Use our Summer Bucket List to come up with fun ways to spend the summer with your family. We’ve come up with 100 ways to have fun and make lasting memories with your kids during their summer break.
We are at the point in the school year when even the teachers are counting down the days before Summer break. Are you looking forward to the extra time you’ll get with your kids? Or are you dreading having to try to keep the kids entertained each day just to keep the peace in the house?
Whatever situation you’re in, we’ve got you covered with our amazing Summer Bucket List.
We make a list like this every year. Not because I like to schedule every hour of my kids’ down-time. Mostly, it’s just a great way to get the kids involved in making plans for fun family time.
The whole notion that “you only get 18 summers” with your kids is so compelling, and we feel the time slipping away every summer that passes. Our kids are now 10 and 12. The number of summers we have with them is down in the single digits!
So, no pressure, but this is the time for fun, connection, and memory making.
What’s included on our bucket list for this summer?
One of the things I love about our list, and that gets me really excited about it, is the variety of activities we’ve come up with.
My kids LOVE adventure, trying new things, and going to new places.
Our summer will be filled with simple, fun-at-home ideas and outings to gardens and museums. Plus, we included a mix of crafts, physical activities, personal development activities, and plenty of adventure.
Take a look below at all 100 ideas we came up with this Summer.
Here are 100 fun Summer Bucket List Ideas:
- Have a water balloon fight
- Make giant bubbles
- Learn 5 new card games
- Go tubing down a river
- Put together a 5,000 piece puzzle
- Take a trip to the beach
- Make ice cream in a bag
- Go kayaking or canoeing
- Make God’s Eye crafts
- Slide down a slip-n-slide
- Climb a tree
- Make friendship bracelets
- Make galaxy shoes
- Fly a kite
- Go to the zoo
- Make homemade bouncy balls
- Play a game of Frisbee
- Make homemade snow cones
- Write a letter to a school friend or relative
- Visit an aquarium
- Play hide-and-seek
- Make ice art
- Learn 10 words in a new language
- Have a cupcake decorating party
- Draw a self-portrait
- Go for a ride on a bus
- Pick 5 personal possessions to donate
- Make a treasure map
- Go to a skating rink
- Go to a ball game
- Make cardboard carnival games
- Have a karaoke party
- Do sidewalk chalk art
- Camp out in the back yard
- Put on a play for family and friends
- Build a pillow fort
- Play flashlight tag
- Build a model airplane
- Visit a garden
- Make a root beer float
- Find cloud shapes in the sky
- Go on a scavenger hunt
- Bake a 3 layer cake
- Play mini golf
- Build a sand volcano
- Go fishing
- Make paper airplanes
- Conduct a science experiment
- Visit an art museum
- Make a banana split
- Play horseshoes
- Roast S’mores
- Have squirt gun cup races
- Make a lemonade stand
- Build a tree fort
- Make a treasure map
- Visit a science museum
- Learn how to finger knit
- Make a PVC pipe water park
- Play solitaire
- Make shell art
- Take something apart
- Ride on a train
- Go stargazing/watch a meteor shower
- Plant a sunflower
- Help a neighbor
- Go on a picnic
- Write a story
- Play laser tag
- Make a daisy chain
- Visit a grandparent
- Build a birdhouse
- Start a collection
- Visit the pool
- Have a dance party
- Create with melty beads
- Play tennis
- Visit a butterfly garden
- Go for a hike
- Have a carwash at home
- Set up a wildlife camera and keep a journal of what you see
- Have a bake sale
- Build a house of cards
- Make a kite
- Go zip-lining
- Create your own comic book
- Play dress-up
- Go out for ice cream
- Build a domino run
- Go on a bike ride
- Create origami animals
- Make a ribbon wand
- Create a puppet show
- Build a catapult
- Make squirt gun/water balloon art on canvas
- Plant a pole bean teepee
- Make a pizza box solar oven
- Skip rocks
- Tie dye t-shirts
- Create a backyard obstacle course
You can use this printable with all of our Summer bucket list ideas on it. Feel free to use ours as your own bucket list, or just use it for inspiration to get your juices flowing while you and your family come up with more ideas.
Make Your Own Summer Bucket List
I always include the kids when we make our lists of things we want to do each Summer. Most of the time we’re on the same page, but sometimes they come with ideas I never would have thought of. For example, this year “play tennis” and “have a dance party” made the list….Not my ideas, but totally fun and doable.
So, I definitely want to encourage you to grab the kids and come up with as many fun things to do that you can think of. Then, have them pick their top 3-5 ideas from the list. These will be the ones you’ll definitely want to hit.
When we make our bucket list, we know we aren’t going to do everything on the list. In fact, “tubing down a river” has been on our list for a few years now! But, when we’re sitting around bored and someone says, “What should we do today?”, we have an amazing list we can look at and find something to do.
That being said, it’s worth scheduling in a few things that are really important, or that take more planning, to make sure you’re hitting some of the more important things on your list.
Here are some Summer Bucket List planning printables to help you keep all of your ideas in order.
Use this blank list to create your own Summer Bucket List with your family:
Then, print these monthly calendars to keep track of which bucket list items you want to do each month:
Here’s the download link for the entire set of Summer Bucket List printable:
Have a Summer Full of Memories
I hope you were able to get some ides for spending time with the kids this Summer. Making memories together can really be easy, and we all agree it’s important. But, sometimes we have to be intentional about it if we don’t want to end up vegging out in front of the TV all Summer.
By making a few plans and goals, and letting the kids get excited about all that Summer has to offer, you’ll be getting off to a great start.
Your Summer will be filled with fun and laughter, and the kind of connection that will fills kids up on the inside. For us, this translates into happier kids, better moods all around, less bickering between siblings, and less stress over all! It’s a win-win for everyone.
If you missed the download links, you can click here to get the entire collection printables for your Summer planning.
