Is Entertaining Your Kids at Home This Summer with Cheap Activities for Children to Do at Home a Mission Impossible?
Spoiler: No. You just need a lemon, two bottles, and a little bit of mischief.
☀️ Summer, Screentime, and Sanity: Pick Two?
Keeping your children entertained at home during summer sounds like one of those trick questions no one gets right.
You want activities that:
- don’t involve screens all day long
- don’t cost a fortune
- don’t require a PhD in patience
Sounds impossible? We thought so too.
Until we created a list of cheap summer activities to do at home with children that are actually fun, surprisingly smart, and beautifully low-effort.
💡 The Secret? Everyday STEM Magic.
All you need is:
- a kitchen
- a little curiosity
- and kids ready to make a (controlled) mess
We call it “play with purpose.” They’ll call it magic.
And yes, you can set it up in under 3 minutes.
🧠 7 Cheap Summer Activities to Do at Home with Children
🧴 1. Strawberry DNA Extraction
You’ll need: 1 ripe strawberry, dish soap, salt, alcohol (the rubbing kind)
Smash, swirl, and discover the building blocks of life. It's science meets CSI.
💡 Teaches: genetics, cell structure, molecular biology (without sounding scary)
🍋 2. Invisible Ink with Lemon Juice
You’ll need: lemon juice, cotton swab, lamp
Write secret messages. Reveal them with heat. Spy games, zero cost.
💡 Bonus idea: let them encode math riddles and challenge each other
🌪️ 3. Tornado in a Bottle
You’ll need: 2 plastic bottles, water, glitter (optional), duct tape
Create a mini tornado and talk about natural forces. Then name it. Obviously.
🔢 4. Fun Math Riddles Game
Hide math riddles around the house. Each solution leads to a new clue.
They’ll move, solve, giggle—and not even notice it’s math.
💬 Example: “I’m a number. Double me and subtract 2, and you get 10. Who am I?” → 6
🎨 5. Rainbow on a Plate
You’ll need: Skittles or M&Ms, plate, warm water
Total wow effect. Zero stress. Perfect for rainy days or quick wins.
🧱 6. Bridge Builder Challenge
You’ll need: paper, tape, coins, straws
Who can build the strongest bridge using the cheapest materials?
🎯 Teaches: physics, structural logic, trial & error
🎈 7. Balloon Rocket
You’ll need: balloon, string, tape, straw
Attach the straw to the string. Tape the balloon to the straw. Let it go. Fly, balloon, fly.
🚀 Teaches: propulsion, Newton’s laws, pure joy
📦 Want All These as Printables?
We’ve packed these cheap summer activities to do at home with children into ready-to-print mission kits.
Zero prep. Maximum joy. Because you have better things to do than scroll Pinterest for hours.
👉 Explore all printable STEM kits here
💌 Or grab a free sample activity by joining our Little Brains Club.
💬 Final Thoughts from a Parent-Run Lab
If parenting during summer feels like a level on a video game you never signed up for—
We see you.
We built this for you.
Because sometimes, all it takes is a bottle, a berry, and a little brainpower.
