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Summer is swiftly approaching! All around us people are getting ready for summer camps, vacations, beach days, and all the other fun summer activities. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to pull together a list of summer bucket list ideas for kids that you and your homeschooling family could do over the summer!
In order to help your children create their own summer bucket list, I would recommend calling out some of these ideas and having them choose which ones interest them. If you like, you could always leave out the ones that you know are not practical this summer for your family or for your child. Encourage your children to be creative, choose the ones that appeal to them, and even add their own at the end, if they like!
Without further adieu, here is a list of 50 summer bucket list ideas for kids!
Inexpensive.
These bucket list ideas can be accomplished with little to no financial investment. They can be done as a family or by children individually 🙂
- Go on an outdoor family hike
- Spend a night outside in a tent or on a trampoline
- Enjoy a picnic lunch in the backyard
- Build a fort in the living room
- Develop a bug collection
- Have a day outside with some kind of water activity (swimming, a slip and slide, water balloons, water guns, etc.)
- Play hide and go seek in the dark as a family
- Enjoy some glow stick fun on a summer evening or catch lightning bugs
- Do some star-gazing
- Go bird-watching and document your results
- Create a nature journal
- Read at least 15 books (can be from a library!)
- Write a song
- Take pictures of 20 different animals/birds/bugs
- Write a story (fiction or nonfiction)
After considering some different ideas for a nature journal, I found a couple options that I thought I would share with you. This nature journal is super simple. It is basically a black and white template for your kids to fill in with their own creativity. It would allow them to document the different places they see and what sets each place apart. Though it is not super colorful, I think it would be really fun with colored crayons and maybe even some stickers to personalize the pages 🙂
Additionally, there is a whole series of these books, but I thought this one was really neat for kids who are ready to do some exploring!
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Caterpillars, Bugs and Butterflies By Mel BoringThis fabulous Take-Along guide combines all the best elements of non-fiction, craft books, picture books, and nature guides. Illustrations fill the pages that give descriptions of what specific Caterpillars, bugs and insects look like, as well as what they eat and where to find them. Crafts are interspersed throughout, giving children something in nature to look for and look forward to making something with. 47 glossy pages, softcover, includes scrapbook blank pages. |
Travel.
These ideas are trip options for you and your family. The license plate idea would work great for a road trip along with the post card collecting. My brothers and I had post card collections growing up, and it was such a fun way to chart our travels (or our dad’s travels) for a very small price.
- Go to a zoo
- Go to an aquarium
- Go to a museum
- Document all 50 states in license plates
- Visit a national park
- Go biking somewhere pretty
- Start your own postcard collection
- Go fishing
- Visit a tree house
- Go to an amusement park
Skill-based.
- Bake a pie
- Bake a cake
- Make popsicles
- Learn to knit/crochet
- Make $20 selling a craft of your choice
- Learn to skip rocks on water
- Run an 8 minute mile
- Grow a garden
- Journal every day of the summer
- Put together a scrapbook of pictures they took over the summer
Ministry-minded.
It is so important to instill in children an “others” based mentality. A quote that has helped me with this concept so much through the years is:
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” – Rick Warren
I think this quote so effectively puts into words what it means to be focused on others. Children must learn to be confident while also putting the needs of others before their own, and intentionally ministering to others and seeing the great needs around them can help them learn that.
With that in mind, here are a few summer bucket list ideas that focus on being mindful of and serving others:
- Visit a nursing home
- Hand out 100 Gospel tracts over the summer
- Take a missions trip/Go to summer camp or VBS
- Find a pen-pal that is on the missions field
- Spend time with an older individual in your church
- Learn to play a Gospel song on an instrument of your choice
- Memorize an entire chapter in the Bible
- Do something selfless and kind for a family member
- Write a handwritten, thoughtful letter to a loved one
- Pray every day of the summer for the missionaries your church supports
- Raise $50 for a cause your church supports
- Get involved in church visitation, if available
- Send a thank you note to someone you appreciate
- Write your own prayer list
- Read a book about a missionary or preacher
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And, there you have it: 50 summer bucket list ideas for kids! I sincerely hope that this list has been an inspiration to you and your kids as you get ready to have a very wonderful summer. I challenge you to live it intentionally and to make the most of every day! Your kids are worth it.
Do you have any other ideas to add to this list? Which idea is your favorite?
I would love to hear from you in the comments below!
Until next time
