25 Fun Summer Activities for Kids Under 13 in Savannah, Georgia
Summer in Savannah, Georgia, is a magical time filled with sunshine, Spanish moss, and Southern charm. If you’re a parent wondering how to keep your kids entertained (and off their screens), Savannah offers the perfect mix of history, nature, and hands-on fun.
Summertime can sometimes be a challenge for parents. If kids are not able to go to camp or go away somewhere, it is that question of what do we do with them all summer? It can be normal practice for kids to choose to engage in their tablets. In small doses this can be good. It can help them stay connected to their friends and family that may be out of town. It can help them engage in some videos and activities that continue to enhance learning. But too much can be a bad thing and can contribute to children’s anxieties, lack of focus, behaviors/anger outbursts, and impulsivity.
So I came up with a list of some fun activities that you can engage in with your children and as a family to help reduce screen time and promote family bonding and creative learning.
Here are 25 local, affordable, and screen-free summer activities to enjoy with kids under 13 in Savannah that spark creativity, learning, and adventure—all while making the most of your beautiful hometown. These are great options to help enhance some of the therapeutic principles and skills they may be learning in therapy. If your child or children are not in therapy, these activities will still be beneficial to increase mindfulness, help promote family bonding, and build brain skills.
1. Explore Forsyth Park
Forsyth Park is more than just iconic—it’s the perfect place for a family picnic, a playground adventure, or running through the splash pad on a hot afternoon. Take the kids into the fragrant garden and have them notice the flowers. Sit and watch the people and pets, and the fountain, and find that quiet time. Sit and watch a sports game that might be going on as locals often play a pick up game of volleyball or soccer. There is so much to do in one place where you can even stop and get some at lunch at Collins Quarter.
2. Visit the UGA Marine Education Center and Aquarium
Located on Skidaway Island, this aquarium small but fascinating aquarium lets kids get up close with Georgia’s coastal marine life. This is a great activity to teach some mindfulness. Let the kids notice the wildlife around them. Notice the colors of the fish. It is helpful to teach them without actually teaching them such as saying „Wow, look at the texture of the alligator’s skin. It looks so bumpy!” Or „Wow, so many colorful fish!” These statements open the door to your child to start noticing as well.
3. Kayak Through The Salt Marshes
Take a guided family-friendly kayak tour through Savannah’s stunning salt marshes. Outfitters like Savannah Canoe & Kayak and Moon River Kayak offer rentals and safety gear. This is a great opportunity to learn self-awareness regarding safety in the kayak, developing team building skills with with working with another person to kayak through the marsh, and developing the mindfulness skills in noticing what is around.
4. Join A Nature Scavenger Hunt at Skidaway Island State Park
Skidaway Island park offers family trails, wildlife viewing, and ranger-led programs. Bring a scavenger hunt checklist to spot crabs, birds, and Spanish moss. To eliminate behaviors, try not to make it competitive but make it collaborative so that the whole family works together to find what is on the hunt. It is a great way to improve bonding, develop the mindfulness and focus skills to notice what is around and find what is on the list.
5. Visit The Savannah Botanical Gardens
Explore butterfly gardens, fairy tale-themed garden paths, and hands-on activities. It’s perfect for younger kids and a quiet escape from the city. It is a small, but free garden that has a place for kids to explore and get interactive and a little dirty. Give them the experience to smell and touch nature and ground themselves in the beauty of the garden. Help them to notice the plants around them. Challenge them to find birds and bugs around as well.
6. Sign up for the Live Oak Summer Reading Program or Attend Their Events During the Week
The Live Oak Public Library has a calendar of events they put out with different activities each day depending on the library. You have access to any of the activities at any of the libraries in the Live Oak system. There is also a summer reading program that starts in June each year that helps inspire and motivate kids to continue reading even through the summer months and they can win prizes if they participate. You can take a look at their calendar online or go visit your local library in person.
7. Enroll in a Children’s Theater Camp
Check out Savannah Stage Company or Savannah Children’s Theater which offer summer camps and workshops for kids interested in acting and performing. This will help with instilling confidence in children, building social and communication skills, and challenging some of those anxious parts that fear judgments in others.
8. Spend the Day at Tybee Island Beach
Only 20 minutes from downtown, Tybee Island is ideal for sandcastle building, swimming, or trying to spot some wildlife. You can attend the Tybee Island Marine Science Center and see some rescued sea turtles and help your children learn about conservation and stewardship. The beach will be a great place for your kids to connect with the sand and water and engage in some sensory and grounding skills. The kids in the therapy room love the sensory feel of the sand in the sand tray and the beach is the biggest sand tray!
9. Go on a Dolphin Tour
Companies like Captain Derek’s Dolphin Adventure Tours or Mermaid Pirate Dolphin Tours offer kid-friendly cruises around Tybee Island where you’re almost guaranteed to see dolphins. This is a great way to increase the focus skills as the kids need to try to look for the dolphins and wildlife. It helps to increase mindfulness skills as they can connect to nature and the sea breeze and notice what is around them. It also enhances the development of boundaries and self-awareness with your child needing to be safe on the boat.
