The summer days may feel longer than ever before, so we've come up with a few DIY projects to help keep your kids entertained at home! These four projects will help you DIY the vacations you thought you’d have, all while enjoying the comfort of your own backyard—build a beach day, whip up a recipe in a chef’s kitchen, or take an imaginary trip to an amusement park or theater. Your kids will have so much to do around the backyard, you’ll be able to check off everything on your list inside!
Each blog has everything you need to DIY including how-to videos, downloadable project plans and detailed step-by-step instructions.
Unplug With These 4 DIY Kid Play Areas
1. DIY MUD KITCHEN
Let your little one’s imagination run wild with their very own Mud Kitchen. This mud table is great for cooking up all sorts of projects including mud pies, arts & crafts, nature study, sensory activities, gardening, STEAM projects, you name it. And while summer seems like the ideal time for such a kitchen, why limit your child’s enjoyment only to warm sunny days? With the appropriate clothing, they can be outdoors playing almost all year long.
2. DIY SANDBOX
Okay parents, as much as you love your kiddos, we can all agree it’s time for them to enjoy some “me time” of their own…outside! A day at the beach sounds great, right? Well, we’ve got the DIY project that’s the next best thing—a classic wooden sandbox with seating. Your kids are getting a sandy oasis, and you’re getting a little time to regain some sanity. Building your sandbox takes one afternoon, but the number of them your kids are going to be building castles outside is endless.
3. DIY RING TOSS
Does having your kids at home ever feel like a circus? Embrace the fun and create your own carnival game with a DIY ring toss! It’s a great game to play one-on-one or for the whole family to enjoy. We can guarantee this game won’t cause the kids to throw tantrums—just rings.
4. DIY PUPPET THEATER
Calling all theater enthusiasts! If you and the kids miss going to the theater to watch shows and plays in person, we have the perfect project for you: a DIY Puppet Theater. For those of us with kids at home, you know they never run out of creativity…or energy. So after you get done building this backyard stage, let them put on the show. After all, it’s high time you enjoyed a parent’s night “out”—in your own backyard.
MORE ACTIVITIES TO KEEP THE KIDS BUSY
- Create a construction site gravel pit with a small amount of gravel and a few bricks to frame it in. Add trucks, bulldozers and other small construction toys
- Put on a backyard scavenger hunt
- Set up an outdoor obstacle course using old toys and stuff you find in the garage
- Make a kid-sized balance beam using spare 4x4s and 2x4s
- Build towers and forts out of discarded cardboard boxes
- Make hopscotch stepping-stones with 10 concrete pavers. Paint each paver a bright color and be sure to number each one.
We hope we inspired you to make the most out of summer. Just remember, cut yourself some slack and #DoItWithHART.
