Many of us got a jumpstart on summer this year, with kids out of school early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This season will look a bit different than the summertime days of years past, but there’s still plenty of family fun to be found. Whether you’re seeking at-home activities or safe adventures away from home, find something for everyone with these 100+ ideas for summer fun!

Editor’s note: Due to COVID-19 precautions, some of the following events and venues may have adjusted their hours or programming. Please check with each venue directly to verify.

1. Host a family game night with homemade prizes for the winner. Find reader-recommended family games at metrofamilymagazine.com/family-board-games.
2. Make a crown or bracelet with items found in your backyard.
3. Set up a canned food drive on your front porch and invite friends and family to make donations. Donate items collected to your local food bank or pantry.
4. Check out an audiobook from metrolibrary.org for your family to enjoy together.
5. Pick summer produce at a local farm, many operating by appointment. Find our favorites at metrofamilymagazine.com/okc-pick-your-own-farms.
6. Have a cartwheel contest.
7. Take a stroll in OKC’s new Scissortail Park. Sail across the lake in a pedal boat and check out the unique play equipment and water features, scheduled to reopen June 1.
8. Research famous portrait artists, then recreate your favorite painting by dressing up like the subject!
9. Paint with vegetables and fruits. Simply cut, dip and paint to see what kinds of patterns you can create. Find more crafts with unexpected materials at metrofamilymagazine.com/bypass-the-brush.
10. Make an obstacle course in your backyard.
11. Until we can see the giant dinosaurs at the Sam Noble Museum in person again, check out interactive STEM activities, coloring pages and educational videos at samnoblemuseum.ou.edu/stemactivities.
12. Take a socially distant trip to John’s Farms in Fairview where you can enjoy a self-guided tour of the working ranch and wide-open spaces. Find out more at johnsfarm.com.
13. Get growing by starting a garden. Find tips at metrofamilymagazine.com/teaching-kids-to-garden.
14. Write a short play and assign each family member a part (or several parts!) to act out.
15. Take a nature walk. Find an outdoor scavenger hunt of things to spot at metrofamilymagazine.com/outdoor-scavenger-hunt.
16. Have each kid create a recipe, or one kid create multiple recipes, and have other family members choose their favorite.
17. Make a masterpiece with shaving cream! This fun activity makes everyone feellike an accomplished artist, kids and adults alike.
18. Craft a homemade bird feeder, then categorize and count the birds you see visit it.
19. Experience the heyday of Oklahoma cattle drives from home! Watch weekly lessons about the animals and people that called the trail home, enjoy story time and meet artists showcasing pieces about
    the American West from Duncan’s Chisholm Trail Heritage Center at onthechisholmtrail.com.
20. Build a fort and have a movie night. Find MetroFamily favorite movies from each decade at metrofamilymagazine.com/familyfriendly-flicks-by-decade.
21. Take a virtual vacation to a destination such as Niagara Falls. Find our recs at metrofamilymagazine.com/virtualvacations.
22. Draw your toys outside using the shadow technique.
23. Create graffiti chalk art with messages of hope on your sidewalk or driveway, then make plans to visit OKCMOA’s upcoming exhibit POP Power, featuring artist Keith Haring, whose signature style is inspired
    by graffiti art.
24. Take a twilight family walk with glow sticks.
25. Get your kid-preneur juices flowing by starting your own business. Check out advice from other kid business owners at metrofamilymagazine.com/raisingokc-kids.
26. Talk like a pirate all day.
27. Head west to El Reno to enjoy a famous fried onion burger. The burgers originated during the depression in the 1920s as a way to stretch expensive meat by adding onions.
28. Then check out the wide-open spaces of historic Fort Reno, which is currently taking appointments to visit the Visitor’s Center and Museum.
29. Check out a local disc golf course. Find metro favorites at metrofamilymagazine.com/disc-golf-courses-in-the-metro.
30. Visit a local farmer’s market and plan a meal involving your finds. Find our metro favorites with social distancing guidelines in place at metrofamilymagazine.com/farmers-markets-in-the-metro-area.
31. Go fishing!
32. Make a bleach art t-shirt! Decorate a t-shirt using bleach and stencils with images of your choosing, perhaps stars and stripes for the Fourth of July. The folks at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum are kind of partial to Western imagery!
33. Write letters or draw pictures to mail to grandparents or relatives.
34. Download a kid-friendly podcast or check out a new YouTube channel. Find our kid recs at metrofamilymagazine.com/kid-friendly-podcasts-and-youtube-channels.
