10 Screen-Free Summer Holiday Activities for Kids

Long, sunny days. Sticky ice creams. Grass stains. Pebbles in pockets. The summer holidays have a way of creating the memories that children hold onto for years.

Of course, they also have a habit of lasting… a very long time.

If you're looking for a few simple ways to keep little ones entertained without reaching for a screen, here are ten ideas that don't require elaborate planning or expensive days out. Just a little imagination, a few everyday bits and pieces and perhaps a willingness to embrace a bit of mud.

1. Build the Ultimate Summer Den

We couldn't start anywhere else.

Whether it's strung between two trees, tucked into a hedge, draped over the washing line or built indoors on a rainy afternoon, a den can become absolutely anything. A secret hideaway. A pirate ship. A woodland café. A reading nook. A headquarters for important missions.

The best part? Once the den is built, the play often takes care of itself.

Top tip: Leave it standing for a few days if you can. Children love returning to "their" space, adding new ideas and letting their adventures continue.

2. Create a Nature Treasure Hunt

Head outside to hunt for nature's treasures.

Can you find:

• Something yellow
• A feather
• A smooth stone
• Three different leaves
• Something that smells lovely
• A tiny flower
• An interesting stick

Pop everything into a little basket or bag and see what stories your finds inspire once you get home.

3. Make a Potion Kitchen

Mud has been entertaining children for generations, and for good reason.

Gather a few old bowls, spoons, jugs and muffin tins, then let children mix together mud, petals, grass, leaves and water into magical potions, soups and cakes.

There's no right way to do it and somehow everyone ends up happy, even if they're a little muddy by the end.

4. Go on a Mini Adventure Walk

Children don't always need a destination.

Turn an ordinary walk into an adventure by setting little challenges along the way. Spot five butterflies, find the tallest tree, listen for birdsong, balance along fallen logs or collect interesting leaves.

You'll often find they slow down, notice more and enjoy the journey just as much as wherever they were heading.

5. Paint with Nature

Who says you need a paintbrush?

Try painting with feathers, pine needles, lavender stems, leaves or sticks. You could even dip pinecones, stones or conkers into paint and see what patterns they make.

The results are wonderfully unpredictable, which is all part of the fun.

6. Create a Fairy Garden (or a Tiny World)

Find a quiet corner of the garden and let imaginations take over.

Children can build tiny homes from sticks, pebbles and bark, make winding paths, create miniature furniture from twigs or plant a little patch of flowers.

Not into fairies? It could just as easily become a dinosaur habitat, an animal village or a secret woodland world for tiny imaginary creatures.

There's no need to finish it all in one afternoon. They can come back throughout the summer, adding new discoveries and little details each time they head outside.

7. Start a Summer Nature Journal

A simple notebook can become a lovely record of the holidays.

Children could draw flowers they've spotted, press leaves between the pages, sketch insects, write down funny things they've heard or stick in little treasures collected on walks.

By the end of the summer, they'll have a keepsake full of memories they've made themselves.

8. Put on a Puppet Show

Perfect for those inevitable rainy days.

Paper bags, odd socks or wooden spoons all make brilliant puppets. Build a little theatre from a cardboard box or perform from behind the sofa, then let the children make up their own wonderfully silly stories.

If you’ve got a calico tarp from The Pirate Den Kit, it can double up beautifully as a shadow puppet screen. Hang it up somewhere you can dim the light behind it, then let children experiment with shadow shapes, hand puppets or cut-out characters held up to the glow.

Extra points for outrageous character voices.

9. Build Something Brilliant from Cardboard

Before recycling day arrives, rescue a few large boxes.

They could become:

• A rocket
• A castle
• A café
• A submarine
• A robot
• A tiny playhouse

Add pens, tape, stickers and scraps of paper, then step back and see where their imagination takes them.

10. Have a Picnic Somewhere Unexpected

Picnics don't have to happen in the park.

Try one in the garden. Under a tree. Inside a den. Or on a blanket in the living room if the rain has arrived.

Sometimes simply eating lunch somewhere different is enough to make an ordinary day feel a little bit magical.

A Summer to Remember

We find that children rarely remember every planned activity. More often, they remember the feeling of having time to play, imagine, explore and get a little bit grubby.

A den made from blankets. A pocket full of tiny treasures. A muddy potion. A fairy garden that grew a little more each week.

These are often the moments that become the stories they'll tell years later.

Here's to a summer filled with adventures, big and small, and plenty of screen-free fun along the way!