Beat the Heat With Cool Activity Ideas!

So, we all know I very much hate winter. But I’ll be honest. It is already REAL HOT here in the South!

I know, I can’t have it both ways. And ultimately, I’ll take the scorching heat of the sun over the icy throes of winter any day.

Warm weather also means something else exciting- Summer at the Boys & Girls Club! Longer hours and more youth mean a need for LOTS of activity plans.  Here on the ClubX Blog, we’ve posted a ton of easy, fun ideas to put into your schedule when you aren’t running Summer Brain Gain. Missed those posts? HERE YOU GO

• No Passport? No Problem! It’s Summer Reading!
• Get Outside with Sidewalk Chalk Activities! Link Roundup
• Link Roundup: Water Balloon Games!
• Link Roundup! Pool Noodle Activities for Every Club Area
• IT’S SUMMER!!!!!!! Beach Ball Activities
• 9 DIY Music Activities for the Summer!
• 13 More DIY Summer Music Activities!

So! Many! Ideas! But we can always use more! Today’s post is actually inspired by a recent Club visit I made to Boys & Girls Clubs of Tabula Rasa in the Florida panhandle. At their Liberty County High Teen Center, we made ice cream in a bag, and it was super fun! I knew I wanted to come back and share it with you all, but it got me thinking, are there other good activities that can help us stay cool? Turns out, there are!

Here are instructions for Ice Cream in a Bag. The recipe she links to gives a quick the quick explanation for the science, but basically the salt makes the melting ice SUPER cold, which makes the liquid milk mixture freeze. At the Club I visited, they used half and half instead of milk, which I guess makes it richer?

Making popsicles is a fun way to get some fruit in, but making enough for a large group feels a bit unfeasible. I found this great idea to make them in a loaf pan! Instead of just one column of sticks, you could put two, which would give you 18 in each pan. This would be a great idea for a cooking class or a leadership group or even a smaller teen group.

And then here are a bunch of recipes to give you ideas of the kinds of ingredients to have on hand.

I know we already did sidewalk chalk activities, but this one uses ICE CHALK. I’ve never even heard of such a thing!

This outdoor water game is perfect for older youth or teens. Keep scrolling to get to the actual instructions.

Speaking of teens, here’s a list of more water games! Some are pretty simple, and could be used with younger youth as well. My Club always did a water day at some point in the summer, and we even invited the local fire department to come join us. In this list, I especially love Water Balloon Toss, T-Shirt Freeze, and the Great Jungle Fire.

For another water game, a wet clothes relay would be fun. If youth aren’t in bathing suits, they could put the wet clothes on over their existing clothes, just be sure to give plenty of time to dry off, or have an extra set handy!

So I actually for real keep a hand fan in my purse from The Fan Museum in Greenwich, England, and let me tell you, it is one of my best ever purchases and always makes people jealous. (Not to mention that the museum was randomly INCREDIBLY interesting if you ever find yourself in London! (PS Have I told you that I love being a huge nerd?)) So of course I think these DIY fans are the best!

This STEM activity has youth build a water slide! There are other sets of instructions on Pinterest that look a bit more thorough than this site, but they are behind paywalls.

I’m sure these ideas will spark even more in you, because Club people are the most creative people on Earth! Please don’t hesitate to share them with me so that I can use them in a future blog post. And whatever you do, stay cool!

What are your favorite ways to stay cool in summer? What other fun activities are big hits with your youth? Let us know so we can share in a future blog post! Comment below, on the BGCA Youth Development Facebook page, or email ClubXBlog@bgca.org.