How do you keep your kids cool and calm on a hot day?

My kids are driving each other and me nuts. It's hot outside, and my little girl always seems to get way too overheated when we go outside. The heat makes her fussy, and her fussiness makes her even hotter. It's a nasty cycle, and her older brother doesn't help keep her calm, either.

And, if we stay inside, they all fuss and scream in side.

I'm losing my mind.

What's your tips for keeping kids cool, calm, and happy on hot days?

What's your tips for keeping kids cool, calm, and happy on hot days?

my friend's mum used to feed us frozen grapes as a snack if we got too hot.  a big bowl of them.  Tasty

My kids love popsicles. I'm thinking I might need some of these https://permies.com/t/84892/Push-pops-silicon. That way, when we make smoothies for dinner, we can make it a bit bigger and put the extra in these.

Or maybe I should just grow some grapes...

Let them play in a kiddy pool in the shade with some floating toys.

Older kids might like crafts that can be done outside in the shade.

Kiddy pools are especially helpful if you can place them near the garden.

We head to the coast.

I have four daughters and it can get bad if they are all in the house, hot and start getting after each other. To deal with that on a budget, we will get some sandwich stuff, and head down to the coast for a picnic. There is always a park, beach or wharf to hang out on, and being on the coast, it is always ten degrees cooler or more with an off shore breeze to keep us sane.

(Written by a house-husband who takes care of the kids while my wife works)

We let them play in the rain barrels, and hang out, wet, in the barn where it's shady while we're doing work outside.  Inside, if it's really hot, we retreat to the basement, which is unfinished, and let them run around down there.  The basement is often more than ten degrees (Celsius) cooler than the upstairs.  Long cool baths with tons of not-usually-allowed-in-the-tub toys are another thing we do lots.  There's really no keeping my kids calm, though.  They're 4 and 6, and full of energy.

I sit mine at a table in the shade a pick them berries and snap peas. This keeps them cool in the shade, and while I might not be able to get much work done, at least they're cool and the berries are getting picked!

I also like to make a water table for them. One time I blew bubbles into and it became a bubbly water table. They loved it! It kept them cool and happy for probably 20-30 minutes!

It was another hot day for my family. While I was hanging up cloths on my laundry line, I had my kids sitting in the shade of the house. I'd picked them some berries and then got thier little stainless steel tea set. I was tired of them breaking our mason jars on the cement patio, and figured this would be a perfect alternative. I filled their cups coconut water and then, once they drank all of that, filled up the tea pot with water so my son could keep their glassed topped off. THey loved it! I think tomorrow I'll find thier little tea saucers to put berries on!

Another thing we do to keep cool in the summer is to enjoy the free air conditioning of stores! We save our errands for the hot days, and then spend as much time as we can wandering around the store in the air conditioning. Sometimes, we'll even buy food and cook it in the microwaves of the grocery store's eating area, and have dinner there. By the time we're done, it's usually cool enough at home for the kids to play outside while we get all the fans blowing to cool the house back down.

I've found that water fights are great for a hot day. It helps them get their energy out while cooling them off. And if they wear their normal clothes and stay in them, it will keep them cool for hours.

Our kids have gone to lakes a lot this year, and it's really helped them keep cool. I know a family that--when it got to 112F here--they put a giant shade umbrella over the water and just sat there under the umbrella in the water for most of the day.

When we had that super hot year, we didn't have a lake nearby to set up camp in, so we put our one portable AC unit in my son's room (it's on the north side of the house). I kept both kids in there all day and night, and gave them lots of cold berries, fruit popsicles, and cold salads. Thankfully, even after three days with temps way over 100F, that room was staying 80F or under. The rest of the house was 90-95F.

To make the portable AC unit more efficient, I wrapped the exhaust tube with multiple wool blankets. That tube emits a lot of heat, and without insulation it doesn't actually really cool the room at all--it's like standing in front of an open fridge door. Sure, you're cold, but the room is heating up!

On less hot days, I have the kids water things with the hose in the shade, and gave them water tables to play with. One year, I put some soap/bubble mix in the water table, and that was a ton of fun for them. I can't find pictures of that, but I did manage to find a picture from when my husband had bought bubble-bath foam (I had no idea this was a thing), and they had a lot of fun in the water table with that.