10. Take an Historic Ice Cream Stroll
Grab a scoop from Leopold’s Ice Cream, one of Savannah’s oldest and most famous ice cream shops, and take a walk through historic downtown. Engage your child/children in noticing what is around on the walk. What colors do they see around them? Have them notice details of buildings. Challenge them with different strolls in the squares such as with the “red light/yellow light/green light” game or challenge them to walk slowly, skip while walking, or have the child/children come up with safe challenges. This is a fun way to help your child develop body control and self-awareness skills.
11. Visit the Telfair Museums (Jepson Center)
The Jepson Center features hands-on kids’ exhibits and interactive art activities, perfect for a cultural yet playful afternoon. There is an open art studio for kids from 10-2 Saturdays and Sundays for your child to enhance some creativity and challenge that perfectionism part. There are great exhibits for the children to engage in such as the Monet exhibit that brings interaction with lights, feelings of calm and peacefulness with the paintings. There are learning opportunities and ways to enhance creative expression.
12. Pick Your Own Berries at Ottawa Farms
Located in nearby Bloomingdale, this family-friendly farm offers seasonal berry picking and occasional summer events with animals and bounce houses. This is a great way to help teach kids some appreciation for healthy eating and the work it can go into growing food and the appreciation for earth and how it can feed us. It can be a great way for families to work together to fill a basket to build bonding and trust. The berries are available depending on weather and amount of berries already picked so you can always grab berries from the farmer’s market.
With your berries you can work together to make delicious healthier recipes such as homemade ice cream and homemade berry pie or cobbler desserts. You can add berries to a summer salad or make homemade smoothies. It is a way to teach kids mindful and healthy eating when they can notice all the colors and textures in their foods. Have the help with making the recipes and they may be more willing to try the foods and be more open to trying new foods.
13. Volunteer at a Local Animal Shelter
There are many great animal shelters that you can choose to be a part of. Options include:
Humane Society of Greater Savannah
Volunteering at an animal rescue brings so many lessons and skills to a child. It helps teach boundaries and limits as the child is not in control but the animal is and they have to learn the boundaries of that animal. There is sensory benefits in noticing the texture of the animal’s fur and it can be therapeutic for a while to help with developing trust with an animal without the fear of judgment and words interfering. It teaches children the need to follow tasks and chores especially for the kids who struggle with that at home and can help inspire parents to not be afraid to set the boundaries and expectations for chores if they are able to do it at an animal rescue.
14. Go Fishing at Lake Mayer
Teach kids to fish at Lake Mayer Park, where you’ll find fishing spots, playgrounds, and picnic tables for a full day of outdoor fun. It is a great place ot engage those mindfulness skills of noticing the surroundings and fishing is a very quiet and calming activity that can reset some of the constant dopamine hits ADHD brains may be thriving on. You can have a picnic at the park, enjoy the playground, or challenge them on an obstacle course with the fitness items located track.
15. Ride Bikes at Daffin Park
This 77-acre park features open fields, playgrounds, and paved trails perfect for biking or scootering under moss-draped oaks. It is a great place to continue using those mindfulness skills, take a dopamine break and sit quietly and watch the fountain. Lay in the grass and have them spot shapes in the clouds. There are many things you can do on your park adventure.
16. Make Homemade Georgia Peach Ice Cream
Turn your kitchen into a Southern ice cream shop with fresh Georgia peaches from the Forsyth Farmers’ Market, held every Saturday. The farmer’s market is another great way to teach kids about health eating and growing of food. It helps teach kids about lots of different fruits and vegetables and then helps them get involved in making healthy eating at home if you include them in the cooking/baking process.
17. Try Geocaching in Downtown Savannah
Introduce your kids to a modern treasure hunt! Geocaching apps help you find hidden “caches” across historic squares and parks. There is an app option with a short video to learn more HERE. It is essentially a way to do a treasure hunt and you can find a cool new spot or find treasures others have left and you can take one and leave one if you so choose. There are over 400 geocaches. This is a fun way to teach kids to follow directions, learn to focus and notice what is around them, and work together as a family to find the caches.
18. Visit the Children’s Museum of Pooler
If you are familiar with this museum, you may know that it is currently moving to a new and bigger location for the next year. It is moving into the previous Forever 21 on the other side of the Tanger Outlet mall. The Children’s Museum is a great place for some of the younger kids to learn through play. They have to learn how to share as there are often other kids that are wanting the same toys, they can build things, feel with sand, be creative and pretend to be a farmer, sailer, or construction worker. Play with a larger Lite Brite. Or even engage in art. This place hits all the boxes regarding mindfulness, sensory play, creative expression, brain building, and social and emotional learning. You can check out their website for different activities they have during the week as well.
