Creating Lasting Memories with a Summer Bucket List

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I’m excited to share this guest post by Katie J. Trent from Grow Your Faith. Katie is the author of Dishing up Devotions: 36 Faith-Building Activities for Homeschooling Families (available for pre-order now). She inspires homeschool moms to grow their faith, strengthen their families, and simplify their homeschools.

Summer is around the corner, and I couldn’t be more excited! Whether you homeschool year-round (like we do) or take a long break each summer, I know you want to make the most of the time you have together. The days often feel long, but we realize the years are short. In our house, we focus on cultivating lasting memories, and summer offers an amazing opportunity to do just that! I try to make the most of each break, knowing that before long, our kids will be off on their own adventures. 

The good news is, we don’t have to plan lavish vacations in order to make beautiful memories with our kids. In fact, I have found the most precious moments don’t require much at all. Our family’s favorite summer tradition is to create a Summer Bucket List. We typically utilize our homeschool dry erase board to create a list of things we want to do during our summer break. The kids love checking each item off and then looking back at all the amazing memories we made! 

You can also create a scrapbook or digital photo book with all your summer bucket list activities as a keepsake for graduation. Our kids look forward to this every year, and are already brainstorming ideas for this summer! Best of all, most of the items on the Summer Bucket List are simple and inexpensive activities that can be done at home or in your neighborhood! 

Need some help getting started?  Here are 35 of our family’s favorite summer activities.

Summer Bucket List Ideas

1. Lay out under the stars
2. Blow bubbles
3. Decorate sidewalk with chalk art
4. Go swimming
5. Have a picnic in the park
6. Go on a family nature walk around the neighborhood
7. Ride bikes together
8. Eat shaved ice/snow cone
9. Run through the sprinkler together
10. BBQ with friends
11. Visit a local museum
12. Go to the zoo
13. Plant something together
14. Spend the day at a lake/river/ocean
15. Go camping (or sleep outside in the backyard)
16. Make s’mores 
17. Try a new park
18. Go on a scenic drive
19. Hike
20. Buy an ice cream from the truck
21. Look for pictures in cloud formations, then try to draw them
22. Pick a bouquet of wildflowers
23. Make a birdfeeder to hang in your yard
24. Watch an outdoor movie
25. Have a dance party
26. Make a blanket fort together
27. Water balloon fight
28. Paint rocks and hide them around your neighborhood
29. Go to a farmer’s market
30. Movie marathon
31. Family game night
32. End of summer celebration with friends or neighbors
33. Go to the fair or an amusement park
34. Play in the mud together
35. Visit a you-pick field or orchard

What would you add to the list? Drop a comment and share it with us! I always love to add new items to our bucket list!

Be sure to grab my FREE Summer Bucket List and Blank Bucket List Templates below, and have a great summer!

This guest post is part of the Homeschool Summer Fun Series. Make sure to check out the series landing page to learn more about the series and find all of the posts in one place!