If you’re looking for some low-prep, fun, summer activities for toddlers and preschoolers, then you’re in the right place! Today, I’m sharing 11 fun, summer activities for toddlers and preschoolers that will help support your child’s development, as they learn through play. 

This post is part of a series of themed activities for toddlers and preschoolers, so be sure to check out my other themed toddler and preschool activities here. 

All of the activities listed below are available in the summer unit of my Tiny Tots Toddler Curriculum, which is a play-based curriculum for toddlers and preschoolers ages 18 months – 3 years. 

You can check out this video for more information. 

View these activities in action in this video! 

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Summer-Themed Books

Here are some of our favorite summer-themed books! 

• Biscuit’s First Beach Day By: Alyssa Satin Capucilli
• Curious George: Curious About Summer By: Cynthia Platt
• Llama Llama Sand and Sun By: Anna Dewdney
• Hello World! Ocean Life By Jill McDonald
• Daniel’s Day at the Beach By: Becky Friedman

Summer Fine Motor Activities

These fine motor activities will help to strengthen the muscles in your child’s little hands and fingers. 

Sandpaper Sandcastles

First up we have magnetic sandpaper sandcastles. These are so fun and easy to make. 

Start by gathering some fine grit sandpaper, then flip it over and draw various shapes on the back before cutting them out. 

Take some self-adhesive magnet sheets and cut out some pieces to adhere to the back of your sandcastle shapes. 

We wound up using some rolled up magnets, which I don’t recommend because they kept coming up off of the paper, but if that’s all you have then you can just hot glue the ends down to help them stay better. 

I used a cookie sheet for this activity, but you can use any type of magnetic surface that you’d like. Allow your child to use the pieces to build different sandcastle creations. 

This is a great way to enhance fine motor skills, as well as spark creativity and problem-solving skills in your child. 

Feed the Shark

I love activities where you have to “feed” an animal. Guess what? Kids do too! 

This “feed the shark” activity is a fun summer-themed activity that will help to increase fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination. 

This activity is from the summer unit of my Tiny Tots Toddler Curriculum. What makes this curriculum unique is that it’s differentiated into 3 different levels (Orange, Purple, and Green) in order to meet your child’s readiness level. 

For the first level, or the Orange level, your child simply has to feed the different fish to the shark, which will strengthen their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. 

If your child needs more of a challenge, then follow the directions for the Purple level. For this level, you can call out a particular color of fish and have your child feed that color fish to the shark. 

If your child needs even MORE of a challenge, I have numbers printed on the fish for the Green level. Have your child look at one of the numbers on the fish and identify the number before he/she feeds it to the shark OR you can call out a number and have he/she find it before feeding it to the shark. 

Pipe Cleaner Fishing 

This next activity is so simple and fun for your little one. All you need are some different colored pipe cleaners and a mason jar, or another clear container. 

Start by twisting some pipe cleaners into the shape of fish. Take a different colored pipe cleaner and bend the bottom into a hook shape. 

Add one fish to the jar and show your child how to use the hook to scoop it out. 

Once he/she gets the hang of this, you can make this a little more challenging by adding more fish to the jar. 

Luke loved this activity and was concentrating really hard to hook the fish and get them out of the jar. 

I also grabbed a magnet wand and let him explore with that as well, so feel free to switch it up or put your own twist on this activity. 

Summer Sensory Activities 

Sensory activities have so many benefits for your child’s development – plus they are always SUPER fun – so I always include them in my units. 

Sand Painting

This sand painting activity is simple and adds a fun sensory element to ordinary painting. 

Pour different colored washable paint into some cups. Add some sand to the cups and stir them up, so the sand is mixed into the paint. 

Have your child use a brush or his/her fingers to paint freely onto the paper. 

I wanted to let Luke do a mixture of both so that he could feel the sand with his fingers as he was painting. He absolutely LOVED this activity and exploring the texture of the sand between his fingers.

The paint will cause the sand to stick to the paper when it dries, so you can have your child run his/her fingers over it again to feel the texture of the sand at that time as well. 

I would definitely opt for doing this one outside if you can. 

Unfortunately it was raining the day I filmed this, so we had to keep it inside. It honestly wasn’t as messy as I thought it would be, but it definitely CAN be, so that’s just something to keep in mind. 

Shell Cleaning 

This shell cleaning activity is such a fun theme for a sensory bin. I’d definitely advise taking this one outside if possible because with the sand and the water, things get MESSY. 

