Top 10 Ways to Explore & Learn with Activity Kits this Summer

We’re excited to be participating in a fun series with This Reading Mama and other bloggers to bring you an entire week of different ways kids can keep learning throughout the summer. It’s important that kids continue to learn while at home and away from school so that they do not fall behind.

The School’s Out: A Top 10 Summer Learning Blog Hop is brought to you by the Kid Blogger Network where you can HOP around from blog to blog reading all the different Top 10 posts.

Our top 10 post is different ways to explore and learn with activity kits this summer. Each of the 10 categories has examples. Clicking the colored link will bring you to another blog or website showcasing what each is about and either how to make your own or where you can buy it. A couple of them are affiliate links to the product on Amazon.

1. Adventure Kits

Up first is all about adventure – whether exploring your backyard, hiking, or at a park. I love everything about these because they foster imagination and make learning about nature fun….. even bugs!

• All for the Boys shares how to make your own Adventure Kit to inspire playtime and learning.
• A Mom with a Lesson Plan has  easy, frugal ideas for going on a Backyard Adventure or this one with other ideas via Go Explore Nature.
• Park Explorer Playkit from Teach Mama
• Both my kids as well as the two I baby-sit for have had a blast playing with this Bug Hunt Kit over the past several years.
• Take a hike with One Charming Party.
• I love this DIY Superhero Fort Kit from Meg + Andy!

 2. Pretend Play Kits

My kids love pretend play, especially my daughter. I am always in awe of how imaginative she is.  They would have a blast playing with the activities featured below!

• Play Doctor Kit from Kids Activities Blog
• DIY Detective from Moms & Munchkins
• DIY Spy Kit from Let’s Explore
• Learning Resources Pretend and Play School Set

3. Science Kits

Anything that involves science experiments is sure to be a hit in our home! It’s exciting to see their faces light up when they see what happens.

• Truth or Myth Science Kit from Meaningful Mama
• The Magic School Bus Science Club for ages 5-12
• DIY Science Kits from My Blessings from Above
• Hands-on Science Kits from Steve Spangler Science
• Lab-in-a-Bag Test Tube Wonders I bought this for my little ones to do over the summer this year. Check out our 1st experiment here.

4. Creativity Boxes

There were so many amazing ideas that I had a hard time narrowing these down. Here are 7 of my favorite:

• Invention Box from Your Modern Family……… and one from Pink & Green Mama.
• The Remake It Kit – upcycled/recycled fun from Zakka Life
• Lil Blue Boo shares so many awesome photos of her Art Box ideas and includes a free Art Box label to download for ones that you make. If you’d rather pay for an already made box of crafty goodies for open-end art, you may like this Doodlebox Art Kits review post by Artchoo.
• Little Artist’s Drawing Kit from Mama.Papa.Bubba or this version from Mama Miss.

5. Subscription and/or Buy separate

These subscriptions boxes are such a great idea! You can pay for a certain time period (like a year) and have a box delivered monthly. Some have it where you can purchase a box separate as an alternative to the subscription plans.

• TogetherBox – We had so much fun with this balloon kit from them!
• Suprise Ride – A monthly box of Adventure for 6-11 yr olds.
• Kiwi Crate – My son learned about caring for the Earth with the box we reviewed.
• Green Kids Crafts – each Discovery Kit has 3-4 creativity and STEM science activities for age 3-10.
• Xplore Box – Fun with hands-on Science.
• Arterro Eco-friendly art kits – Eco Art Kits

6. Writing

Here are ways to encourage kids to write (and some pre-writing activities).

• Making Mondays has a Pen Pal Kit with free printables and also shares a  few writing ideas.
• See what Playful Learning included in their Custom Letter Writing Box – they even prettied it up with decorative strings and ribbons.
• Itsy Bitsy Fun has lots of free printables that you could print and make a kit to use at home or on the go. Here are a few that are great for summer learning: Kindergarten Reading Comprehension, Frog Activities, and Beginning & Advanced Ocean Animals.

7. Book-themed

These story/book activities are awesome for encouraging creative thinking!

• Story Bag See how to make a group story with everyday objects from Handmade Kids Art
• My Story Rocks (TONS) and a post about tips for creating your own story stones from the super talented Thrive 360 Living.
• Build-a- Book Busy Bag from No Twiddle Twaddle – My son would love this! He is always creating mini books.
• Backyard Storytelling Adventure Take storytelling outside – via Small Types

8. Travel

Headed on a road trip? Check out these great ways to make learning on the go a fun experience. Or pretend to travel the world and learn about different countries.

• Track your road trip and make Ring-Bound Books like shared on the Martha Stewart website. There are also more road trip games and activities in the slideshow.
• Mama.Papa.Bubba. made a Homemade Portable Activity Binder for younger children that has been a HUGE hit with her readers.
• Living Montessori Now has a great post about Little Passports – A Global Adventure. She writes about what it is, some of the countries available, and photos of some of the ones they did.

9. Hobby

• Watch plants grow with this Gardening box of goodies from A Pretty Cool Life. I love her choice of book to go along with it.
• Make a My 1st Sewing Kit from Play Eat Grow or if you’d rather purchase an already made one, this My First Sewing Kit by ALEX® Toys is a good option.
• Build-It-Yourself Woodworking Kit – for ages 4-11

10. Best of the Rest

• Mama.Papa.Bubba has several fun Sensory Play Kits that my kids would absolutely love.
• Ever hear of Snap Circuits? Tinkerlab did a review and also shares some of their favorite  creativity-building toys.
• DIY Math Kit via Paging Fun Mums
• Let’s Lasso the Moon has an awesome list of Dinosaur activities including a dinosaur excavation kit. Kids will love digging up a T-rex!

Be sure to check out the rest of the School’s Out Top 10 series featuring a handful of bloggers everyday this week!

Amanda

Artsy Momma

Amanda is an ‘artsy momma’ to 2 kids who love making crafts just as much as she does. Follow their creative journey over on the blog titled Artsy Momma. Besides crafts, they share fun food ideas, hands-on learning activities, mommy DIY, + lots more! If you love handprint art, head over to their Fun Handprint Art blog where you will find hundreds of their projects all made with little hands and feet.