With the summer sun rising higher in the sky each day, temperatures outside are getting so high that you can often feel cooped up with your kids. If you’re looking for fun and engaging ways to keep your clan entertained without getting too hot this summer, here are five great ideas to try!

1. Have an indoor treasure hunt

One way to keep the kids entertained without even leaving the house is to have a homemade scavenger hunt. Make a set of clues for each player, or have each player make their own set of clues and then trade. Consider using rhyming clues for young children to make it more fun. Each clue must lead to another clue, and so on, until the player reaches the treasure. You can use envelopes to hide your clues and offer a small price, like a toy or candy, to the person who solves the puzzles and wins the treasure first!

2. Create a family cookbook

Another fun family project that is sure to consume a lot of time is involving the kids in creating a family cookbook. Not only will it be a fun way to spend your afternoons over the summer, but it will also teach your kids an important skill that they will definitely use when they move on to college or the world of work. Not only that, by the end of the summer your kids will have a healthy list of recipes that they can use to make dinners for the whole family! No more slaving on a hot stove for mom and dad.

3. Indoor camp

When it’s too hot to go camping outside (or the state park is too far away), consider settling inside for a picnic and camping. Offer kids a variety of materials—sheets, rope, cardboard boxes, foam pieces, or even an actual tent—and watch their creative instincts run wild as they build amazing fortresses of their own. They will get excited reading spooky campfire stories with a lantern in their tents. Bonus points for putting together a picnic blanket with crackers, cheese, and apple slices!

4. Go to the library

The library is a great place to take the kids when it’s too hot outside to play outside. Many libraries offer summer reading programs for children that can be extremely helpful in instilling in your children a lifelong love of reading. They will earn points and often win prizes for the more books they read. Also, many libraries offer story hours for younger children. Beyond entertaining the kids for a few hours by letting them roam and read in the library, they often come home with hours of entertainment!

5. See a medieval exhibit

Another educational opportunity that will keep you fresh is taking the family to a display of medieval entertainment. Your children will learn a lot about life in the Middle Ages when they see trained actors in period costume, dressed as noblemen and ladies of the court, or in shining metal armor as knights. They’ll love eating an authentic medieval meal with their hands while watching an authentic jousting display before their very eyes.