35+ Fun and Easy Summer Crafts and Activities for Toddlers
This post discussing 35+ fun and easy summer crafts and activities for toddlers may contain affiliate links which means that I receive some form of compensation in return (at no additional cost to you) if you purchase through my link:) Please remember that these printables are for personal rather than commercial use.
Hello, everyone!
How are you? It’s been a good while since I’ve posted. Since my last published post, I have had a baby and have been soaking in all the newborn snuggles and sweetness. He is our first baby and becoming a mom has been a precious new chapter that I’m incredibly thankful for. Baby boy is an answer to many, many prayers.
Anyhow, that’s the main reason I’ve been more absent on this blog. That said, I’m excited to get back into the swing of things and really want to take this little corner of the internet more seriously in the coming months. Now that I have some energy back after being pregnant, I’m hoping to really get into the swing of things, again.
We are going to start back with a super fun summer compilation post filled with easy summer crafts and some of my favorite summer activities that I found when I did some digging. This article will provide you with more than 50 summer crafts for toddlers, specifically for around age 2. Many of them I would consider to be toddler crafts or toddler activities, but there are also several that would be fun for kids of all ages. There are some super fun summer crafts ideas in this compilation that I hope will be an inspiration for you and your littles!
Let’s start out this compilation with an adorable handprint craft. There’s just something about ice cream cones that screams summer which is what makes this activity such a fun summer craft for kids. This activity would be a fun craft if you’re trying to create a keepsake of those little hands. Though it’s perfect for toddlers, I think it would also be super fun for older kids, as well, especially if you encouraged them to decorate the ice cream cones as an optional, further step.
In Texas where I grew up, we did not have lightning bugs, so I was super excited to see them here in Alabama where I live now. Seeing lightning bugs in the evenings feels like watching nature sparkle, and I love it! This cute craft would be the perfect summer craft for your toddlers. It’s also super simple since all you need is some craft paper, a pen, foil, and some yellow paint.
This fun summer activity is so creative! I love it. It’s the perfect compromise if you don’t want to invest in t-shirts to dye but still want to enjoy the creativity of tie dye! This would be a great activity to get the big kids involved in, as well.
There are several different variations of this handprint campfire craft that you could definitely choose from. Some include a template or paint or some popsicle sticks, but you could even blend the variations if you wanted to only use craft paper and a pen. I think it is such a cute idea!
I love that painting rocks is such a simple and achievable craft even for families that may not do a lot of crafts, normally. It’d be so much fun to go on some kind of nature hike, collect some rocks, and then paint them and create this cute little “succulent” out of them. Though you could definitely make it for young children, this activity would also be the perfect time to get older children involved.
I love these puffy paint ice cream cones! They’re such a fun spin on a regular painting craft 🙂
This craft would be super cute after visiting the strawberry farm with your kids! If you have older kids, you could even try to do a unit study with them about strawberries to really bring it all full circle.
Here’s another one of the easy crafts that could be super simple if you wanted it to be. You wouldn’t have to use the googly eyes if you wanted to keep this turtle craft paper activity even simpler, but they do add a really cute touch 🙂
Here’s another one of the summer craft ideas from the same IG account! I love how simple and cute it is. You could even use googly eyes on this craft, as well, if you wanted to 🙂
I thought this idea was cute since you could incorporate some of your toddlers favorite things as “embellishments” for the craft paper starfish. This activity would be a fun one if you’re trying to keep your toddlers occupied on your summer beach trip this season.
This craft would be especially cute if your family enjoys grilling out in the summer since a grill would be familiar to your toddler. These little grills made from paper plates, construction paper, and popsicle sticks are so fun!
All you need for this simple craft is some craft paper, tissue paper, and popsicle sticks! Again, these little crafts would be fun with toddlers or older kids since they can be more complicated if you need them to be but also as simple as you would like them to be, as well.
How cute are these colorful blowers! I love that the toilet paper rolls have the blue sky and the clouds on them. This would be such a perfect craft if you were trying to teach your babies about Noah’s ark and God’s sweet promise He gave us that is symbolized by the rainbow.
I feel like this craft may feel more like a game, especially to toddlers. It’s definitely not the craft choice for you if you’re not up for a mess either 😉 That said, it would be super fun for the hot, summer months when you really want to get outside and are also looking for a creative way squirt guns.
Aren’t these flowers made from cupcake liners adorable for little girls? I feel like they’d be perfect for the girly girl toddlers in your world 🙂 I’m a boy mom, so it would not really fit our life right now, but they’d be so so cute if you have a little girl!
