We love sidewalk chalk and keep a stash in the garage even now that my kids are older. It still gets used sometimes!

Nothing like playing with squirt guns on a hot day! In addition to squirting each other, kids can set up target practice with random stacked objects, such a plastic cups.

A water balloon fight is a must every summer! The bunch-o-balloons water balloons have made the prep for this so much easier.

Blowing bubbles was always our default outdoor activity up through elementary school, and it's even fun for older kids to do with the little ones.

Run through the sprinkler! This was a must-do outdoor activity for us every summer when the kids were little. We invested in one of those simple kids sprinkler attachments that connected to our hose, and got a surprising amount of use out of it.

Fill up the toddler water table for outdoor fun, or just use a large shallow storage container for a DIY version. There are plenty of fun water table filler ideas kids will love to play with besides just water!

Classic active yard games like four square, kickball, dodgeball, tag and SPUD are fun for many different ages, and even more so when mom and dad play!

Water painting the driveway or patio is a great use for old paint brushes that are past their prime. Just give the kids a small bucket of water and some paint brushes.

Catching fireflies was one of my favorite things to do outside as a kid, and now my kids enjoy it when we're traveling over the summer, because we don't have them where we live.

Flying a kite is fun for all ages, and you can head to a park to do this if you don't have room in your yard. You can also have your kids make and decorate their own kites as an easy craft.

Make a mini golf course in the backyard, with each family member designing their own hole! Kids can use things from around the house to make the obstacles.

Make a DIY bird feeder (you can probably repurpose recyclables you have around the house), hang it in the backyard and see what birds come for a visit as you spend time outside.

Collect bugs! Kids can peek under rocks to see what creepy crawlers they can find, and add them to a bug collector to observe for a little while before setting them free.

Set up a little frisbee golf course in the backyard and use a laundry basket as the target. The player with the fewest tosses to get their frisbee into the basket wins!

Have a picnic, even if it's just in your own backyard!

A nature scavenger hunt is fun. You just have to get your kids started with a list of things to find (print one online or make your own), and they can take it from there.

We try to make one-on-one time with our kids in the form of parent/child "dates." My husband and I each take one of our kids and plan some special time together. It doesn't have to be complicated...a trip to Starbucks or a simple spa night at home have been big hits!

We buy one new Christmas ornament each year, and choose it to remind us of something special from that year. Often it's a vacation, but it can also be a move to a new state, a new pet joining the family, or another important event or milestone.

We have a red "You are special today" plate that we bring out whenever we have something to celebrate, and the special person gets to use it. I love using it not only for birthdays, but also to recognize smaller celebrations: moving up a level on the swim team, getting a part in the school play, losing a tooth, etc.

We do family pizza and movie night every Friday, and it is something that we still look forward to after quite a few years. We all take turns being the one who gets to choose a movie. This mostly eliminates arguments about what we are watching.