Six weeks. That's a long time to keep children entertained, engaged, and away from screens. Whether you're a parent, grandparent, or carer, the summer holidays can feel like a marathon — especially when the British weather has other ideas.
The good news? There are plenty of brilliant screen-free activities that children genuinely love, that don't cost a fortune, and that you can pull out at a moment's notice. Here's our guide to keeping kids busy this summer without reaching for the tablet.
Why Limit Screen Time in the Summer?
A little screen time isn't the end of the world, but research from the NHS and organisations like Common Sense Media consistently shows that excessive screen use in children is linked to disrupted sleep, reduced physical activity, and lower attention spans. The summer holidays are a brilliant opportunity to reset routines and build in more creative, active, and social time.
1. Set Up a Summer Activity Binder
One of the best things you can do at the start of the holidays is create a dedicated activity binder for each child. Fill it with printable colouring pages, puzzles, drawing challenges, and worksheets they can dip into whenever they're bored. It gives children a sense of ownership over their own entertainment — and means you're not constantly coming up with ideas on the spot.
👉 Our Summer Colouring Book for Kids | Printable Beach Scenes is perfect for this — print the whole thing and pop it in the binder. Football mad? Add our FIFA World Cup Colouring Bundle | England Heroes & All 48 Team Flags for hours of football-themed fun.
2. Colouring and Drawing Challenges
Colouring is endlessly versatile. Set a daily drawing challenge — "draw your favourite animal", "design your dream treehouse", "colour this beach scene" — and watch children settle into calm, focused creativity. It's brilliant for all ages from 3 to 12, and the results make great fridge art.
👉 Browse our printable colouring books and pages — from beach scenes to animals and beyond. If your child loves football, our World Cup 2026 England Football Stars Colouring Book is a brilliant summer holiday activity.
3. Baking and Cooking Together
Getting children involved in the kitchen is a fantastic screen-free activity that builds real-life skills. Start simple — biscuits, flapjacks, or homemade pizza — and let them measure, mix, and decorate. The BBC Good Food kids' baking collection has brilliant easy recipes to get you started.
4. Outdoor Scavenger Hunts
A scavenger hunt works in the garden, the park, or even around the house on a rainy day. Write a list of things to find — a smooth stone, something yellow, a feather, a leaf with five points — and send them off. You can print and laminate a reusable scavenger hunt sheet to use again and again throughout the summer.
5. Reading Challenges
The Summer Reading Challenge, run by the Reading Agency and available through local libraries, is one of the best free resources for keeping children reading over the holidays. Children set a reading goal, track their progress, and earn rewards. Pair it with a reading log worksheet to make it feel even more official.
6. Printable Puzzles and Brain Teasers
Word searches, crosswords, dot-to-dots, and logic puzzles are brilliant for keeping older children's brains ticking over during the holidays. They're quiet, independent activities that children can do at the kitchen table, in the car, or on a picnic blanket.
👉 Our 4-in-1 Kids Colouring Book Collection includes a variety of activities to keep children busy for hours.
7. Arts and Crafts Projects
Set up a craft station with paper, glue, scissors, stickers, and whatever else you have to hand. Give children a loose brief — "make a card for someone you love", "build a model of your house", "create a collage of your favourite things" — and let their imagination do the rest. The National Trust's 50 Things to Do Before You're 11¾ is a wonderful source of outdoor and creative inspiration.
8. Journaling and Creative Writing
Give each child a notebook and encourage them to keep a summer diary. Younger children can draw pictures of what they did each day; older children can write about their adventures, make up stories, or create their own comic strips. It's a lovely keepsake as well as a great literacy activity.
9. Worksheet-Based Learning (Without It Feeling Like School)
A little bit of gentle learning over the summer helps children avoid the "summer slide" — the well-documented dip in skills that can happen over a long break. The key is keeping it light and fun. A few pages of tracing, number work, or phonics practice a day is plenty, and children often enjoy it when it's framed as a special activity rather than homework.
👉 Our Preschool & Year 1 Worksheets | Tracing Letters, Shapes & Numbers PDF is ideal for keeping little ones' skills sharp over the summer.