35. Explore the grounds of the Myriad Botanical Gardens and count how many different plant species you can identify (look for the helpful labels!)
36. While at the Myriad, enjoy more free fun playing in the Children’s Garden and Thunder Fountain, both scheduled to reopen June 1.
37. Stir up summer science fun with a variety of simple experiments at metrofamilymagazine.com/category/simple-science.
38. Build a little library and stock it with books to share with friends and neighbors.
39. Ride bikes as a family.
40. Hunt for dinosaur tracks near Black Mesa State Park.
41. Experience Stillwater’s National Wrestling Hall of Fame virtually by watching videos of the sport’s best at www.youtube.com/user/NWHOF/videos.
42. Create your own Independence Day parade! Decorate your bike, scooter or wagon and take a spin around your neighborhood.
43. Take a drive through the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, located near Pawhuska, to check out the majestic bison herd and variety of birds and other wildlife that call the preserve home.
44. Pack a picnic to enjoy at your favorite local park.
45. Go geocaching.
46. Celebrate the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice, on June 20 by soaking up some sunshine. Don’t forget your sunscreen!
47. Dig for hourglass selenite crystals at Great Salt Plains State Park, the only place in the world the crystals can be found.
48. Use grass, leaves, sticks and a bit of yarn to create your own natural paintbrushes with this #AtHomeArt project.
49. Float the waters of the Illinois River near Tahlequah. Find our tips to float with kids at metrofamilymagazine.com/prime-oklahoma-vacation-spots-in-2020.
50. Paint a picture on your sidewalk with water and paint brushes. Snap a photo. When it disappears, create another!
51. Host a backyard camp-out play date, without all the fuss!
52. Enjoy an urban adventure at a local futsal, basketball, bocce ball or bike park. Check for up-to-date information on when these parks will reopen in our guide at metrofamilymagazine.com/okc-outdoor-urban-adventure-guide.
53.  Create your own art show! Choose one medium or several to make your artwork, label each piece with a title and invite your family members to view them. Snack serving optional!
54. Research how Ferris wheels use physics and centripetal force to work, then head to the Wheeler District for a ride on the Wheeler Ferris Wheel, and get an iconic selfie with the giant OKC letters, once reopened.
55. Host a family talent show.
56. Plan a hike with the payoff of a spectacular view. Check out five fabulous Oklahoma hikes featuring waterfalls at metrofamilymagazine.com/5-fabulous-waterfall-hikes-in-oklahoma.
57.  Try a new twist on water balloon fights by making sponge bombs. Find out how at metrofamilymagazine.com/slide-into-summer-fun.
58. Spend time stargazing. Get tips from Science Museum Oklahoma’s #SMOAtHome series at facebook.com/ScienceMuseumOk.
59. Make yummy mummy dogs!
60. Experience Oklahoma of the past in interactive school, bank, grocery store and cabin vignettes at the Edmond Historical Society & Museum, scheduled to reopen in June.
61. Order caterpillars online and follow the instructions to watch them turn into butterflies.
62. Create an adventure box around a subject you’d like to learn more about. Find our tips to get started at metrofamilymagazine.com/summer-adventure-boxes-by-jennifer.
63. Take part in a local virtual story time program until they can be held in person again. Find our readers’ favorites at metrofamilymagazine.com/story-times-in-the-okc-metro.
64. Run through the sprinklers.
65. Make bubble art. Find tips at metrofamilymagazine.com/slide-into-summer-fun.
66. Make a rocket fueled by water and dish soap to fuel your STEAM learning until Science Museum Oklahoma reopens later this summer. Check out all the #SMOatHome experiments, story times and tutorials at facebook.com/ScienceMuseumOk.
67. Craft a beautiful bouquet out of coffee filters!
68. Take a free tour of public art around the metro. Find our favorites at metrofamilymagazine.com/must-see-murals-in-okc.
69.  Have a bubble blowing contest.
70. Create a compost pile or bin in your backyard.
71. Take a day to plan random acts of kindness as a family.
72. Learn about the benefits of ladybugs, then purchase some to set free in your own yard.
73. Pick up a meal from your favorite locally-owned restaurant to enjoy al fresco.
74. Learn to roller skate.
75. Say hi to your favorite OKC Zoo animals on the Outdoor Safari Walk, a socially distant, one-way trail through zoo.
76. Rent a kayak or paddle board through RIVERSPORT in the Boathouse District downtown, on Lake Overholser or Lake Hefner.