Oh my word! I love this pool noodle boat craft idea! Honestly, my baby is only a month old right now, but I’d love to do this in the coming years once he’s a little bit older. The options are endless with this craft since you could make different designs and have competitions with friends. Honestly, it’d probably be a fun activity for the entire family. You could even play with it in a kiddie pool if you didn’t have access to a larger body of water!
These are another craft that have lots of variations you could use. Even with this specific rendition of homemade binoculars, you wouldn’t have to put the colored plastic on the ends if you wanted to make it a little bit simpler 🙂 You could also use so many different colors of each of the different elements to really customize the binoculars for your kids.
Look how fun! These glow in the dark pop bottle fireflies would be the perfect addition to your summer campfire get together with friends. All you need are some bottles, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, glow sticks, and something to use for the wings (there are several options if you’d like to use things you have around the house!).
This recipe of “sand clay” would be a great activity for after your summer beach trip if you collected a bunch of shells from the trip. It’d also be a fun way to remember the beach in those weeks after vacation!
These are almost more of a sensory activity than anything, especially for toddlers. I think these noodle butterflies would be perfect for 2 year olds as you try to teach them fine motor skills along with their colors. You could either use the chalk paint pens, as pictured here, or you could even use paint, if you’d rather.
These are super simple, but they are really cute and are the perfect thing to pull out on a simple, summer day when you just need an activity to keep the littles occupied for a little while.
This bubble art activity would be perfect if you already have a toddler that loves bubbles as a summer activity. It’s a fun spin on an already entertaining bubble wands summer activity.
This activity is so fun and is a great sensory activity for your littles that would be perfect for summer break. The nice thing is it can be very much modified to the toys you already have.
These would be so fun for a craft room or homeschool room or even a classroom with younger kids! You could totally use different colors if you didn’t have access to many yellow or orange flowers 🙂
This might be a tad bit advanced for toddlers, but it would be a really fun activity if they have older siblings who are willing to do the activity with them. The idea is to “free” the sea animals from the blocks of ice. It’s another great sensory play activity that’d be so much fun on a hot summer day.
Once again, this activity is simple, easy, and fun! All you need is some leaves, paper, and crayons 🙂 The author recommended collecting all of your broken crayons for this activity which is a great way to use them!
It doesn’t get much simpler than water painting! That said, simple is sometimes the best thing. It would not surprise me if you find that this little activity will keep your littles entertained for a good while longer than we would first guess while helping them be creative and get some good sunshine.
Look how cute these dandelion bees are! I love that the bases are super simply (just use any box you may have received in the mail) and then it also encourages you and your toddlers to get outside and collect some dandelions which abound at the beginning of the summer weather.
Here’s another activity to encourage us to get outside in these warmer months. I love that this activity encourages some creativity since the way your tree will look at the end of the activity depends only on the nature items you collect.
I think these birdseed ornaments are technically for Christmas, but I think they’d make a really cute summer activity as well as all the birds come out for the warmer weather. It’d be a great craft to make on one of the rainy days in summer. We have thoroughly enjoyed having a hummingbird feeder and watching as the hummingbirds come by, and I think these little “bird feeders” would be super cute for toddlers to enjoy as they get to watch the birds enjoy something they made themselves.
This sunthreading activity is such a great craft to practice fine motor skills and color recognition with your toddlers. It could even help with counting if you wanted to use it as such.
This puffy sidewalk paint activity is just a fun spin on regular sidewalk chalk, but it’s super fun!
These would be super fun for little girls especially if you played around with different colored snacks 🙂
These little egg carton turtles are so cute and don’t really require any complicated materials, especially since they provide a great way to use egg cartons that you may be planning to simply throw away. I love how they used different colors of green cotton balls and paint for the little turtles to make them look a little bit varying in their appearance.
I really hope that you have found some inspiration here for your summer days with your toddlers! With all of these ideas in mind, I’d also just like to clarify that I don’t think it is necessarily important to always have crafts on your agenda. If they fit a need for you in your summer routines, then that is awesome, but if they add more pressure and “mom guilt” to your plate than helpfulness, never be afraid to simplify your days. Read a book, have a picnic outside in your backyard, go to the park, or just enjoy a day outside with your kids. Life does not have to be complicated to be beautiful.
Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, friends!
Which activity was your favorite?
Did you find a craft you are going to try with your toddlers?
Let me know in the comments below!
Until next time
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