Here are some seriously cheap and engaging kid and tween activities, with all supplies from your local Dollar Tree.
Around the end of April, I started feeling that slight end-of-school-year panic. I knew I needed to come up with some cheap + engaging summer activities for kids, fast.
Not for every moment of summer – I believe in free and unstructured play, and that boredom is a really good thing for kids.
But I like to sprinkle in an activity or two to anchor the endless summer days and to provide my son (and his friends) a rest from the hot outdoors.
Have you been to your Dollar Tree lately?
Because that’s where all of the supplies you’ll need for the activities below can be found.
Hint: all supplies listed are from my local Dollar Tree. Most of them should be at yours, but do note that each Dollar Tree has slightly different merchandise.
Dollar Tree Summer Fun Activities for Kids
Summer may feel like it goes by in a blink, but the days sure are long and you need a few activities to help keep your tween occupied – you’re in the right place.
1. Table of Extremes Taste Testing
Tweens and teens are a bit fascinated with testing their limits…and I thought a safe and fun way for them to do so is to gather a bunch of “extreme-tasting” snacks from Dollar Tree and set up a taste test.
Hint: you don’t have to go spicy for this, especially if your child doesn’t like spiciness. You can go for snacks that look weird, like these gems I found there a few weeks ago, below.
This led to absolute fascination by my tween son and his group of friends, by the way. I can’t even explain the excited sparkles in their eyes while figuring out what they wanted to try, what they dared someone else to try, and what they weren’t going to touch.
Supplies Needed: Weird and spicy snack foods and drinks (as many as you’d like)
2. Duct Tape Designs
Who knew you could make so many things with Duct Tape?
My son already has a fascination with the stuff – so when I found Duct Tape (in various colors, no less) in the home renovation section of our Dollar Tree, plus the book Tape It & Wear It in their book section…I knew I had found a winner of a Dollar Tree summer activity for kids.
They might not have the book any longer at your local store – books tend to be hit-or-miss. You can search for free Duct Tape designs if that’s the case to get your child’s imagination going.
Supplies Needed: Duct Tape, printed out duct-tape designs (or this Duct Tape Designs book I snagged in Dollar Tree’s book section a few months ago – if they still have it)
3. Sticker Story Twisters
These are actually a lot of fun.
There is basically an entire half-aisle full of stickers at the Dollar Tree. Go ahead – take a look at yours.
Get a notepad, and pick out some interesting and quirky ones to your taste.
Pick a sticker to put at the top of a page, and write a one-liner intro to a story your child can build from.
Like:
- A kid was walking down a road, and found this [sticker]. Next, he…
- [Child’s name] looked through his stuff, and found this [sticker] missing. He first thought…
- The babysitter came over with a bag full of [sticker]. The kids…
Then, pick a sticker to put halfway down the page (or on the next page), and write a twister one-liner (something that changes the story).
Like:
- Suddenly, this [sticker] appeared, and everything was different.
- The person found exactly what they were looking for – [sticker] – to help them…
- After [sticker], everything changed.
Your child gets to fill in whatever they’d like for how the story actually unfolds, as long as they use what’s in the sticker in some way.
Supplies Needed: Notepad, something to write with, and interesting stickers
4. Word Search Competitions
The Dollar Tree typically carries several word searches around various themes.
I found this Star Wars one and purchased two (for $2.50).
My son and I now do timed word searches to compete against each other. Which is full circle for me because my grandmother used to do this with ME when I was his age!
I’d go over to her house, and she’d whip out a word search book for me and for her. Then, we’d see who would finish a similar puzzle first.
Such a great idea, Mom-Mom!
Supplies Needed: two matching word search books, and a timer (can use smartphone)
Hint: we added this timer we own, and competed on who could find the most words by the time the time ran out. They also sell little sand timers that last 2 minutes, normally in the teacher section.
5. Pudding Portraits
Pudding Pictionary is pretty fun…but so is getting a group of tween friends (or your family) together and having everyone paint portraits of each other using just pudding and their finger (or a paintbrush, if you want – the Dollar Tree has those, too).
Supplies Needed: Snack packs of pudding, 1 canvas for each person participating, canvas holders (optional)
6. Coin and Dollar Bill Exploration
You know all those bug kits the Dollar Tree sells leading up to, and during, summer?
I like to use the magnifying glass for both bug-exploring AND money-exploring.
Give your child your jar of coins, and have them go through some of these coin activities.
Such as:
- Coin wrap activity
- Coin parts identification activities
- Read through U.S. Mint’s free Coins for You Workbook
Then give them some bills to see if any are counterfeit (hopefully not!). Here’s how to use the counterfeit pen sold at the Dollar Tree.
Supplies Needed: Money Counterfeit Pen, coin wrappers, magnifying glass
7. Drink Creation Station
Do you remember when you were a tween, and maybe you mixed a few soda flavors together at the Hoss Steakhouse Buffet soda machines (okay…I'm talking about myself here)?
It was really fun and really creative.
Tweens love to create things, and Dollar Tree happens to have tons of drink mixes + sodas, and other drink bases.
Purchase a bunch, and let your kids create their own signature drinks one afternoon.
Supplies Needed: different drink bases (soda, iced teas, etc.), different drink mixes
There are even more Dollar Tree summer activities for kids and tweens you can do from all of the supplies and products you can find there – and I'll keep adding to this list as I think of them and we try them out. In the meantime, drop by your local Dollar Tree today or the next time you're out running errands, and get the supplies you need for one of these activities. It might just be the one thing your child remembers from their summer in years to come.
Amanda L. Grossman
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