Summer Activities for Kids with a Broken Arm

How do you have summer fun without water, sand, and a left arm?

The "worst summer of her life," as proclaimed by my 7-year-old daughter, has begun. She broke her arm 3 1/2 weeks ago and will be in a cast, and then a brace, for another 6 weeks. For the time being, it means no water activities, and even more emphatically, no sand. It also means no bike riding, no skating, no jump roping, and all sorts of activities my daughter loves. But the ban on the beach is the worst this week. We're in Maine for 10 days, and typically, she would go to the beach almost every day. But not this year. So we've been getting creative about what we CAN do. Here's what we've got so far.

Fun Things to Do with a Broken Arm

• Strawberry picking. It's a short season and we got in on the early side.
• Picnic in a state park we've never been to before. We had a great time along the rocky shore of Maine with some easy trails and non-perilous rock exploration.
• Lighthouse visiting. We've seen four already - and one was even functional.
• Mini-Golf. Believe it or not, my daughter recorded her best score ever - even with her left hand off limits.
• Festivals. We had a great time at an "Old Home Festival." Honestly, if we weren't trying to find creative things to do, I would have skipped this one, but it was a great old school festival, complete with pony rides, the best face painter ever, and a real live pie eating contest. And much to my surprise, it had nothing to do with old homes. (Turns out it's short for "Old Homestead" and celebrates when people would come back to visit their hometowns after having moved on. Who knew?)
• Ice cream. Ice cream. And more ice cream.
• Lots of lobster.
• Just taking it slow. Enjoying a relaxed pace. And counting the days until the cast comes off.

Editor's Note: This post was published in 2014 but has since been updated.

More on Things to Do in the Summer

• Are you and the Family Heading to the beach this summer? Check out the Bright Horizons Family Beach Guide.
• Summer Activities for Kids: Here's a list of 100 (Almost) Free Things To Do & Mary's list of 30 Summer Activities
• E-family news: Summer Safety Tips
• Bright Horizons Online Community: Parenting Conversations about Summer Activities
• Read more posts about summer and posts about injuries from the Family Room bloggers.

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