Summer is a great time of year — the sun shines, days get longer and our schedules loosen. This is a list of our favorite activities for kids and families to do this summer.

Rain or shine, keep your family busy with these 10 activities:

1. Have a drawing class
2. Visit a museum
3. Soda pop fireworks
4. Learn a new card game
5. Tour a historical home
6. Splash and Score
7. Create a tornado tower
8. Hike in a forest preserve
9. Water balloon catch
10. Make your own silly putty

Bette Fetter Founder and CEO of Young Rembrandts and Author of Being Visual [email protected] Follow Bette on Twitter