19. Take a Kid-Friendly Ghost Tour
Savannah is known for its spooky stories—but some tour companies offer kid-safe ghost tours that mix history with just enough mystery. Some options include:
It is a great time to go on an adventure, learn about the city, and enhance your kids’ listening skills of listening to a story while exploring what was around them. After the tour is over everyone can talk as a family and identify what their favorite story was or what their favorite part of the adventure was.
20. Create a Savannah Summer Scrapbook
Take photos of each adventure, print tickets, press flowers, and let kids make a memory book to look back on year after year. This is a great activity to build creative thinking and processing, following directions, challenging perfectionism, and improving the child’s ability to feel connected, to feel that they count, the courage too try, and the ability to feel capable in tackling a project. Try to let them take the lead when possible and allow more yes’s than no’s as it builds the child’s confidence. Provide encouragement when the child works hard and for their attempts and focus less on the final project result. When the result is the focus they feel they need perform and the critical part surfaces. Tell them statements such as „I am so proud of how hard you worked” or „Wow! You put so much effort into this!” Or even „You chose so many different colors! What you do think of your book?„ and let your child identify their own internal pride in themselves.
21. Take an Art Class at a Local Studio
Savannah is such an art-friendly city. There are several studios and shops that offer regular classes or drop in offerings to make some art to help build your child’s creative juices and brain processing. Scribble Art Studio offers a variety of different art classes and a camp for kids to learn art and creative options and mediums. Henny Penny Cafe mixes an art studio and a coffee shop cafe where you can pick a a pastry and a drink and purchase your child canvas options or the weekly art project. They have a variety of different ways they can decorate their art and they even have a chalkboard or paper and crayon options. Knack Studio, Sunshine Pottery, and Midnight Star Pottery are local pottery painting classes where your child your paint a ceramic piece. They will then do all the kiln firing for you and you are able to go back and pick up your piece when it is ready. Any and all of these options are great creative boosters for your kids.
22. Rainy Day? Head to One of The Indoor Activity Parks
Savannah has a few options to choose from to help get out some of your kids high energy needs, challenge their strengths their strength, balance, and coordination, and just allow them to have fun! Exhilarate is a popular spot to host bday parties but you can go in just for fun and activity. There is a spot for smaller kids to explore, a trampoline side, and a jungle gym side as well as some arcade games. There is options for all ages of children.
Sky Zone is another option. This is primarily just a trampoline park but it still gives your children a way to get their energy out. There are different sections such as a slide and a ninja course they can try to run through.
Another option is Star Castle. Star Castle offers indoor arcade games, roller skating rink, and laser tag. Places like this may be overwhelming for some kids that struggle with sensory overload so it may not be suitable for all children but if children are practicing how to quiet out some of the sensory overload, they can practice some of these skills. Boundaries are needing to be practiced when kids have to wait turns for machines and games that other kids are playing and the children that struggle with losing at games will feel the struggle when the games may not go their way. It is a great way to practice some of thee skills they may have been working on in therapy if they have been going to see a therapist.
Premier Bowl and Bistro in Pooler is another option. They also offer an indoor arcade but they offer a really fun bowling environment. Bowling can be really fun but also triggering for kids as it can be a challenge for them to work through the idea of not getting all the pins down. It require some focus skills and some slowness and self-awareness and control of their body which can be great for any hyperactive children.
23. Plan a “Yes Day” in Savannah
Let your child design a whole day: picnic at Forsyth, pastries at Auspicious Baking Company, which has two locations, followed by kite flying at Tybee. There are many times when behaviors of kids are about power control between kids and parents. A total Yes day would give children a lot of power and control and can help reduce some of the typical behaviors that are seen, even for the short time. This will help thee child feel more heard and may inspire you as a parent to slowly incorporate more yes’s for your child.
24. Visit One of the Several Museums
Savannah is a city of history and with it comes several museums that are available to visit. It can help enhance the learning opportunities over the summer months while the children are not in school and help tie it to the area they live in. Children often don’t understand why they need to learn what they do in school but it often feels different when that information is right underneath you, such as about the fact that the city is literally built over dead bodies. I mentioned earlier the Jepson Center which is one of the art museums that houses the children’s art center but there are several other options that the kids may find fun such as:
Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum
Gray’s Reef Ocean Discovery Center
The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force
Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum
There are tons of other options for museums you can enjoy. These are the ones that the kids may find the most interesting and be able to keep the most focus with.
25. Celebrate July 4th with Fireworks on the River
Savannah’s River Street 4th of July Festival features family-friendly events, food vendors, and an evening fireworks show over the water. Fourth of July is the ultimate summer celebration and maybe it can be one day of just pure fun, summer time vibes, and have be not about any other purpose other than to celebrate!
Final Thoughts
These 25 summer activities in Savannah, GA are all about creating memories, encouraging imagination, and building connection—right in your own backyard. Most of these activities are ones that are meant to increase family bonding, separate children from their screens, and improve creativity. They are also meant to be fun! The goal this summer can be to just get out and start trying to connect more to each other and nature!
