Summer Activities That Burn Off Energy Without Burning You Out

Summer is a long stretch of unstructured days, and your child seems to have enough energy to fill every one of them. You don't have the same reserves, especially after a short night and an early start. With school out and the therapy schedule on pause, the gap between what your child needs and what you can provide gets pretty wide.

This gap tends to be largest for kids with a lot of built-in energy — sensory seekers, kids with ADHD who crave lots of movement, kids with autism who regulate best through repetitive physical activity. The right setup gives that energy somewhere to go instead of trying to tamp it down. 

The good news: you don't have to match their energy to give it an outlet. If you set an activity up well, your child gets a release while you stay in your chair. Check out the ideas below - most use items you already have at home, and they don't need you to keep things going once they're started.

‍Keep it Easy

A good low effort activity fits three criteria:

• You set it up once. The work happens up front, and then the activity runs on its own instead of needing you to restart it every few minutes.
• It holds kids’ attention without you. You're not refereeing or narrating the whole time.
• You can watch from a distance – a chair, a shaded step, or the kitchen window, rather than standing beside it.

None of this means unsupervised, though. You're doing less directing, but you're still watching. That's especially true around water activities, where you stay close no matter how calm things look.

Things can get easier, starting today.

Looking for support for the whole family? Our Siblings Are Special Too guide shares ten grounded, actionable ways to support siblings with sensitivity.

The Fun List‍

You know your kids best — pick what fits, adjust where you need to, and let them run with it.

‍Water play

A little water goes a long way on a hot afternoon.

• Reusable sponge bombs. Cut a few sponges into strips and bundle them with a hair tie, then soak them in a bucket. They work like water balloons, but there's no need to fill balloons or clean up popped pieces.
• Sponge target toss. Draw circles on the driveway or fence with sidewalk chalk and give each circle a point value. Kids soak a sponge and aim, and the wet mark shows the score. If your child does better with a clear finish, play to a set number of points so there's an obvious end without you having to call it.
• Drip, Drip, Drench. It's Duck-Duck-Goose, except whoever's "it" carries a wet sponge and squeezes it over the head of the person they pick. A small spray bottle works just as well and is easier for little hands. Once kids know how it goes, they can run it themselves.
• Frozen treasure dig. Freeze small toys in a bin of water overnight, or freeze one or two toys in each cup of a muffin tin to get several smaller ice blocks instead of one big one. In the morning, give your child the block of ice, a few cups of warm water, and some tools to dig with - a spoon, a mini rolling pin, or anything that works as a hammer. The warm water melts and weakens the ice so it cracks and loosens its grip on the toys, and the tools chip away the softened chunks until each one comes free. It buys you a surprisingly long stretch of quiet.
• Backyard car wash. Hand over a bucket of soapy water and some sponges and let kids wash their bikes, trikes, scooters, or a pile of toy cars. A child who likes having a real job to do will often stick with it for a while.
• Sprinkler games. For the sprinkler version of “Red light, green light,” park the sprinkler in the running path so kids get sprayed on the way to the finish line. For sprinkler limbo, hold a pool noodle as the bar with the sprinkler running behind it, and lower the noodle each round. 
• Water "painting." Give your children a bucket of plain water and a few paintbrushes, and set them loose on the fence, the deck, or the sidewalk. It looks like real painting to them, and there’s nothing to wipe up afterwards.
• Spray-bottle art. Add a little watered-down paint to a spray bottle and let kids mist a sheet of paper taped to the fence. The misting is easy on small hands, and the mess stays contained.

No water needed

For the days you'd rather skip the wet clothes and towels.

• The challenge deck. Fill a stack of index cards with one movement task each: three jumps on the trampoline, ten jumping jacks, hop the length of the driveway and back, cross the monkey bars, spin around five times. Your child draws three cards and does them in order, then draws again for the next round. The deck decides what comes next, so you don't have to. You can tailor the cards to fit any age, stage, and ability, like reach for the sky ten times, roll a ball back and forth five times, march in place to a song, or pop five bubbles. Slip in a calm-down card or two, like "take five deep breaths" or "get a drink of water," for a child who tends to ramp up.
• A chalk course. Draw a hopscotch grid, a wavy line to walk heel-to-toe, a row of shapes to jump between, or a road with lanes and stop signs for bikes, scooters, and wheelchairs to follow. It holds up the whole afternoon.
• A bubble station. Duct-tape a tube of bubble solution to a fence post or an outside wall so kids can redip their wands independently without spilling. This one works from a chair too, so a child who prefers to stay seated or uses a wheelchair isn't left out.

Indoor days need fun too, and these activities won't wreck the house.

• Painter's-tape floor games. A roll of painter's tape turns a hallway or playroom into a hopscotch grid, a balance beam to walk heel-to-toe, a river to jump across, or a road for toy cars. It peels up without leaving residue and costs next to nothing.
• Balloon keep-it-up. One balloon, one rule: don't let it touch the floor. It moves slowly enough that a child who needs more time to track and reach can stay in the game.
• Freeze dance. Put on music and call out "freeze" every so often. Some kids find fast freeze-go-freeze-go patterns hilarious.
• Helper jobs that double as heavy work. Pushing a loaded laundry basket across the floor, carrying a stack of books from one room to another, spraying and wiping down a table are all great ways to fill time. The pushing and lifting has a calming effect on a lot of restless, sensory-seeking kids, and the work actually helps you out.

Enjoy the break

You spend most of your time making sure your child has what they need. So when an afternoon activity is a hit and you finally get off your feet, enjoy every minute. You've more than earned it.

Hamaspik provides services and support to individuals and families with behavioral or developmental challenges.

If you're navigating your child’s disabilities, reach out to our team to find out if you might qualify for services.