77. Then, fly high on the SandRidge Trail and Sky Zip, rush the rapids and (NEW this summer!) surf the waves at RIVERSPORT Adventures. Most activities are scheduled to open in June, but check riversportokc.org for the latest details. 
78. Make homemade ice cream.
79. Plan your mission to space in preparation for the Oklahoma History Center’s From Launch to Landing: Oklahomans in Space exhibit, coming this fall.
80. Take a road trip to Sulphur to hike the trails at the Chickasaw National Recreation Center. Stop by Bedre Fine Chocolate to watch sweet treats being made.
81. Grab a decorate-your-own tasty confections kit from a local bakery like Katiebugs Sips & Sweets.
82. Take a trip back in time to a metro drive-in theater. Check out local favorites at metrofamilymagazine.com/6-drive-in-movie-theaters-in-oklahoma.
83. Climb a tree.
84. Research Oklahoma’s state bird, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, then make a hanging mobile. Find instructions at metrofamilymagazine.com/mobile-bird-hangings.
85. Transform into a territorial Oklahoma kid! Find out what life was like when Oklahoma City was getting established in the 1890s with these fun activities.
86. Learn what it means to portray the Oklahoma Standard at oklahomastandard.com and make a list of ways your family can show up to serve, rise up to honor and step up to be kind. When the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum reopens, plan a visit to commemorate this 25th anniversary year of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building to remember those lost, those who survived and those changed forever.
87. Enjoy a day trip to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge in Lawton. Get tips for your visit at metrofamilymagazine.com/lawton-long-weekend.
88.  Read to a furry friend through the Metro Library’s Reading to Dogs program, offered virtually throughout the summer. Visit metrolibrary.org for details.
89. Become a citizen scientist by creating your own mammal feeder!
90. Enjoy a snow cone. Find our readers’ favorite stands at metrofamilymagazine.com/reader-picks-best-snow-cones-in-okc.
91. Find out-of-this-world adventure in Weatherford at the Stafford Air & Space Museum.
92. Unwrap and melt the broken pieces of your old crayons to make new ones. Find instructions at metrofamilymagazine.com/3-diy-ideas-for-indoorwinter-fun.
93. Pick up everything you need to get crafty at home with Unpluggits Paint & Play’s to-go kits.
94. Learn how to say hello in several Native languages.
95. Check out one of OKC’s many free museums — including the Rattlesnake Museum! Find a full list at metrofamilymagazine.com/free-museums-in-okc.
96. Give back by making healthy snack packs for the toddlers served by Infant Crisis Services. Visit infantcrisis.org/volunteer for the Micro-Volunteer (Volunteer from Home) opportunity to learn what to include in your packs.
97. Bee kind to your local pollinators! Pollinators play an important role in our ecosystem. Learn how you can help!
98. Research the history of The Guardian, the bronze sculpture depicting an American Indian man atop Oklahoma’s Capitol building. Then take a drive to see it in person.
99. Learn about the history of the banjo and enjoy toe-tapping, knee-slapping virtual concerts by OKC’s American Banjo Museum until the attraction reopens at americanbanjomuseum.com.
100.  Find socially distant waterfront fun at one of Oklahoma’s best “beaches.” Find our favorites at metrofamilymagazine.com/best-beaches-in-oklahoma.
101.  Make mud pies.
102. Volunteer as a family for Restore OKC, helping plant and maintain gardens at the nonprofit organization’s partner elementary schools. Social distancing is built in as only one family can volunteer at a time. Learn more at restoreokc.org.
103.  Choreograph a family dance to a favorite song.
104. Use your imagination to envision pictures in the clouds as they drift by.
105. Head north to Stillwater to explore wide-open spaces and fresh air at The Botanic Gardens at Oklahoma State University.
106.  Cool off underground by exploring an Oklahoma cave.
107. Make your own slip n slide. Find instructions at metrofamilymagazine.com/step-into-summer-fun.
108.  Learn to doodle with local artist Danny Gorden. Find his tips at metrofamilymagazine.com/printable-coloring-pages-by-danny-gordon-art.
109.  Press summer flowers from your garden and turn them into a work of art.
110. Draw your self portrait.

Editor’s note: Due to COVID-19 precautions, some of the following events and venues may have adjusted their hours or programming. Please check with each venue directly to verify. Looking for even more summer-time family fun? Check out our dozens of resources to help you plan your perfect summer!