I used our Ikea Flisat Sensory table (which I LOVE, by the way and highly recommend if you’re looking for a versatile sensory table).  

I set up one bin with sand, shells, and a paintbrush and the other with soapy water, a toothbrush for cleaning and some of these little blue rocks. 

I showed Luke how to dig the shells out of the sandy side, brush them off, then clean them with the toothbrush and the water – which he did, a little bit. He mostly liked exploring the different objects and playing in the water and sand, which is the whole point of a sensory bin!  

I love providing different materials in themed sensory bins like this and watching Luke explore! Children benefit so much from this type of exploratory, free play! 

Summer Gross Motor Activities

Gross motor activities are super important for your child’s development of large muscle groups; specifically, arms, legs and torso.

Fish Bean Bag Toss

This fish bean bag toss is a great way to get those arms moving, plus it’s super easy to set up. I printed these fish printables from my summer unit and taped them to some bean bags. 

You can do this outside, but unfortunately the week I was filming these activities it rained, so we did it inside. 

I took a large bowl and had Luke toss the bean bags into the bowl. You can also use a hula hoop or whatever other kind of target you’d like. 

Luke has a habit of running up to the bowl and dropping things in, so just go with the flow of whatever your toddler wants to do. 

Sponge Relay

This is a great, classic activity for a hot summer day. A sponge relay will help your child work gross motor muscle groups and fine motor muscle groups at the same time, while having fun with water! 

Set up two buckets on opposite ends of your yard. Start with one filled with water and one empty. 

Model for your child how to soak the sponge with water before running it to the other bucket and squeezing it out. Encourage your toddler to keep repeating this to fill up the opposite bucket with water. 

If you’re looking for ways to extend this activity, some ideas are: 

• Set up different colored sponges and buckets and have your child match the sponges to the same colored buckets. For example, run the green sponge to the green bucket and the red sponge to the red bucket. 
• Have your child count how many times he/she needs to squeeze the sponge to fill the empty bucket.
• Have your child get to the other bucket in different ways, such as hopping, crawling, walking backward, running, etc.

Summer Cognitive Activities

Cognitive development has to do with anything that makes children think, explore, problem solve, and figure things out in the world around them. 

Exploring Shells 

Exploring shells is a fun, open ended, science activity that’s perfect for your little explorer. 

Fill a small, shallow tray with a thin layer of sand and then place some different shells in there along with a magnifying glass and a brush. 

Like I said, this is an open-ended activity, so allow your little one to just explore! 

You can spark some conversation and encourage language and vocabulary development during this activity by talking to your child about what they see and asking him/her questions. 

You can ask things like:

“How do the shells feel? Are they smooth? Bumpy?”

“What colors do you see?”

“Can you find me a big shell? How about a small one?”   

Summer Color Sorting

Sorting activities are great for improving your child’s cognitive development. 

I printed the color sorting activity from my Tiny Tots Summer Unit, so if you’re using this one, have your child match the fish to the correct color bowl. 

Alternatively, you can also paint some shells and use construction paper as sorting mats to have your child sort the shells by color. 

If your child needs more of a challenge, you can gather some different sized shells and have him/her sort them by size. 

Summer Art Activities

Tin Foil Sensory Painting 

Tin foil adds an awesome sensory element to this art project! You simply wrap some tin foil around a piece of cardboard and have your toddler paint the whole thing blue. 

Once it’s dry, have your child add some ocean animal stickers to it! So easy! It came out super cute and Luke really enjoyed it.

It’s so fun for toddlers to paint the shiny tin foil and hear it crinkle as the brush goes over it. 

I loved these Ocean stickers because of how real and detailed they looked, but I realized afterward that they are reusable stickers, so they didn’t adhere super well. Just something to keep in mind if you’re planning on saving this art project.

Popsicle Craft

Another super easy summer-themed art activity is this popsicle craft. I grabbed some pieces of felt, but you can use construction paper or brightly colored cardstock as well. 

I traced and cut out the 2 popsicle outlines, then had Luke decorate them with some pom-poms and glitter before gluing them onto large craft sticks!

If your child can cut, then you can have them do that part as well, but Luke isn’t quite there yet.    

For more summer-themed activities for toddlers and preschoolers, check out my Tiny Tots Summer Unit here! It includes all of these activities, and MORE and it’s perfect for fighting summer boredom and keeping those little brains learning. 

For more themed activities for toddlers and preschoolers, check out these posts: 

• 12 Awesome Bug Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
• 13 Fun and Exciting Spring Activities for Toddlers