17 Backyard Activities to Keep Kids Busy This Summer

Whether it's a kid-size car or an adult one, let kids wash cars to their heart's content with bubbly water and oversize sponges. As a bonus activity, let them color with washable paint on the car before washing it — it's always more fun to make a mess first!

Use a soda bottle (or, if you want to go the extra mile, one of those wooden kits that need to be assembled) and some wooden spoons to create a simple bird feeder for all of your backyard's birds.

Store-bought bubbles are great, but to get kids more involved, have them help you make homemade bubbles!

Nothing beats the heat better than cool and sweet popsicles, and there are tons of ways to make your own so that the kiddos can get involved before getting the final frozen product all over themselves in the backyard.

Bring your classic Twister mat outside for tangled-up fun in the sun, or make your very own lawn twister using spray paint.

Turn the popular tabletop game of Kerplunk into a life-size challenge by making your own using some wire fencing, plastic balls, and garden stakes.

With a few buckets and a slab of wood, create a game for your kids to play that works on their motor skills as well as math skills in the off-season. Keep a whiteboard or chalkboard handy so kids can keep score for themselves.

Invite your kids on a rock hunt, encouraging them to grab all different shapes and sizes, and then let them paint their findings. A scavenger hunt and art project all in one!

Let your little one go on an egg hunt in the backyard — for dinosaur eggs! Make them out of frozen water balloons with little dinosaur toys (or anything your child is interested in), and once they're all found, use eye droppers full of warm water to melt the "eggs" and find the prizes.

If the dinosaur eggs seem like too much work or not a big enough project, try freezing an entire tub of toys, eliminate the warm-water component, and let your kid think of out-of-the-box ways to get their trapped toys out of this ice-block treasure chest!

Forget the tiny tabletop game — backyards have enough space for a Jenga game that's the size of your child! Using two-by-fours and little else, your kids can be playing with — and knocking over — a giant Jenga tower in no time.

With just three ingredients, make a bucket full of sidewalk chalk for your kids to draw and create with outside all Summer.

Instead of drawing a hopscotch board on the ground with chalk, make a more permanent solution with this rainbow paver hopscotch. Kids can paint with you — any colors they want — and practice counting without worrying about the numbers disappearing under their little feet or after an afternoon of rain.

Add an element of difficulty to the classic Xs and Os game by creating a giant tic-tac-toe grid and having kids throw frisbees into the squares. This grid was created with a dollar-store shower curtain and some tape — easy!

If you have a projector, set up a white sheet in the backyard and let the outdoor movie magic begin — grab cozy blankets, yummy snacks, and some good company.

Send your kids outside equipped with a list of things to find in a nature scavenger hunt. Staple the list to a paper bag so that they can collect their findings, then talk about what they observed and chose to put into their bag with them later.

Using bowls and some printed-out numbers, make a bean-bag toss that is both fun and educational. Like with the ring toss, you can have kids add up their own numbers, and change up the point values depending on age and math level.