I alluded to my Summer Bucket List in my last post. My Summer Bucket List is the list of things I hope to accomplish with the kids by the time school resumes in August. 99.9% of the time, I don’t accomplish most that’s on the list and then I feel really bad about it when they go back to school. (Well we do try to cram as much as possible into that week before school starts to ease a bit of my guilt 
.)
This year, I decided to take things a bit more seriously and follow the lead of amazing blogger and mama, Amy Clark. Amy created a “100 Days of Summer” Pinterest board last year and I watched, enviously, as she checked the items off, one by one. She’s doing it again this year and I can’t wait to see all the fun she has with her kids.
I decided to make my own Summer of 2012 Pinterest board, thinking something more concrete might be exactly what we need to make the most of our time this year. My list is fairly large, and I can guarantee we won’t get everything done on the list, but I’m hoping we can cross a lot of the things off! So, without further ado, here is our Summer of Fun Bucket List for 2012.
- Go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt
- Go on a Family Moon Walk
- Make homemade Waffle Cones for Ice Cream
- Have a water balloon fight
- Watch the 4th of July Fireworks
- Make inexpensive chalkboard message boards for each kids room
- Have a neighborhood squirt bottle water fight
- Paint Rocks
- Teach the kids how to play tennis
- Go to a Kansas City T-Bones Game
- Make homemade pretzels
- Have a watermelon eating contest
- Have at least one date night with each kid individually
- Build an awesome indoor fort and live in it for the day
- Make artwork placemats
- Find a good book to read a chapter out loud of every day
- Make homemade Coke Icees
- Have an overnight staycation in our town
- Make homemade bagels using the bread machine
- Make funnel cakes
- Teach the kids to follow the FlyLady Daily Kids Challenges
- Decorate water bottles and drink lots of water all summer long
- Watch the sunset, preferably near the water
- Make and eat sno cones
- Make treats and take to the fire station
- Have an outdoor movie night
- Go to a production at Theater in the Park
- Make a PVC pipe sprinkler car wash
- Plan and do several Acts of Kindness for others
- Have a pajama day (at least one!)
- Take the kids to the Independence, KS park and zoo
- Make homemade musical instruments
- Play flashlight tag
- Go on a road trip / day trip with no destination in mind
- Go to a small town festival in Kansas
- Visit the Omaha Zoo
- Go to the Tonganoxie Rodeo
- Go on a picnic in the park
- Go fishing in Iowa with the cousins
- Have a Shrimp Boil
- Go to Happy Valley Farm to pick berries
- Take the kids on an ABC Photo Walk
- Make a Cookie Cutter Bird Feeder
- Participate in the Great American Backyard Campout
- Play miniature golf in Parkville
- Make Flubber
- Make Glow Stick Lanterns
- Make Old Fashioned Egg Cream Floats
- Go to the Missouri State Fair
- Send handwritten notes to friends and loved ones
- Have the kids write in journals each day
- Create a summer music playlist and listen to songs from it each day
- Go hiking at Shawnee Mission Park
- Fly a kite
- Sharpie Dye T-Shirts
- Make and eat homemade ice cream for breakfast
- Ride in a canoe or pedal boat
- Make a jar and catch lightening bugs (then release)
- Have a summer solstice party
- Take a family vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park / Estes Park
- Visit my niece and Aunt and Uncle in Branson, MO… go to Silver Dollar City
- Have an old fashioned, outdoor play party – play Red Rover, Red Light Green Light
- Go on a photo scavenger hunt
- Make homemade, glazed yeast doughnuts
- Jump in puddles
- Make regular trips to the library and load up on great books for summer reading
- Play back yard frisbee golf
- Make word cloud about me portraits
- Find pictures in the clouds
- Paint with water
- Make Sidewalk Chalk Paint
- Make homemade bubbles
- Make water bottle bubble blowers
- Make and play Balloon Ping Pong
- Do glow stick lawn bowling, at night
- Make an outdoor Twister game
- Make homemade root beer
- Go bowling
- Make homemade popsicles
- Make Summer Sponge Bombs & play splash tag
- Do giant canvas finger painting
- Play hide and seek with glow sticks outside at night
- Go swimming at the pool as much as possible
- Go see a double feature at the Drive-In movie theater
and one final thing…
- Make an Instagram Photo Album at the end of the summer that captures all the fun we had, no matter what we end up doing!
Alright – that’s about it! There are some fun new ideas I’m excited to try and some tried and true fun summer favorites that we do each year. I hope you’ll stop by Pinterest and create a summer fun board of your own! Let me know what your plans are for the summer. Whatever you do, I hope it is a safe, happy and fun one!