10. Garden Games and Physical Play
Classic garden games never go out of style — rounders, French cricket, water balloon fights, hula hoops, skipping ropes. Physical play is brilliant for burning off energy, building coordination, and keeping children away from screens naturally. If the weather turns, head indoors — we've got a whole guide to screen-free rainy day activities for kids to keep you covered.
11. Visit Free Local Attractions
Most areas of the UK have free or low-cost attractions that are perfect for a summer day out — local museums, nature reserves, parks, beaches, and libraries. Many run free holiday activity programmes too. Check your local council website or Visit England for ideas near you.
12. Build a Summer Bucket List Together
Sit down with your children at the start of the holidays and write a summer bucket list together. Include a mix of big things (a day trip to the seaside) and small things (have a picnic in the garden, make homemade lemonade, stay up to watch the sunset). Tick things off as you go — children love the sense of achievement, and it gives the holidays a sense of purpose and adventure.
13. Introduce Kids to Planning and To-Do Lists
The summer holidays are a brilliant time to introduce children to the satisfying habit of planning their own day. Give each child a simple sheet of paper — or a printable daily planner — and ask them to write three things they want to do today. It could be "finish my colouring book", "bake biscuits with Mum", or "play in the garden for an hour".
Children as young as 5 can get involved with picture-based to-do lists, while older children can write full daily schedules, set goals for the week, or plan a mini project. It builds organisational skills, gives them a sense of control over their day, and — brilliantly — reduces the "I'm bored" complaints because they've already decided what they're doing.
Try a simple format: 3 things to do today, 1 thing I'm looking forward to, and 1 thing I'm grateful for. It takes five minutes and sets a positive, purposeful tone for the day. The Young Minds charity highlights the benefits of routine and structure for children's wellbeing — and a simple daily planner is one of the easiest ways to provide that.
Our printable kids' daily planners are ready to download and use straight away:
- 👉 Football Kids Daily Planner — 8 task spaces, priorities, reminders and notes. Perfect for football-mad kids aged 5–12.
- 👉 Heart Kids Daily Planner — 6 task spaces, wish list, grateful for and notes. Lovely for building mindfulness alongside daily planning.
Tips for a Screen-Free Summer
- Set clear expectations early — agree screen time rules at the start of the holidays so there's no daily negotiation
- Have a "boredom box" — fill a box with activity ideas, craft supplies, and printables that children can raid when they're stuck
- Get outside every day — even 20 minutes of fresh air makes a difference to mood and energy levels
- Involve children in planning — children are more engaged with activities they've helped choose
- Don't aim for perfection — some screen time is fine; the goal is balance, not elimination
Frequently Asked Questions
How much screen time is too much for children in the summer?
The NHS and most child development experts recommend no more than 1–2 hours of recreational screen time per day for children aged 5 and over. For children under 2, screen time (other than video calls) is generally not recommended. That said, quality matters as much as quantity — educational content is very different from passive scrolling.
What can I do with kids on a rainy summer day without screens?
Rainy days are perfect for baking, board games, arts and crafts, building dens, reading, journaling, and printable activity sheets. Having a ready-made "rainy day box" of supplies and printables means you're never caught out. For a full list of ideas, check out our dedicated guide: 7 Screen-Free Ways to Entertain Kids on a Rainy Day.
How do I stop my child asking for screens all the time?
The most effective approach is to make screen-free activities genuinely appealing — not just a punishment for not having screens. Involve children in choosing activities, keep a variety of options available, and try to do some activities alongside them rather than just setting them up independently.
Are printable activity sheets good for summer holidays?
Absolutely. Printable sheets are one of the most versatile and cost-effective tools for summer entertainment. You can print colouring pages, puzzles, drawing challenges, and light learning activities in minutes, and children can work through them at their own pace. They're brilliant for car journeys, quiet afternoons, and rainy days.
How do I keep children learning over summer without it feeling like school?
Keep sessions short (10–15 minutes), frame them as special activities rather than homework, and choose resources that feel fun rather than formal. Tracing, colouring, and simple number games are all great ways to maintain skills without the pressure of a school environment.
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