15 Fun Summer Crafts And Activities For Tweens

Summer is the favorite time of the year for tweens. They play for hours end in the sunshine, go swimming with friends and actively participate in a number of extra-curricular activities. As much as children enjoy this season, summers can spell doom for mothers. It can be very tricky finding appropriate activities and crafts to occupy the tweens during their time off from school. So how can you bring excitement to the seemingly long summer vacations? The answer is summer activities for tweens! So before your tween get a chance to complain and throw a tantrum, keep yourself ready with these fun and exciting summer crafts and activities.

Summer Crafts And Activities For Tweens:

1. Dragonfly Magnet:

You Will Need:

• Wooden clothes peg.
• Card stock paper.
• Thin felt pens or water colors.
• Glitter gel pens
• Glue
• Magnet
• Scissors

How To:

1. Decorate the wooden peg using the felt tip or watercolor.

2. Now draw the dragon fly’s wing shape on the card stock paper and cut it out.

3. Decorate the wings using glitter gel pens and felt pens.

4. Glue the wings in the middle of the wooden peg and affix the magnet on the opposite end with the hot glue gun. Leave it to dry. Making this dragon fly can be fun summer crafts for tweens.

[ Read: Birthday Party Games For Tweens ]

2. Bee Kite:

You Will Need:

• 3-mm-wide basket-weaving reed
• Scissors
• One spool of string
• Thin plastic tablecloth
• Marker
• Double-sided carpet tape
• One sheet of colored vinyl
• 15-cm wooden dowel

How To:

1. Measure 10 inches and cut out the reed. Soak it in water to make it more flexible.

2. Now use the reed to make the kite’s frame. Tie the ends of the reeds together with a string.

3. Lay the tablecloth on a flat surface and place the frame on its top.

4. Trace around the frame, leaving a 2-inch border and cut it out.

5. Stick the tape to the tablecloth just along the border. Fold the cloth around the reed and press together.

6. Cut out eyes, mouth and stripes from the vinyl and tape to the kite. Cut the remaining strips from the tablecloth and affix to the bottom, for the tail.

7. Tie a string to the middle reed and slide the dowel through the spool. Flying kites is an excellent thing to do in tween summer camps.

3. Marshmallow Faces:

You Will Need:

• Large sized marshmallow.
• Food coloring
• A thin paintbrush
• Skewer
• Glass
• Icing

How To:

1. Make the eyes and mouth on the marshmallow using food coloring and paintbrush.

2. Use the icing of any color you like for the hair.

3. Now insert a skewer in the middle of the marshmallow and place in a vase or a tall glass. If you are looking for summer activities for tweens at home, then introducing them into the kitchen would be great way to learn to cook and have fun at the same time.

4. Clothespin Caterpillar:

You Will Need:

• Clothespin
• White glue
• 3/4 inch Pom pom in different colors.
• 2-inch length of pipe cleaner.
• Googly eyes
• Magnet

How To:

1. Apply a line of white glue on one side of the clothespin. Leave it for a minute.

2. Now place the pom pom horizontally.

3. Bend the antenna in the ‘V’ shape to make the antenna. Put the antenna between the first and second pom pom.

4. Now affix the googly eyes on the clothespin using the white glue. Leave it dry.

5. Glue the magnet to the bottom of the clothespin.

[ Read: Halloween Party Games For Tweens ]

5. Pinwheel:

You Will Need:

• Square paper in two different colors.
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Needle nose pliers
• Tape
• Ball pins
• Seed beads
• Ruler
• Cake pop sticks

How To:

1. Glue both the colored papers together.

2. Fold the square in half, diagonally to make the two tips meet. Unfold and repeat the same with the other half. Unfold again.

3. Now cut the creases from the corner, 3/4th way into the center of the square.

4. Fold every point in the middle of the square and pin through the center.

5. Slip a seed bead at the back of the pinwheel and push into the stick.

6. Adjust the end of the pin to make the pinwheel spin. Now bend the pin back with the pliers.

6. Paper Fan:

You Will Need:

• Scrap paper in coordinating colors
• Scissors

How To:

1. Fold the scrap paper up and face to create a one-inch wide fan fold.

2. Fold the paper in half and wrap the wire around the fold. Make sure the folds are tight.

3. Fan out the folds and it’s ready.

7. Toilet Paper Snake:

You Will Need:

• 6 toilet paper rolls
• Paintbrush
• Green, yellow, and blue paint.
• 2 pipe cleaners
• Scissors
• 2 googly eyes
• Glue.
• 1 piece of red or orange felt.

How To:

1. Paint the toilet paper tubes with green, blue and yellow paint. Leave the paint to dry thoroughly.

2. Cut the ends into points when the rolls have dried.

3. Poke holes with the end of each tube.

4. Stick a pipe cleaner through the holes. Now fold the ends of the pipe cleaners to make right angles. Clip off extra pipe cleaner.

