Sometimes our life gets crazy, running from pillar to post. Satisfying family obligations and checking off to-do lists become our top priority. But one of the traditions I’d like to start doing is having a seasonal bucket list for our family. With kids of varying ages – 2 to 14 and one on the way! – it can be tricky to come up with a family activity that everyone can enjoy, especially on short notice. My plan to make it easier is to have a ready-made list of kid approved activities for whenever the perfect opportunity arises.
Here’s what we’ll be aiming for this summer:
- Blueberry (June/July) & peach picking (July/August)
- Local ice cream shop
Visiting VA grandparents – June- Liberty Science Center in NJ
- Camden Aquarium in NJ
- Visit the local zoo
- Picnic outside at the park
- Eat dinner outside on our deck
- Eat outside at our favorite restaurant
- Take the boat out on the lake
- Visit the local music festival – August
- Host a BBQ
- Host a family movie night
- Playdates with friends: outdoors – park/picnic, indoors – trampoline park, local indoor theme park
- Hiking at local trail/waterfalls
At first it seemed like a short list, but I think 15 activities is just the right amount, and several can be duplicated or varied. We have tried many activities that just don’t seem to work for everyone: mini-golf is great for the grown-ups and the teen, but the two littles just want to climb all over the equipment and ignore the ball completely. Same with bowling.
So, for right now, with our ages and stages, this list is a good baseline. And of course, we plan to do many things separately as well because it really helps the teen feel less limited by how young her siblings are. There will also be date nights for mom and dad, and maybe even a date night here and there with only one of the kids. Weekends at grandma’s house are great for one child at a time, too.
Want to follow along as we check each item off our list? Follow the fun on Instagram here!
Do you have any special plans for the summer? Do you create a family bucket list? If so, I’d love to hear what’s on your list in the comments below.
LOVE hiking waterfalls!! This is a great list! 😀
Love this list! I’m home for the summer with my kids when I’m used to working part-time out of the home, so I’m often looking up lists of things to do : )
What a fun list!! I hope to go berry picking too! 🙂
Great list. I’d love to do something like this. We tend to do things last minute with little planning but I much prefer setting a schedule so I can be organized and stress free. I might steal some of these ideas lol
So many fun ideas for summer! Can’t wait to do these with my toddler. Thanks for sharing!
Summer is just starting for us (last day of school was today) so I look forward to trying out some of these ideas with the kids.
I love all of these ideas!!
These are great ideas! We actually just did the zoo yesterday!
I love these! They are simple yet very bonding. Just little things like eating outside versus in can make summertime that much more fun!
I’ve actually been looking for summer bucket list and some are so long I’m like yea I’ll never ever ever ever finish that lol. Loving the practicality of this.
This is a great list! We have so many of the same activities–we are actually going strawberry picking this weekend for the little ones!
I love this bucket list. We actually just came back from a weekend getaway from an amusement park.
We need summer activities and yet summer flies by! I think this is a great list, not too long and not too short!
such great ideas! we’ve been wanting to go berry picking again!