8 Summer Fun Ideas for teens & tweens (before summer is over!)

Summer is going by too fast, amiright? I saw a whole rack of backpacks the other day at TJMaxx. BACKPACKS! So I’m here to say hold on, partner, and wrangle summer back from those rapidly creeping Back to School sales. (And yes, I still “wrangle” things because I lived in Texas for a few years. Ha!)

Believe it or not, we are roughly a month away from the first day of school. But let’s not talk about that yet (although I’m starting to check out some deals for that Back to School Supply tax free holiday shopping week!) First, let’s talk about making the best of the rest of this summer!

This summer fun list is especially for you, if you’re a mom of teens or tweens like me. My son is 15 & my daughter is 11. Their idea of “summer fun” is “leave me alone to play video games & be on TikTok for the next 3 weeks.” But I think there are too many fun summer things that we can still try to enjoy before these 3 weeks go by in a blink (which reminds me of the 3 “blinky” years I have left with my oldest before he’s off to college! AGH! But that’s definitely for another blog post.)

Ok, back to summer fun, here’s a list of my favorite things to enjoy with your tweens and teens (plus a few bonus activities!)

There are so many to choose from! Aquatica, Volcano Bay … we recently went to Disney’s Water Park, Blizzard Beach. It was how we kicked off our summer just before Memorial Day weekend & we had a blast! Full disclosure: this park is a bit on the “older” side of things, but the ski resort theme is so fun! My 15 year old is not a big theme park guy, but he LOVED Blizzard Beach … and I loved going on the family ride together (insert mommy heart eyes!)

If you have family, friends & a pool nearby, you’re set! Sometimes we try to overcomplicate things for our teens or tweens, but a simple pool day with their favorite people & tons of snacks can be the perfect way to hang out or chill (or whatever cool word they’re saying lately.)

Recently, my sister & I took her kids & my daughter to brunch (my son was working with dad). Granted, my teen nephew was on his phone, but we did chat about the cool earbuds he got from dad! Sometimes, meeting up for a meal & walking around can be a perfect opportunity for those conversations that we never seem to have time for otherwise. And there are so many cute Downtown areas around Central Florida: Winter Garden, Mount Dora, Sanford … just pick your fave!

How about visiting a place you’ve never been to?

Last year during Covid, we tried to find a place that had a low amount of cases & we came across Florida’s Treasure Coast.

Everyone talks about Pensacola or Destin, but we found our family’s “secret island” & loved it! It wasn’t just the discovery of “our family secret”, but we loved having a beach pretty much to ourselves, kayaking, making s’mores … 10 out of 10 recommend!

If it’s in the budget, a theme park day with friends from out of town is one of my favorite things to do! (I’m a BIG Disney fan!)

If you want theme park fun without theme park admission … you can just meet for dinner at Universal CityWalk or Disney Springs!

A few months ago, we signed up for a Baby Yoda virtual 5k race. We got the t-shirts & medals, but we still haven’t done it! It’s on our summer fun list (which may wait till fall and cooler weather.) But we have done 5k races as a family in the past and I thought this would be a fun one to add to our list.

This summer, we’re thinking of introducing our kids to classics they haven’t seen like The Never Ending Story (my hubby’s pick) & Labyrinth (my pick!) You can keep this one as a simple movie night, or go all out, dress up in 80s outfits, invite friends over & make it a party!