5. Now stick the googly eyes to the face of the snake and attach a small piece of red or orange felt on its mouth.

8. Birdhouse:

You Will Need:

• Milk carton
• Stapler
• Masking tape
• Brown acrylic paint
• A soft cloth like rag or chamois
• cissors
• Twine

How To:

1. Wash and dry the milk carton.

2. Staple or hot glue the top of the carton to close it.

3. Cover the entire carton with the masking tape.

4. Now apply brown paint all over the cartoon.

5. Cut a ½ inches diameter hole around 4 inches above from the bottom of the carton and two small holes in the top of the carton.

6. Make a few drainage holes in the bottom of the carton,

7. Now poke a hole through the top of the feeder and thread a small piece of twine through it. Hang the birdhouse on the tree.

[ Read: Halloween Costume Ideas For Tweens ]

9. Drip Drip Splash:

You Will Need:

• Water
• Cup or glass

How To:

1. Make everyone sit in the circle. Select one player “it” to walk outside the circle.

2. The “it” has to walk around the circle saying “drip, drip, drip.” As the player says drip, he has to put his hand in a cup of water and drip some water on each player’s head.

3. The ‘it’ can splash and dump the whole cup of water on the player whom he wants to chase.

4. The players have to chase each other for the empty seat. The last player standing will be the next ‘it’.

10. DIY Hula Hoop:

You Will Need:

• Irrigation tubing
• PVC cutter or small saw
• A coupling
• Small beans
• Colored tapes

How To:

1. Insert a coupling to one side of the tube.

2. Fill the tubes with dry beans.

3. Decorate the hoops with colorful tapes. Playing with hula hoops could be on the top of the list for summer party games for tweens.

11. Nature Scavenger Hunt:

You Will Need:

• Paper
• Pen
• A few summer related things like rocks, seeds, leaves, etc.

How To:

1. Write the list of the things you want the kids to find.

2. Divide the tweens into two teams. Give each team a copy of stuff to find.

3. Now instruct the kids that they have to find these items within an hour.

4. The team that manages to get most of the things will be the winner.

12. Set Up A Lemon Stand:

You Will Need:

• Juicer
• Pitchers
• Lemons
• Cold Water
• Spoon
• Paper cups
• Ice
• Sugar
• A sturdy table
• Bright tablecloth
• String
• Craft paper
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Paper cups

How To:

1. Select a location to set up the lemonade stall.

2. Make a banner on the craft paper. Write in bold “LEMONADE $1.” You can even print it out from the computer and stick on a contrasting paper using a glue stick.

3. Punch two evenly spaced holes on the top of each paper. Slide a string through it and attach it to the lemon stand. The sign should be clearly visible.

4. Cover the table with the tablecloth, set out the lemons and paper cup and you are ready to sell and make money.

13. Water Balloon Catch:

You Will Need:

• Water
• Small balloons
• Bucket

How To:

1. Fill up the balloons and place in the bucket.

2. Now spread the kids in a large area of a yard or garden. Divide the kids into two teams.

3. Tell them to toss the balloon at a short distance. With each catch, they have to take a step back.

4. Kids with the furthest distance between them will win. Or, the first team to get wet will lose, and the other will win.

[ Read: Arts And Crafts Ideas For Teen ]

14. Ladder Ball:

You Will Need:

• Bolas
• Three-rung ladder

How To:

1. The objective of the game is to attach the bola to the run ladders and win points.

2. Have the kids toss the bolas to the three-rung ladder.

3. Kids will get points according to which rung they hit. If the player hits the lowest rung, he will get one point, the second rung will earn him two points, and the highest rung will get him three points.

4. The player to earn the 21 points first will win the game.

15. Make An Ice Cream:

You Will Need:

• 8 ounces of cream cheese.
• 3 ounces of light Greek yogurt in any flavor your kids like.
• 1/3 cup of unsweetened coconut cream.
• 1/3 cup of milk of flavored.
• 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
• 1 teaspoon of cherry or raspberry extract.
• One scoop protein powder.
• Berries

How To:

1. Mix coconut cream, cream cheese, Greek yogurt and milk with an electric mixer until you get a creamy consistency.

2. Add the cherry or raspberry extract and protein powder and mix again.

3. Now fold in the berries or any other mix-ins of your choice.

4. Freeze the ice cream for 2 hours.

These activities and crafts are sure to make the summers more magical for your kids. So why wait? Grab your sunglasses, slather the sunscreen and get ready to have a blast! How do you keep your children busy during his summer vacation? Hope you liked our list of fun things to do in summer for tweens. Tell us in the comment section.

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