16 Activity Books for Summer Vacation
There’s still at least a month of summer vacation left and your kiddos might be getting to the point where they are complaining they’re bored or you’ve got a long car ride coming up and need something to distract everyone! Check out these great activity books for all ages! There’s a wide variety of activity books out there for different age groups and interests. In fact, many of the titles I’m sharing today have other options, so make sure to take a look if you need a little something different!
While researching for this book list, I found a great suggestion from a blogger who mentioned that her kids love to listen to podcasts while working on activity books, which is a great idea. You can also try reading aloud or listening to an audiobook as another option. Music is another choice that would work as well. These activity books are a great tool to pull out during dinner prep when kids start getting antsy and you’re busy in the kitchen.
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16 Activity Books for Summer Vacation
Best Ever Hidden Pictures Puzzles by Highlights
With more than 20 different types of Hidden Pictures puzzles, as well as fun and silly facts about these unique creations, there’s something for everyone in this “best of” collection. Created for puzzle-loving kids ages 6 to 106, this book is bursting with classic puzzles, photo puzzles, inverted puzzles, two-player puzzles, and more, all woven together with Highlights’ signature wholesome humor. It provides hours of puzzling fun for seek-and-find fans.
While kids have a blast finding hidden objects, they’re also improving their visual perception, concentration and attention to detail. This collection is perfect entertainment for rainy days, after school, car trips and a great addition to family game night, too! Like all Highlights products, The Best Hidden Pictures Puzzles EVER is well thought out, well constructed and visually appealing in order to bring kids meaningful benefits and maximum fun.
Coding Activity Book by Jenny Jacoby and Vicky Barker
Coding is one of the most important STEM subjects in the modern world. Now children can discover more at home by reading the simple explanations and doing the beautifully illustrated activities on each page of this colorful, fun activity book.
Let your kids experience the fun digital universe of coding and give them a lifelong passion for STEM subjects.
Don’t Let the Pigeon Finish This Activity Book! by Mo Willems
The Pigeon really, really wants to finish this activity book! But that pesky Duckling keeps getting in the way. Oh, and there’s someone new on the scene causing all kinds of problems….
Follow the Bus Driver’s lead as you write, color, draw, create–even build an airport!–in this fun-filled book starring the Pigeon and YOU.
Draw Here: An Activity Book by Hervé Tullet
With hours of creative play, Draw Here: An Activity Book features more than 135 pages brimming with activities for young readers to see things differently.
From solving a maze, matching up similarly colored dots, or growing a whole village of dot people, this book is packed with hours of learning fun.
- Tullet’s signature bold dots bounce, spin, and splatter across spread after spread
- Invites kids to grab a crayon and fill in, connect, decorate, and above all, reimagine the dots
- Opens eyes and minds to playful and creative thinking
Experiment, play, and draw—but most of all, just have fun—inside and outside the box with this innovative activity book.
Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Faces by Ed Emberley
Using simple shapes, Ed Emberley shows would-be artists how to draw a variety of fun and wacky faces. This classic book is packed with fun things that kids-and not a few adults-really want to draw. Easy and fun, the book provides hours of art-full entertainment.
Escape This Book! Titanic by Bill Doyle, illustrated by Sarah Sax
Reader, beware! Once you open this book, there is no turning back. You will have three chances to survive the Titanic’s fateful voyage. Decide which path to take first.
Passenger: Exploring the ship is fun! Just don’t get caught on the wrong deck when there’s an iceberg ahead!
Crew Member: You work for a family in first class. Can you persuade them to save you along with their beloved dog?
Stowaway: You snuck onto this ship. Can you draw your way onto a lifeboat?
Give This Book a Title: Over 100 Activities to Kick-Start Your Creativity by Jarrett Lerner
This collection of fun, open-ended writing and drawing prompts will challenge kids to think and create in new ways with every turn of a page. In the Finish This Comic section, young writers are inspired to write and illustrate a six-panel story. Following How to Draw instructions will encourage kids to find their own drawing styles. Every fun activity and silly prompt will keep young readers engaged and entertained!
