9 Summer Family Fun Ideas Everyone Can Enjoy

Summertime is the season for getting outdoors, having adventures, and making memories with your family. These summer family fun ideas will leave your brood sunkissed and smiling by day's end.

Eating meals together as a family has so many perks, and summer is the prime season to take the tradition outdoors. Create your favorite picnic dishes, pack them into a basket and enjoy an alfresco dish or two under the warm sun. Throw in a bottle of wine and a few items to play post-picnic games and make an entire day out of it.

Kids ask for the sun, moon, and stars day in and day out. In a year packed with school, homework, sports, and more, parents say the word "no" hundreds of times. During the summertime, make it a point to surprise the brood and say "yes" for an entire day! Have a Yes Day! Eat the meals they want, do the activities they choose, and grant their every (reasonable) wish while you have a bit of downtime to do so.

Pack up your tent, sleeping bags, and other camping essentials and sleep under the stars. Sure, you can book a campsite at any number of stunning spaces around the country, or you can create the experience right in your own backyard. Make fun campfire meals, sing campfire songs and tell stories around the crackling fire.

When the weather turns warm, pull out the shovel and the seeds and plant a family garden. All hands are needed on deck with an activity such as gardening. Have someone pulling weeds, another person planting flowers, herbs, or veggies, and the kids can create cute plant signs to help identify which growing plants are which. During the summer days, work as a family to water and tend your garden as it grows to its greatest potential.

Making healthy meals all year long is a challenge for busy families. With parents working, kids in sports and school, and schedules demanding time be stretched to the max, frozen meals often make an appearance at kitchen tables. Change the game up in the summer and head to a local farmer's market. Here you will find locally-grown fruits and veggies, fresh baked goods, and locally raised meats. Everyone in the family can fill their bags with delicious and nutritious items and then head home to put them together into a meal no one feels guilty about.

In many parts of the country, summer is prime berry picking time. Locate strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry farms near you and take the family out for a day of picking. See who can fill their buckets fastest, and guess how many pounds your family ends up gathering by day's end. Once home, create delicious pies, strawberry desserts, muffins, and if you plucked a bunch of blueberries, freeze some to use later on in the year.

While wintertime is all about the snow and ice, summer is made for life in the water. Head to the water's edge and engage in any number of aquatic activities. Go boating, swimming, surfing, wakeboarding, or floating on tubes. Build sandcastles, play frisbee or hunt for interesting rocks and shells. Your family will never tire of a day by the water. Just remember to bring plenty of sunscreen!

In the summertime, there is always cause to celebrate. Festivals are great outings for families looking to do something in the warmer months. Chances are there is a nearby festival just about every weekend in June, July, and August. Festivals can be geared toward holidays, history, music, and food, or they can be truly unique in what they are inspired by. Whatever festival your family attends, there is bound to be something interesting for everyone there.

During the months of nice weather, create a day of backyard games with your family. Engage in friendly competition with loved ones, holding games specifically for kids and a few for adults only. Make homemade trophies or medals for winners of certain games of events and celebrate the end of the fun-filled day will homemade ice cream or other frosty treats.

Whether it's water, festivals, food, or backyard fun, summer is the perfect time to focus on family. Create days that will linger in children's minds and sustain them in the busy upcoming school months. There is truly no better time to get out into the world and enjoy the company of loved ones like those long, warm summer days.