Screen-Free Summer: What Actually Keeps My Kids Busy (At Home and in the Car)

Every June it starts the same way in our house. The last day of school feels like freedom for about forty-eight hours — and then I hear it. “Mom, I’m booooored.” Usually before 9 a.m. Usually while I’m holding a coffee I haven’t had a sip of yet.

After six years of running a crafts brand and raising two kids of my own (one who never sits still and one who will color for three hours if the colors are right), I’ve learned that summer needs two completely different toolkits. One for the road — things with no mess, no screen, and no “Mom, I dropped a marble under the seat.” And one for home — the messier, paint-on-the-hands projects that actually wear them out.

So here’s what genuinely works in our family, split exactly that way. Everything here is something my own kids have done at our kitchen table or in the back seat — not a list I dreamed up to fill a page.

Part 1: For the Road — No Mess, No Screen, No Drama

These are the ones that live in my travel bag all summer. No paint, no glue, nothing that rolls away. Just paper, a pencil, and a kid who suddenly forgets to ask how much longer.

1. Origami — the one that buys you a whole flight

Best for ages 4–8 (younger kids love it with a little help)

This is my desert-island travel activity. The book comes with 80 pre-printed origami papers, so there’s nothing to prep — you just tear out a sheet and fold. My son went from “I can’t do this” to quietly building a whole zoo of paper animals on a four-hour drive. It’s the rare activity that’s genuinely screen-free and keeps their hands and brain busy at the same time.

Grab it here: Simple Origami for Kids — 80 Origami Papers to Fold

2. Animal Cootie Catcher — color it, fold it, play it

Best for ages 4–8

If you remember making “fortune tellers” as a kid, this is that — but as cute animal puppets. It’s a black-and-white template, so the kids color it in first (great for the early part of a trip), then fold it into a little snapping creature they’ll play with for ages. Low cost, high mileage. I usually throw two or three in the bag so siblings aren’t fighting over one.

Grab it here: Animal Cootie Catcher — Origami Paper Puppet

3. A US map to color — sneaky learning for the road trip

Best for ages 4–8 · PreK–2nd

This one is my favorite “they don’t even realize they’re learning” trick. Driving through a few states this summer? Hand them a blank US map and let them color in each state as you pass through it. By the end of the trip my daughter could find Texas faster than I could. Three coloring styles are included so you can match it to their age.

Find it here: United States Map Coloring Page for Kids 

Part 2: For Home — The Messy, Hands-On Ones

These need paint or a table you don’t mind getting a little wild. They’re the ones I save for the long, hot afternoons when nobody wants to go outside and the “I’m bored” chorus starts up again.

4. Summer Handprint Crafts — the keepsakes I can’t stop making

Best for ages 1–7 · toddlers through early elementary

Handprint art is the heart of what we do, and summer is the best season for it. You print the design, paint your child’s hand, press, and suddenly a little palm becomes a crab, a watermelon, a pineapple in sunglasses, or a flamingo. We keep every single one — there’s a drawer in our house that’s basically a time capsule of tiny hands. The puns alone make them worth it (“Have a CRABulous summer” gets me every year).

Rather than send you to one design, I’ll point you at the whole collection so you can pick the ones your kids will love — crab, watermelon, pineapple, flamingo, and more.

Browse them all here: Mr. Mintz Summer Handprint Collection

5. Ocean Diorama — the rainy-afternoon project

Best for ages 6–9

When we need to fill a whole afternoon, this is what I reach for. The kids color and cut the sea creatures, then build them into a 3D ocean scene that actually stands up on a shelf. It’s part craft, part little science lesson about the ocean floor — and it’s the kind of thing they proudly show Dad when he gets home. Doubles beautifully as a summer learning project if you want a tiny bit of “educational” in the mix.

Grab it here: Ocean Diorama Project

Part 3: Summer Learning Without the School Vibe

I’m not a believer in turning summer into a second classroom. But there’s a real thing called the “summer slide,” where kids lose a little of what they learned over the long break. The trick is to make it feel like play, not homework — and handprint art is perfect for that.

6. Handprint Alphabet — a letter at a time, all summer long

Best for ages 3–5 · toddlers, PreK & Kindergarten

This is the project I’d pick if you want one thing to stretch across the whole summer. It’s the alphabet from A to Z, where each letter becomes a handprint craft — H is for a handprint hedgehog, F is for a flamingo, A is for apple. Do one letter a day or one a week; by the time school starts, they’ve practiced every letter and you’ve got a keepsake book full of their little hands. My kids think it’s a game. I know it’s secretly letter recognition. Everybody wins.

Get the printable here (instant download): A–Z Handprint Alphabet Printable

Prefer a ready-made book?  — same idea, already bound, no printing needed.

Bonus: 5 No-Prep Ideas When You’ve Got Nothing

Some days you don’t have a single thing printed and you just need to get to nap time. These cost nothing and need zero setup — straight from our own boredom emergencies:

• The “20 questions” car game — endless, free, and weirdly competitive once Dad joins in.

• Nature scavenger hunt — list 8 things to find in the backyard or at the park (something round, something red, a feather).

• “Restaurant” — let them make you a paper menu and “take your order.” Buys me a solid 30 minutes.

• Ice excavation — freeze small toys in a bowl of water overnight, hand them a spoon, send them outside.

• Story chain — you say one sentence, they say the next. Our stories always end with a dragon. Always.

Quick Questions Parents Ask Me

What are the best screen-free activities for a long car trip?

Anything with no small loose pieces and no mess. Our top three for the car are origami (the paper is pre-printed, so no prep), color-and-fold cootie catchers, and a US map to color as you drive through each state.

What age is origami good for?

Around 6 and up can do most folds independently, but kids as young as 4 love it with a grown-up helping on the trickier steps. The big win is that it keeps hands busy without a screen.

How do I keep my kids learning over summer without it feeling like school?

Lean into play. A handprint alphabet project (one letter at a time) sneaks in letter recognition, and coloring a US map turns a road trip into geography. Neither feels like a worksheet, which is the whole point.

Are these activities good for a preschool or daycare classroom?

Yes — the handprint crafts and alphabet project are favorites with teachers because you can print as many copies as you need and they work as end-of-year keepsakes too.

One Last Thing

Summer with little kids is long, loud, and gone before you know it. The crafts aren’t really about the crafts — they’re the excuse to sit at the table together for twenty minutes before everyone scatters again. Save the handprints. Future-you will be very glad you did.

Have a CRABulous summer!