The Kids Awesome Activity Book by Mike Lowery
Welcome to the best activity book ever! It is a book filled with PUZZLES, MAZES, WORD SEARCHES, MONSTER JOKES, SCAVENGER HUNTS, AND MORE. Plus plenty of goodies to return to again and again for hands on play, like FINGER PUPPETS and MORE THAN 400 STICKERS. Also BATS, UNICORNS, GNOMES, PIRATES, and even an ALIEN FLIP BOOK. And did we mention MONSTER JOKES? It’s a book to DRAW IN, WRITE IN, COLOR IN whenever you want. Doesn’t matter where you start, either. It’s not that kind of book. Start at the end. Or skip around. In fact, there’s only ONE RULE when it comes to this book. HAVE FUN!
Origami for Kids: 20 Projects to Make Plus 100 Papers to Fold by Mila Bertinetti Montevecchi and Dario Canova
nside Origami for Kids, twenty easy-to-make projects with simple folding instructions are provided for fascinating bunnies, crabs, bugs, dogs and more. Fold lines are printed right on the illustrations to enable children aged 5-7 to easily create each origami all by themselves.
The book includes 100 sheets of high-quality, large format origami paper for hours of folding fun. Each project in Origami for Kids also features a QR code for quick access to a video tutorial of a young origamist folding the same piece.
Paint by Stickers Kids: Under the Sea by Workman Publishing
Step 1: Find the sticker
Step 2: Peel the sticker
Step 3: Place the sticker
…and watch your underwater paintings come to life!
Includes everything you need to create ten sticker paintings on study card stock. Plus, all the pages are perforated—making it easy to tear out each finished work to frame and share!
Press Out + Color Flamingos, Llamas & Other Cool Things by Kate McLelland
Each press-out design is intricately decorated with foil and perfect for all ages to decorate. Featuring twenty unique designs, the press-out pieces can be slotted together to create super cool three-dimensional ornaments or threaded together to make a hanging garland. From cool llamas, flamingos, cacti, and pineapples to unicorns, these press-out pieces will brighten any room!
Querkles: Animals by Thomas Pavitte
More sensational, quirky coloring puzzles from the best-selling author of the 1000 Dot-to-Dot series, Thomas Pavitte! Reveal 20 animal faces within the circles using pencils, paints, markers, or any coloring medium you choose. These entertaining portraits of whimsical wildlife, beautiful birds, funny frogs, foxes, and more can be removed and displayed when finished. Monochrome or multicolored, the concept is as easy as a child’s book, but the results are nothing short of astounding!
Summer Brain Quest: Between Grades 3 & 4 by Persephone Walker, Claire Piddock, illustrated by Edison Yan
Learn all summer long with this personalized, interactive quest! Begin with a map that guides you through a workbook jam-packed with activities based on parts of speech, writing, reading, word problems, natural science, timelines, and more, with fun illustrations throughout.
Once you complete an activity, get your stickers and track your progress on the map! Loved by kids, teacher-approved, and parent-trusted, this Summer Brain Quest Workbook also includes bonus challenges and stickers, outside activities, a summer reading list, a Brain Quest mini deck, and more.
The Ultimate Sticker Book: Animals by DK Publishing
This colorful activity book keeps kids engaged and learning as they play. Bright photos and stunning illustrations transport children into desserts, jungles, and grasslands! They’re challenged to find the correct stickers to fill in the blanks in the images. Kids can also get creative and craft their own scenes out of different stickers, there’s no end to where their imagination can take them!
Uni the Unicorn: Dream & Draw Activity Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Brigette Barrager
Connect the dots, color, and more with everyone’s favorite unicorn–Uni! This deluxe activity book for ages 3 to 7 is based on the New York Times bestselling picture books Uni the Unicorn and Uni the Unicorn and the Dream Come True. Activities include mazes, wordplay, doodle prompts, puzzles, stickers, and more! Best of all, there’s a sturdy punch-out Uni the unicorn for fans to play with, plus a poster (11″ x 14″), perfect for bedroom walls. Special notepad binding allows pages to tear out easily so they can be displayed and collected.
The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book by Jeff Kinney
Now everyone can have their own Wimpy Kid diary! Draw your own Wimpy-Kid-style cartoons, fill in facts and lists, check out the full-color comics inside and even write your own Wimpy Kid journal, just like Greg.