Man, I’m kinda wishing I was YOUR kid!! I will certainly be referring back to this post all summer.
I hope you will, Sommer! I’m sure you have some fun things up your sleeve as well!
I love this list. My kids are still young to do most of it but I’ll have fun watching along as you check things off
I feel like my kids were too young just yesterday. Hate how fast time flies!
It is a cool list. I like the staycation idea. My kids love just going out to eat and swimming in a hotel pool in our home town. I think they have almost as much fun as when we go out of town, and costs a lot less!
We did that at Easter a couple years ago and had such a blast. It was nice to have a “vacation” without the drive and stress of traveling with kids!
Love these ideas! I saved several of them, thanks!!!
Thanks so much, Debbi!
What an awesome summer! Can I come? If your kids haven’t read the Girl who circumnavigated fairyland, that might be a good one! I just started it and love it so far.
Thank you so much for the book recommendation! I was just looking at some today. That sounds like one my kids would love!
Randomly found your list on Pinterest and it’s making me miss KC. We just moved from there to TX in Jan. There was so much I hadn’t done yet. Oh well, just a reason to visit…and explore my new city more. Happy Summer fun!
Ahhhh
What part of TX are you in now? Seems like we’ve been losing a lot of friends and family to Texas lately! It’s a great state and I’m sure you’ll find lots of fun things to fill your summer with there too 
In the Austin area. There is lots to do and it already feels like summer..since February, I think.
Austin is such a great city! My friend (and fellow blogger) Natalie lives in Austin. She just did a summer list too – make sure to check it out as she may have some things on it that would be fun for you to discover! http://cookingformykids.com/2012/05/19/summer-fun-list-2012/
Love love love the list! So much fun – and it doesn’t matter if one or all get done – everything on there is going to be great time spent with the kids! I think that half the effort is having the ideas so you aren’t just trying to come up with an idea like pulling a rabbit out of your hat! The nice thing is also that you have plenty of both home and out ideas so that you can do whatever works best for the day/week…I am feeling SO inspired! (And I am going right from your site to Fly Lady to check out the kid challenge!!)
That was my goal – to have a good mix of activities and to have some we can do on congruently. Look forward to sharing some of this fun with you this summer!
I love all these ideas Kristen! makes me wish my girls were still little!
Thanks, Cheryl and thanks for featuring this post on your roundup!
totally love this list, Kristen! So inspiring!!! x
Thanks, friend! I hope you have a wonderful summer.
thanks for linking up Kristen, I featured you post on my wrap up http://tidymom.net/2012/12-cool-ideas-for-summer/
Have a great weekend!
I love this list! Even though my kids are turning 12 and 10, they loved everything on this list and even added a couple of things. we have season passes to a water park in Gulfport, MS and they added some things for us to do there in case of rain! They named our list Camp Pierce.
. Thanks for the great ideas!
Oh that’s so fun! Keep me posted on what you all end up doing. Have a great summer, Kasey!
Siiiigh I always feel like the worst mom ever at the end of summer. It’s just so hard to get motivated some days. But this is my oldest’s last summer before school starts. I’m hoping we can make it super special.
I feel that way every single year. I’m hoping having a few ideas laid out will help alleviate that feeling!
Thank you so much for your time and creativity you have put in all these wonderful ideas! I was getting a little worried about our summer days..and you have made me excited..and my 3 girls!!!
Oh I am so glad to hear that this will help you and your girls have a great summer! Thanks for the comment
That is quiet a list! I may steal one or two of your ideas. Homemade pretzels have been on my list for a while now. We have never attended our state fair but I love our county fair. A Pinterest board is a great idea!
I love the visual of having my list on Pinterest. Nick actually printed it off too (the entire board) so I have a visual right in front of me as well
Have a great summer.
You really have an awesome summer of fan bucket list kids 2012. Your kids definitely enjoying all the fan bucket list you made. It is absolutely fit for summer fan for kids.
How did I miss this earlier? What a great list of ideas and thank you so much for the shout out on our 100 days of summer list. I am loving your ideas and adding a few of these to my own bucket list!! Love you, sweet friend! xo
Love this bucket list and am so inspired now. I also live in the Kansas City area and am so excited about your ideas. Have you been to Ernie Miller Nature Center? It is a fabulous place to go on a nature walk. Thank you!
Whoa, i thought our list was long! Love it! And I’m with you, we make a summer album to capture all the memories — it’s so easy these days with digital pictures to forget to actually print/scrapbook/album the fun.
cool ,cute,and great ideas!!!!!! THUMBS UP!!!!!!!!!