View More Summer Activities, Crafts, and Games

Have a 4th of July Parade
Have children decorate tricycles, bicycles, wagons, and other pulling toys for a parade. Here are some fun decorating ideas:

• weave red, white, blue crepe paper through wheel spokes
• tie red, white, and blue balloons, streamers, or ribbons to handlebars

• make a wagon float
• tie tin cans and tin pie plates to the back of wagons and tricycles to make lots of noise
  
  

Note: Make sure that decorations are attached to vehicles in such a way that they do cause a hazard.

Children who do not have a vehicle can march in the parade. Let them make batons to twirl as they march. To make the batons, decorate a paper towel tube with red, white, and blue stars and glitter. Add a large red, white, or blue star made from cardstock to each end of the tube. Glue red, white, and blue streamers to the stars.

Outdoor Play

Here is a list of unconventional equipment to develop gross motor skills in young children:

Balance Beam
Mark lines on the floor, lay a piece of rope on the floor, or use boards to make a great and easy low balance beam.

Beanbags
You can easily make the beanbags yourself out of old socks or nylon. Fill them with beans and decorate with non-toxic permanent markers. Tie with a rubber band.

Bat and Ball
Attach an elastic rope to a Whiffle® ball and hang from a tree. Use a plastic bat to hit the dangling ball.

City and Roads

Use chalk to draw a city on your sidewalk. Draw roads and homes and let children ride their bikes, pretend to be cars, or pull wagons through the streets to their “homes.”

More summer outdoor games and parachute games