find the books you love, and read them! Don't worry about the genre, read what makes you happy! I love reading dog books, and fairy tales. You can also get books for free at your local library, go get a library card! There's a lot of websites that can help you find books and track your reading progess, I use LibraryThing! You can find my profile here.

Urban Exploring

Suggested by aslan.diorama

Thank you for writing in! Urban exploring is so awesome, I love watching videos of other's doing it, if you don't know it's basically exploring abandoned places like buildings and ruins. Diorama suggested an app called Randonautica which generates places for you to explore, I'm gonna check it out!

I definitely want to highlight that there are precautions you should take before going on an urbex adventure, here is a guide on how to stay safe while exploring, always make sure you check your local laws and don't commit tresspassing! Bring a first aid kit, a friend, and be respectful of the place where you're going. Don't leave graffiti or vandalize it! Also I discourage anyone from exploring places where there is a risk of getting stuck or places that are collapsing.

Start Exercising

Exercising is very important, I do it to stay in shape so that in my later years I'll be able to do everything I can do now! It's also super fun, you don't have to do exercise indoors (if you want to though, I wrote a post about my favorite easy at-home exercises), you can also find a sport to do. I love swimming and horseback riding, you could try hiking, running, baseball, volleyball, yoga, martial arts, ice skating...there's so many things to try out!

Make Some Music

Suggested by BismuthSpaghetti

Thank you for your suggestion (BismuthSpaghetti also suggested writing which is another good idea!), there's a lot of fun ways to make music nowadays, you don't have to learn a traditional instrument, you can make music through software that let's you use any instrument and use any sound you want! I'm no expert in this, I've tried using software on the computer to make music and it's been a struggle, probably cuz I've only ever learned how to play physical instruments 😅...But you can really make whatever you want, it's a good way to express yourself!

If you want to learn a traditional instrument, I recommend learning how to read sheet music, and try out the piano or guitar, you can thrift an electronic keyboard, and for a guitar just make sure the action isn't too high and that the tuning pegs are tight enough to hold it's tune! You can use free apps to tune your guitar, or buy a physical tuner. You can start off with an acoustic guitar, or electric, whatever you find most fun!

Study a Topic

If you have a gap in your general knowledge I think it's important to fill it for your personal culture. I struggled with math in public school because of dyscalculia, I couldn't keep up with my class and so I was behind. When I became homeschooled I discovered a love for math I didn't think I could have, I thought "oh I'm dyscalculic I could never like math" but now I love studying it! I also love physics, and other fields of science. I want to learn more about the history of other countries.

If you feel like you have very little knowledge in a certain topic, try looking for a website or a book that focuses on it, and study it for fun! Get a notebook and take notes, make mindmaps, and enjoy learning for the sake of it 😄.

Junk Journaling

Suggested by Sprout

Awesome suggestion Sprout!! Junk journals are journals made out of repurposed materials, so the possibilities are endless. Here is just an example, you can make the cover out of an old book, the pages out of old paper (or paper you made yourself), pages with old photos or cutouts, and pockets made out of fabric. Some junk journals have a theme, so the outside and the pages inside match a theme.

You can also buy junk journals others have made and then fill them out however you like (a daily diary, bullet journal, anything!), this is something I want to do because there's so many talented junk journal makers out there I want to support.

If you're interested in making your own junk journal, I suggest following Tina Guilbert, she makes awesome tutorials for all her junk journals and she makes such amazing crafts! My favorite one she's made is this Pokey Little Puppy Junk Journal ❤️.

Two other awesome junk journal makers are AnnasChateau and BeeHappyJournal, check them out!

Dancing

I love dancing!! It's so special to me because my mom was a dancer, so she has always encouraged me to dance. There's so many types of dancing you can learn at home, I love learning choreographies to pop songs, dances from music videos, and also I think TikTok dances are fun 💃 you can learn them by yourself, or with a friend!

Befriend Your Local Birds

Suggested by Zuzu

It's so funny you suggested this because I have a goal of befriending the ducks at my local pond...I couldn't during winter because they migrated elsewhere, but they're back so I wanna bring them seeds...

If you want to feed the birds I would recommend seeds, berries, or worms, this is their natural diet. Bread can be really bad for them.

I visited one of my family members recently and she has a birdhouse on her balcony, this is a great idea to take care of the birds around you!

Learn Forensic Science

Suggested by Bunz

Bunz also suggested gardening, crocheting, and learning a language, all awesome activities thank you for writing in! I chose learning forensic science because that was such a unique idea, and I think it ties in with studying a topic.

Forensic science is a field that applies scientific methods to crime investigations, so it has crime scene analysis, fingerprint and DNA analysis, ballistics, and more. I think this is very interesting, if you want to learn more about it for fun I would suggest the CSI videogame series, I used to play it a lot as a kid but I don't remember exactly which one I had...

Study Genealogy

This is one of my favorite pastimes, studying genealogy is fun not just for yourself but also helping others learn more about their family. You might find out cool things you've never known about your family, and find new relatives!

It's a great way to get closer to your family because you can ask around for family history, pictures, and recreat a family tree. If you want online resources, FamilySearch is a great free resource for researching your ancestors. You can make a family tree and add a biography and photos for each person!

You'll end up learning a lot of local history as well, what your ancestors did and where they lived might depend a lot on what was happening in their state/country!

There's also many people online looking for help with their own family tree. Not everyone has the time and resources to research it on their own, you can find online forums where people post their search requests for others to research! If you want to go further, you can become a licensed genealogist, or even go to your local courthouse, state archive, and library and ask to research documents there, because not all documents are published online.

Do Your Nails

Recently I bought gel polish kit by Le Mini Macaron, I've gotten my nails done at the salon before but honestly it's too expensive. I used to be obsessed with doing my own nails when I was younger, I thought to revive the passion I used to have for it. It's so fun to learn how to do by yourself, and with the lamp it dries instantly! Regular nail polish is also so fun, my favorite for normal nail polish is Sally Hansen.

Collect Physical Media

I'm so sick of streaming platforms because they remove my favorite movies and series! I've decided to start collecting DVDs, I eventually want to get more VHS tapes when I get a player for it. You can find DVDs for old movies and shows and the thrift store for super cheap, or you can buy DVDs for new media online, you'd be surprised! I think every new series and movie has a DVD counterpart.

You can also do the same for music by collecting CDs and cassette tapes!

Keep a Sticker Book

There are themed sticker books where you place your sticker on the page however you want, those are very fun, or there are sticker collection books where you put each sticker on a numbered place on the page. Usually these books are educational in some way, my favorite sticker book to collect and keep is Amici Cucciolotti, they are so awesome, they donate money to animal shelters with every purchase, 8 sticker packs are enough to fill one bowl! They also donate money to other charities and give their sticker books away to retirement homes. They really are awesome I love supporting them!

Collect Magazines

I've started to collect magazines for different reasons. If I collect one for news, I make sure to only buy ones that have important news, like historial events, on the cover, I like looking back at these.

For learning, I collect magazines that have to do with my interests, like art history and interior design (I love Architectural Digest and La Mia Casa). For fun, I collect magazines that I can cut things out of to use for junk journaling or for decorating!

A lot of magazines have posters in them, those are fun to hang up, I like to put them up by my desk.

I hope these were fun ideas 🥹 please leave your own summer activities in the comments below!

Thank you so much for reading my blog, you're awesome! And infinite thanks to the people who left their ideas for this post 🩷 - Maria

Question for this post: what activity are you thinking of starting?