31+ Practical Outdoor Projects for Your Home
31+ Outdoor Summer Projects You Can DIY for Your Home. Everything from outdoor solar lighting DIY’s, Bird feeders, Fairy Gardens to make and even outdoor summer games for families.
We always enjoy an outdoor project or 2, maybe even 3 during the summer months. Do you? This list of 7 Practical Outdoor Summer Projects for you Home includes; making a birdfeeder, repurpose something, plant some flowers from seed, make a fairy garden, install a rain barrel, make an outdoor solar light and build a cornhole board.
We’ve even included a free printable of cornhole rules and suggestions for each idea to help you get started.
Let’s get right into the projects and ideas.
Table of Contents
- 1. Make Something for the Birds
- 2. Repurpose something
- 3. Plant Some Flowers from Seed
- 4. Make a Fairy Garden
- Â 5. Install a Rain Barrel
- 6. Make an outdoor solar light
- 7. DIY Outdoor Games for Family
- More Outdoor Living Ideas
1. Make Something for the Birds
This Patriotic Repurposed Can Birdfeeder is an easy repurposed coffee can project to involve the kiddos this summer! Easy to make with years of pleasure for the birds and a teachable moment for the kiddos. UPDATE: The birds prefer using it for nesting. It has a nest in every year and we love that.
- How To Decorate A Birdhouse with Paint
- DIY See Rock City Barn Birdhouse
- How To Make Milk Jug Bird Feeders
- Easy Homemade Bird Suet Recipe
2. Repurpose something
I may get a little carried away when it comes to Repurposing. I just love doing it.
Repurpose project ideas
- Five Common Household Items Repurposed
- Check out how we made our DIY Tea Cup Sconce Planter after a trip to the Habitat for Humanity Restore.
- DIY Wire Basket Outdoor Table
- 21 Budget Friendly DIY Outdoor Decorating Ideas
- Upcycle An Enamelware Canner Pot Into A Large Flower Container
Here are some favorite repurposing ideas which are very doable. Can you believe they used coffee container’s to make these Tiki Statues? I love this one the most!!
3. Plant Some Flowers from Seed
It’s not too late to plant some seeds in the ground. While shopping for plants is always fun, growing from seed has it’s own reward!
- Marigolds From Seed To Bloom
- 15 Best Annual Flowers for Full Sun
- How To Use Milk Jugs For Winter Seed Sowing
- 15 Cooking Herbs You Can Easily Grow At Home
4. Make a Fairy Garden
Fairy Gardens can be a fun summer project also. It’s the accessories which will make yours unique. Some of my favorite Fairy Garden accessories include; the fairy house, stepping stones, the flowers, the fairy and doors.
Can you see the penny roof on the fairy house above? How adorable is that! Thanks Burgh Baby for the inspiration.
Interested? Need ideas now? Check out my Fairy Garden Ideas board on Pinterest.
This adorable Fairy Garden Well is a repurpose, upcycle project from Erlene at My Pinterventures.Â
More Fairy Garden Ideas
- Fairy Garden Ideas
- Fairy Garden Mushrooms Made From Salt & Pepper Shakers (another repurpose project)
- Fairy Garden Tablescape
- Our 2016 Fairy Garden Tour
 5. Install a Rain Barrel
Do you live in a area with water restrictions during the summer months? Installing a rain barrel is easier than you may think. A rain barrel doesn’t have to be expensive. You also do not need to have a downspout, a rain chain will guide the rain water from the roof to the barrel also. Check out this post Rain Barrels DIY or Buy.
6. Make an outdoor solar light
I’m in love with outdoor solar lighting. You can repurpose those solar path lights in many different ways. They are fairly easy projects, mostly involving glue.
My husband and I made this Solar Porch Chandelier using solar path lights and a thrift store chandelier. We enjoy the soft glow on our front porch while listening to the crickets sing on cool summer nights.
More Solar Light DIY Projects
- An Old Lantern Repurposed Into Solar Lighting. We use this on the front porch for ambience.
- A great 4th of July project for outdoor lighting. Frosted Mason Jar Patriotic Luminaries
- This was a fun repurpose project for solar outdoor lighting. DIY Outdoor Solar Light Floor Lamp
- DIY Solar Directional Deck Lighting
 DIY Solar Lighted Address Post
Do you need to display your address better? Living rural means house numbers are not always visible from the road since our home sits back on our property a bit. My husband made this simple address sign for our home. This is a very easy and inexpensive project.
Although the street numbers are reflective, this rural address post is topped with an attractive solar light.
