Top 10 Free Printable Resources to Help You Entertain the Kids This Summer

Keeping kids entertained is one the biggest struggles as a mum – you want them to be stimulated, educated and have fun doing it! It’s a big task for many of us, especially when it’s is multiplied by two, three or four kids.

The summer holidays are a dream for kids and a stress-bearer for all the mummies out there. The pennies can only stretch so far when it comes to days out, activities and treats.

Here are a few top tips for entertaining those little ones on a rainy day, all for the price of some printer paper!

1.     Colouring Pages
   A classic for kids of all ages.  Who am I kidding? I still love colouring now! You can find so many different colouring pages online nowadays in whatever theme your little ones are into. You can often find colouring pages on their favourite TV channel’s website emblazoned with their latest obsession. Take it from me; you’ll be the greatest mum in the world! This is also so much easier than buying a colouring book that only gets used once or twice and then takes up heaps of room.
2.       Word searches
   You can find hundreds of printable word searches online with any subject topic. This is a great long journey activity for in the back of the car and also an easy thing to pop in your handbag to keep small minds busy whilst you’re running any errands such as a visit to the dentist.
3.      Make & Do; Weather Station

A bigger, perhaps more challenging project for the craftier child where they can give you a daily weather report! This is great to encourage them to describe things with fun sliders and dials and they might even be able to use it for when they get back to school in their ‘What I Did in The Holidays’ project. Major mummy points from the teachers for you!

4.     Printable Games

Play ‘Who’s on The Bus?’ on a rainy day with this cute printable game. If you’re able to laminate it, I would do, as it’ll last much longer. This would also be great, if laminated to take in the car on long journeys or on a picnic to keep them out of trouble and away from muddy puddles and grass stains.

5.       Reward Charts

This one isn’t so much for the kids as it is for you, but grab a themed one that they’ll love and they might be more inclined to want to get the stickers on it. Great for you as you get beautifully behaved children for as long as it takes for them to get bored!

6.       Learn to Draw

There are tons of these useful learn to draw sheets online in a variety of subjects, they are suitable for most ages and are great if you aren’t the artiest mummy around! Kids love to draw but if you can’t, they can sometimes get disappointed. Let these useful sheets take away the embarrassment of them asking whether your horse is in fact a car!

7.       Worksheets & Activity Packs

I don’t know about your kids, but when I was little I loved answering questions and filling in quiz sheets! If they are just the same, try this great Zebra Activity Pack. It’s jam-packed full of fact cards, a worksheet, a song to learn and a ‘Know, Want, Learn’ chart to document their learning.
Overload on the learning curve with these Bug Trivia Cards, guaranteed to teach them something that will make them say “wow!”, they’ll also have tons of fun with the puppet sticks too.

8.      Printable Masks

Perfect for the play that they’re making up or to use for a fun birthday game, print off some masks, either already coloured or ready to be coloured and watch their imagination run wild.

9.       Animal Story Paper

For your younger ones who are just getting into writing stories, give them a topic to write about with this cute animal story paper. It even has a picture for them to colour in at the top. Perfect for those “I’m bored, mummy!” moments that happen on all rainy days.

10.    Make & Do; Russian Dolls

These come in twos or threes and already coloured in or with just the outline drawn ready for little crayons to attack them. With printing, colouring, cutting, building and stacking there is plenty to do here, this is a project that will keep slightly older children amused for an hour or so.

Do you think your kids would like any of these activities? Let me know if you have any other great free printables in the comments below.

Estelle Page is an interior designer and mother and she also writes for Printer Basics whilst simultaneously trying to entertain two excitable children.

Kids painting (Photo credit: BarelyFitz)