The 9 Best Codepens for Summer

For many of us, this week marks the true start of summer. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up some of the most fun, summer-inspired pens on Codepen.

For many of us, this week marks the true start of summer—here in Canada, we celebrated Canada Day on July 1, while our American neighbors are off today for Independence Day. Since this has us in a summery mood, we’re sharing some of our favorite summer-themed pens on Codepen. Use these for inspiration, to grab attention and reduce bounce rate, or just as an excuse to look at cute things on the internet. Enjoy!

Not summer in your hemisphere? Check out our list of 7 Inspiring Stores Built by Shopify Partners to Get You Through the Winter for something more seasonally-appropriate.

1. Cocktail

See the Pen cocktail animation by Vangel Tzo (@srekoble) on CodePen.

If this doesn’t scream summer, I don’t know what does—a cold drink, a lime wedge, and some mint looks to me like the ideal summer cocktail. It’s cute and enticing, and looks ready to enjoy on a dock at the lake.

2. CSS Snake and Ladders

See the Pen CSS Snake & Ladders: a multiplayer game developed in HTML+CSS with no JS by Alvaro Montoro (@alvaromontoro) on CodePen.

This recommendation comes from Liam Griffin, Partner Education and Front End Developer Advocate.

“Summertime in Ireland can be rainy just as often as it's sunny, so I have lots of memories of summer days spent indoors playing board games,” Liam explains. “This clever codepen recreates Snakes and Ladders, so you can relive hours of jubilation and disappointment with your friends. What is super impressive here is that the game is built using only HTML and CSS, making creative use of animation effects to simulate this childhood classic.” 

According to creator Alvaro Montoro, the idea behind this project is that many classic board games are actually Finite-State Machines (FSM).

“They can be recreated simulating the states of the automaton with radio buttons, labels, and some CSS styling."

3. Watermelon

See the Pen CSS Watermelon by Ophelia Fournier-Laflamme (@opheliafl) on CodePen.

This cute little animation is one of the tastiest treats of the season.

4. Summer character animation

See the Pen 06-Summer Character Animation(Pure CSS) by Akhil Sai Ram (@akhil_001) on CodePen.

It’s silly, and that’s why it’s perfect.

5. Barbecue

See the Pen BBQ by pure CSS, no image, no javascript by AaronChuo (小狂) (@aaronchuo) on CodePen.

Is there anything better than a summer barbecue? This one made with CSS and Sass looks like it smells delicious.

6. Summer vacations

See the Pen Css Paint - Summer Vacations by George Gkasdrogkas (@georgegkas) on CodePen.

Reminiscent of summer camp, this one makes me want to pack my bags and head immediately to the cottage.

7. Boat

See the Pen Boat by Judith Neumann (@judag) on CodePen.

This nautical-themed animation is perfect to evoke those long warm days out on the water.

8. Camping

See the Pen Camping by francesca (@fran-cesca) on CodePen.

For many of us, summer means camping, perfectly encapsulating this little animation. Even better—clicking on it changes the scene from day to night.

9. Parallax sunset

See the Pen Mouse-Based-Parallax Sunset by Adam Quinlan (@quinlo) on CodePen.

This nature-themed parallax reacts to your mouse to create a colorful wilderness scenery.

Happy summer 🌻

We hope you enjoyed this collection of sunny pens, and we hope you have a great summer!

Have any of your own favorite pens from Codepen? Share them in the comments below!