Easy project instructions
- 4×4 wood post cut to your desired size
- 2 sets of reflective numbers (one for each side)
- paint (optional)
- Gorilla glue
- 4″ solar cap light
Cut a 4×4 post to your needed size. Paint it or leave it unpainted, that’s up to you. Reflective outside house numbers are great for this purpose.. Attach the numbers on two sides. Glue the solar light to the top of the post. Install into the ground and enjoy.
You can rest easy knowing that if you need emergency services, the first responders can easily find your home with a prominent address sign like this easy DIY address post.
7. DIY Outdoor Games for Family
Outdoor games are the most fun with family and friends. It’s a great way to stay home and enjoy the summer months.
- DIY this awesome Water Tarp Game
- How To Make A Ring And Hook Game
- 35 Family Friendly Games for Kids & Grown Ups
- How To Build A Bean Bag Toss Board from Built By Kids is an excellent tutorial for the project.
Here is a free printable for the Rules & Regulations of American Cornhole. If you take your Cornhole extremely serious go Here to the American Cornhole Organization site for more detailed rules.
More Outdoor Living Ideas
- Our Front Porch Makeover
- Porch Swing Makeover
- New Paint Saves An Old Porch Table
- DIY Fabric Covered Flower Containers to Match Porch Pillows
- The Surprising Reason My Hydrangea Wouldn’t Bloom
- Outdoor Frog Statue Makeover Before and After
Great ideas! Thanks for linking up at The Talented Tuesday Link Party!
Great round-up of ideas! I think the coffee can tiki are my fave. Bring on summer! Visiting from Talented Tuesday.
Hello! I love all these fantastic ideas but # 5 & #6 are something I really would love to do this summer! Thank you for sharing with us at the Talented Tuesday Link Party! Enjoy the rest of your week, Kim
Loving your summer craft especially anything to do with the garden. Thanks for sharing #overthemoon
These are some great projects! I see several that I’ll be doing with my teens in the next few weeks! Thank you for sharing at the Talented Tuesday Link Party!
Loving all of these ideas, so creative and fun crafts for summer! I really want to try and make the solar light chandelier! The tiki posts are pretty neat too! Thanks for inspiring some creativity, my lawn should be looking good soon. 🙂
Great summer projects – Thanks for linking up to Pin Worthy Wednesday, I have pinned your post to the Pin Worthy Wednesday Pinterest Board
Love all of these projects. That fairy garden in the metal pail is gorgeous. Thanks for including mine too 🙂
Summer is a great time for projects and a good way to get the family involved. Thanks for some great ideas and linking up with #WednesdaysWisdom
These are all great DIYs!! My group of friends are huge cornhole buffs, and I love the idea of making our own set for when they come to our house for get-togethers. As for the rain barrel, I’m pretty sure collecting rainwater is illegal in my state, which is SO ridiculous, but I love the idea just the same! Who has to know?!
We love playing cornhole! A few years ago our daughter gave us GA Bulldog cornhole boards for Christmas and we enjoy playing with the family. Your fairy garden is so adorable! These are all practical, yet amazing, summer projects!
These are wonderful ideas. The fairy garden is super cute. I don’t have a space for a real garden, but I could probably pull this off using pots. I started planting herbs and veggies last month and next will be the flowers. Thanks for sharing!
This is great! I am all about DIYs and re-using especially during the Summer when we can all get out there and re-create! I loved all of your ideas, they are just so creative! It would definitely make for a fun family activity and we can be loving and using it all summer long! Thank you for sharing!!
These are great summer projects! I love you address sign. And thank you so much for the shout out!
Cornhole is so fun to play! These are some great projects. Love the solar light chandelier and the fairy gardens.
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
Great ideas. I like the bird feeder idea. My children made bird houses last year and this year we have a family of eastern bluejays living out of it and they are on their second round of eggs. We watch them all the time and have grown to adore them. Those birds are such great parents.
These are all such great ideas…I can’t decide which is my favorite. I love making bird feeders and recycling whenever I can. I can’t believe all of the hype about fairy gardens…but then again I’m sure a ton of work goes into them. Happy Summer!
I love these craft ideas for summer. With all of the free time we are shortly to have with the kids, I am definitely going to facilitate at least a couple of these projects. I am thinking that the coffee can tiki, and the fairy garden are definitely going to be on our to-do list – maybe the rain barrel too since we get so much rain.
I love that these are great little projects to make!! I think the bird feeder would be a great one to do, I love to watch when the birds come around. The chandelier would be a fun way to decorate outside.
These are some really neat ideas. I love making stuff like this in the summer with my kids for art projects. I also love that they are useful and needed for something, not just a craft that sits around and then gets thrown away. Great ideas!