A Sweet, Kid-Friendly Summer Solstice Activity & Family Ritual

How to Celebrate the Summer Solstice with Kids

Rituals with kids can be really, really sweet — especially during the Summer Solstice, when the energy of the season is so vibrant, joyful, and alive. (If you’d like to understand the deeper meaning of what you’re celebrating, you can read more here: Summer Solstice Meaning & Significance.)

Kids love being a part of your seasonal celebrations. They LOVE the simple activities, the creativity, the nature, & the MAGIC… which is what the Summer Solstice is all about. I really encourage you to include kids in your life in your rituals & celebrations as often as possible.

If you’re creating a seasonal tradition with your family, it can also be really meaningful to have your own personal practice alongside it — something that supports you as you move through the season as well. Here’s 5 Simple Summer Solstice Rituals.

This simple ritual is a beautiful way to help your kids connect with the energy of the season — the light, the celebration, and the feeling of being fully alive in this moment.

things To Remember when creating a kid’s summer solstice celebration:

1. Keep it simple!

Kids have way shorter attention spans than you think. So don’t set your expectations too high. Don’t try to do too many things, and don’t be too rigid. Try and be open to the energy of the kids. Let them guide you – even if it takes you off track. Just have fun.

2. Let it be goofy! 🤪

Don’t make things too serious. Let kids be silly. Don’t worry about things being ‘perfect’. The best parts always end up being the unscripted, unexpected parts.

With all that in mind, here’s an outline for a sweet Summer Solstice activity for kids that I participated in with my own family. It’s perfect for kids of all ages. 😄

These are all ideas, and this is just an outline. Don’t feel like you need to everything. Take the parts that speak to you & leave the rest. Feel free to adjust however you see fit. See where the evening takes you.

A Summer SolsticE ACTIVITY FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES

SUPPLIES USED:

1. Noise makers (rattles, drums, tambourines, anything you have around the house)
2. Fire making supplies
3. S’more fixings
4. Camera
5. Speaker/phone to play music

SET Up

Get your kids to help with the summer solstice setup!

Lay out a blanket & light your fire before you begin. In my experience, getting the fire started always takes longer than you anticipate. So do this step before you begin. Invite your kids to help you build this special summer solstice fire.

CLEANSE YOUR SPACE

You can start your activity by cleansing the space & clearing the energy. A super fun way to do this with kids is with noise makers. Use whatever you have on hand: rattles, drums, tambourines, popcorn in cans, aspirin bottles – anything you have that makes noise. Get creative! What do the kids feel inspired to use as instruments?

Play a favorite family song & dance around your fire, shaking your noise makers to cleanse your space as you go. (If you can’t think of a song try one of these: “Happy” by Pharrell, “Yes I Will” by Michael Franti & Spearhead, “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas, “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina & the Waves. These are all perfect choices for Summer Solstice AND kid-friendly too!)

GROUND INTO YOUR RITUAL SPACe

After you’ve cleansed your space, sit down on your blanket. Close your eyes & take several deep breaths. Talk to kids about breathing all the way down deep into their bellies.

Decide how many breaths you’re going to take. (Depending on your kids’ ages, 5-10 breaths may be sufficient.) Tell the kids how many breaths you’re going to take & count each breath slowly on your fingers together.

TALK BRIEFLY ABOUT THE MEANING OF THE SUMMER SOLSTICE

With kids, the keyword is BRIEFLY! However, you do want the kids to understand what Summer Solstice is all about, why it’s special, and what a fun seasonal family tradition it can be.

For a deeper understanding of the Summer Solstice, I’ve written a full guide that explores the spiritual meaning of this day and how it supports your personal growth — Summer Solstice Meaning & Significance: Why the Summer Solstice is So Meaningful & How it Affects Your Life

TIPS to discuss the meaning of SUMMER SOLSTICE TO KIDS & how it relates to this ceremony:

• The sun’s been growing every day since winter began & today is the longest day of the year!

• Today we celebrate the sun because it reaches the PEAK of its growth cycle.

• We each have a fire that burns within us–your own piece of the sun burning brightly inside of you.

• At the Summer Solstice we celebrate our own sacred fires. We invite in the fire of this longest day sun to add to our own fires so that we can burn brighter & stronger for the days & weeks of ahead.

SHARE YOUR PEAK MOMENTS

Since we’re honoring the sun & the peak of its cycle, this is a good time to celebrate our own peak moments from this first half of the year… and a great opportunity to have some quality discussions and bonding with your kiddos.

Here are some questions you can ask your kids for this summer solstice activity

1. What do you feel proud of?
2. What accomplishments have you recently made?
3. What’s something new you learned to do in the last few months?

Everyone takes a moment to share something they are proud of. (This is always one of my favorite parts about rituals with kids. They share the most beautiful things. If you can, write down what they share after your ritual. It’s really beautiful to look back on in the future.💗)

After your celebration, you may want to take a few moments to reflect on your own growth this season as well. I’ve created a set of Summer Solstice Journal Prompts to help guide you through that reflection.

MAKE S’MORES

Because, WHY NOT? It’s a fun fiery summer solstice (kid-friendly) activity and almost all kids love sweets.

We are celebrating ourselves & our accomplishments with this super special, awesome, summery treat!

BONUS: If you feel moved, offer up a bite to the Universe, God, the Earth – whatever name you use for the Divine.

TAKE A FAMILY SELFIE

I love to document our family celebrations. Take a selfie of everyone together celebrating this sacred seasonal day. It would be an awesome tradition to collect your photos with a note about what everyone shared. 💕

SAY THANKS

Take a moment to say a brief prayer of thanks to whatever higher power your family believes in. Don’t worry about getting the words perfect of saying the exact right thing. Just say whatever comes to your mind & heart. It’s completely okay if it feels awkward & the words are clunky. (This is why we call it a spiritual “practice”.)

Remember to thank yourselves, each of you, for showing up & doing this powerful work.

And don’t forget to ask the kids if there’s anything they’d like to say.

CLOSE YOUR CIRCLE

Just like you started, dance around & shake your noise makers to end this ritual.

This is the perfect Summer Solstice Activity for the kids this summer and a GREAT tradition to repeat every year and with every generation!

Afterward, reflect on your experience.

I encourage you to spend a few minutes after every ritual writing about your experience — both for yourself and for your kids.

What did you include in this ritual? What worked? What would you do differently? Also include anything you want to remember about this experience with your kids.

These small moments of reflection are what turn simple traditions into something deeply meaningful over time.

Why Celebrating the Summer Solstice with Kids Matters

Creating simple seasonal rituals like this helps children feel connected — to nature, to the rhythms of the year, and to something larger than themselves.

These moments don’t have to be perfect or elaborate.

They just have to be real.

Because what your kids will remember isn’t whether everything went “right” — they’ll remember how it felt.

The laughter. The togetherness. The magic of being outside, celebrating something meaningful as a family.

Continue Your Summer Solstice Practice

If you’d like to go deeper into your own connection with the season, you can explore:

• Summer Solstice Meaning & Significance
• 5 Simple Summer Solstice Rituals
• 10 Ways to Ignite Your Inner Fire
• Summer Solstice Tarot Spread
• June New Moon Guide