If you are looking for ideas for entertaining things to do this summer with the kids, then hopefully this list will help inspire you!

Taking your child out for a cake or a sticky bun in a café is a nice way to show them how to behave in that situation.

Do some people watching together or play some games while you are waiting for your treats to arrive.

My top tip is to bring some colouring pencils or crayons and either sheets or a colouring book to keep them occupied too.

Remember family or girl guide/scout singalongs? Why not organise a sing along of your own with some favourite songs?

Teach your kids some easy rounds such as Three Blind Mice and London Bridge is Falling Down. When I was younger my family used to love singing a round song called Why Doesn’t My Goose and we’d end up rolling around laughing.

If you need some inspiration then Cerys Matthews’ book Hook Line and Singer was designed exactly for families to remember some old song favourites. Or make some quick and easy instruments and set up your own Family Orchestra!

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Pitch a tent and camp out in the garden overnight. Tuck in your sleeping bags, extra blankets and pillows, a torch/flashlight, some treats for midnight snack and prepare to tell each other stories as the night draws in.

(And the great thing about camping out in the garden is you can always sneak back to your comfortable beds in the night if you want!)

Find a clear, open area – make sure to stay away from roads, power lines or airports. Open fields, parks and beaches are great for flying kites. The more room you have, the more line you can let out.

Make sure there’s a breeze going, you don’t want the wind to be too strong. There are some great tips on the National Kite Month website.

Pick a day where there are blue skies with clouds and head to a park or hill to lie down and do some cloud watching.

The Met Office has a great guide to cloud spotting with all the 10 main types of clouds and how to spot them and pronounce their names.

Pancakes aren’t just for Pancake Day! Whip up a batch of pancakes and have some brunch or lunch together.

Kids love mixing and pancake batter is one of the easiest recipes to throw together. Plus you can choose some fun toppings and add in fruit to the mix too if you want to get some extra vitamins and fibre.

Or make mini pancakes and stack them up with some fruit for fun pancake stacks.

We love to pick a movie to watch, maybe an old one we haven’t seen for a while or something different that we haven’t watched before. For some new ideas, check out Classic Films to Watch with Kids and 50 of the Best Family Movies of all time.

Set up your home cinema and print off your movie tickets while you organise some popcorn.

Why not get out all of your board games and have a board game tournament?

As well as the top 10 best board games recommended by Mykidstime parents, you could also go the cards route and play some card games together.

When was the last time you climbed a big hill? And then ran down it pretending to be airplanes? It’s fun!

An easy fun summer activity is to plant some seeds and watch them grow. Cress or salad leaves are quick and will usually start showing within a day or two and be ready to pick within 2-3 weeks. Or try growing sunflowers and get the kids to check them every week as they get taller and taller.

Kids are often more inclined to try veggies they have grown themselves too.

Kids love hunting and they love the idea of “treasure” so have some fun with a treasure hunt.

Here are some ideas to get you going: setting up a treasure hunt, holding an indoor treasure hunt and a fun FREE activity treasure hunt for kids. Or head outdoors and do some Geocaching!

Teach your child these tongue twisters for kids and they will be rolling around with laughter trying to master them! Once they finally manage to get their tongue round the twister, they can go to their friend’s or grandparents’ house and inflict (I mean, teach) the rhymes to others!

We love playing Bingo. Check out this fun Summer Bingo with free printables from Vanessa from Our Thrifty Ideas available on the Designdazzle.com website. The Bingo package comes with 4 sheets including 6 playing cards (2 per page) and one sheet that has the calling cards.

Or make your own Bingo – you just need squares of paper or card with a grid and fun symbols or numbers that the bingo caller can call out for people to match.

Has your child ever seen The Flintstones, Top Cat or Captain Caveman? How about Hong Kong Phooey or Dangermouse? Have some fun watching old cartoons on YouTube together!

Whip up a batch of Big Bubbles mix and head outdoors for some bubble-tastic fun!

Nothing says summer more than heading to the beach for a paddle in the sea. Pack up the car with picnic, bucket and spade, towels and don’t forget the talcum powder to get the sand off before you all climb back in the car!

In my experience, kids love cooking. I prepare the ingredients a little ahead of time, make sure the butter is out of the fridge and that I have the ingredients and kitchen items that we need out on the counter ready for cooking.

My biggest problem is keeping calm over the mess, but these tips on stress-free cooking with kids have helped! (and reminding myself that it’s only mess and I can clean up afterwards. A glass of milk with warm cookies or fairy cakes become even more of a treat when you have made them yourself.

While you wait for your baking to appear out of the oven why not have a good dance?!

One of my favourite things to do with my daughters is to put on Spotify and play our favourite song playlist and bop around the kitchen. It’s fun, free and a great rainy day activity when everyone is starting to feel a bit stir crazy.

Make up a picnic and head to your nearest woods or forest. Make the walk interactive by singing songs or looking for signs of nature and animals. Bring home some leaves to do leaf rubbings at home with crayons and paper.

Here are some of our fun Scavenger Hunt lists that you can download and print.

The library is a wonderful place to visit together and to choose a book (or 3 or 7!) to take home and read together. Our local library also holds events for children and storytelling for smaller kids. If you need help picking books for different ages of children, the librarians are always happy to help.

Check out these summer reading challenges for book ideas and tips too.