35 Minutes to Making a Summer Bucket List With Your Kids

I LOVE summer. You couldn’t even begin to imagine how much I love it. After a week or two of 50 degree temps in April, we STILL had a ton of snow. May is usually still on the cold side for me, so summer is really only 3 months long. We get our summer mileage by having a summer bucket list.

35 Minutes to a Summer Bucket List:

0:00-5:00 Gather Your Supplies
Grab your calendar, planner and/or phone as well as something to write on and with.   A giant pad of paper & markers or a whiteboard would be good.  Or even a notebook & pen.

5:00-10:00 Round Up the Crew
The best summer bucket list is one that everyone has contributed to and everyone feels represented on, so gather the whole crew together. My 3 year old has some opinions and I’m sure the teenagers will, too.

10:00-15:00 Events
First, consider events that you traditionally do. Decide if you still want to do them and find out when they are.  For my family, we go to the fireworks at the Cherry Festival and visit my family during their festival.  There are also family reunions, horseshoe tournaments and races that need to be considered.  So think of & consider yours!

15:00-20:00 Places
Consider places you want to go.  Brainstorming could include actual vacations to places near home. I’m sure my daughters will add miniature golf to ours.  I always want to go to Mackinaw City and the drive-in movie theatre.  Is there some place you’ve always meant to go, but haven’t yet?

20:00-25:00 Food
What kinds of food is it not summer until you’ve had them?  We like to walk & get ice cream at the old ice cream shop nearby and get slushies on free slurpie day from the 7-11.  Lemonade, watermelon and fresh strawberries are high on that list, too.

25:00-30:00 Activities, home
While we try to pack in as much as we can, there is nothing like being home, especially when you’ve been gone a lot.  So what are some fun things you can do at home?  Water balloon fights?  Obstacle courses?  Star gazing or outside movie night?  Don’t forget a few things to do inside in case of rain or excessive heat!

30:00-35:00 Narrow it down
There are 90 days of summer but you don’t want to be pressured to do something all of them.   Narrow down your list to 20-30 items–a few in each category, so you aren’t ALWAYS gone.  In our house, food ones are easy, because we just naturally do them, and if you don’t, you could always combine them into a giant summer feast day!  Consider your budget and maybe even get each person to give you the three they most want to do.  Put the final list somewhere that everyone can see it.

Do you make a seasonal bucket list?