Make this the best summer ever with these fun summer bucket list ideas. There are tons of fun ideas to add to your summer bucket list and free printable summer bucket list you can print and create with your own summer ideas!
Fun Summer Bucket List Activity
One of our annual family traditions is making a summer bucket list of things we want to do during the summer. We typically get something fun for dinner and sit down and write down everything the kids want to do and experience during the summer.
We’ve been doing this for years and every year we add some new bucket list ideas and bring back a bunch of the old ones! Ours includes things specific to Kansas City and our local area and a bunch of generic ones – that’s the best part of it, you can make it your own!
And I’ve made two free printable summer bucket lists you can use to get started! Once you’ve read through the list of summer ideas, make sure to keep reading to see how you can make your own!
Summer Bucket List Ideas
Everyone’s bucket list can be a little different, but these summer bucket list ideas should hopefully be enough to get you started with creating your own summer checklist! There are tons of fun things to choose from!
- Go on a bike ride
- Build a fort
- Do a cartwheel
- Roll down a hill. Even better if you do it with new friends!
- Bury your toes in the sand (preferably somewhere like Daytona Beach).
- Spend a day reading. You could use these fun reading activities to make a whole day out of it!
- Fly a kite
- Build a sandcastle or an entire kingdom of sandcastles
- Go to a drive-in movie theater
- Eat a hot dog straight from the grill
- Have a water fight
- Play one of these outdoor water games or one of these water balloon games (I recommend the ultimate water balloon game)
- Have a watermelon seed spitting contest
- Have a family board game tournament
- Go to a carnival
- Listen to an outdoor concert
- Go to a water park and try out a new water slide on a hot day
- Do a cannonball
- Play in the sprinklers
- Watch a fireworks show
- Sit in a hammock
- Buy something at a garage sale (aka a yard sale)
- Create your own lemonade stand (guests will love this strawberry lemonade).
- Eat a snow cone
- Go to some sort of festival
- Watch an outdoor movie
- Make root beer floats or Shirley temple floats
- Watch a movie on the big screen or if your bank account allows, rent an inflatable movie screen! Or go to a free outdoor movie!
- Go to a local farmer’s market (it’s a great time to try out some fresh fruit)
- Get a temporary tattoo
- Make homemade popsicles like these ocean blue ones with gummy sharks inside
- Watch early morning cartoons
- Snuggle in bed during a summer thunderstorm
- Have an indoor campout or if the weather cooperates, go camping and play these camping games
- Play kickball, even better if it’s slip n slide kickball!
- Swim in a lake
- Get books to read at the local library. You could even do a book club! Or a book retreat!
- Make homemade pizza
- Catch fireflies
- Watch a sunset
- Go on a picnic and do a picnic scavenger hunt
- Go on a road trip (and take these roadtrip games with you!)
- Learn something new
- Make something explode
- Go to an amusement park
- Dance it out
- Eat a funnel cake
- Volunteer somewhere like a local charity or do random acts of kindness at home
- Paint something. You could even have an entire painting party.
- Make one of these easy summer crafts – there are tons of summer craft projects to choose from like painting ladybugs.
- Jump in puddles
- Make and play a backyard game
- Eat breakfast for dinner. These egg muffins or mini pancakes are always great!
- Go on a staycation
- Collect seashells
- Go ice blocking
- Stay up past midnight
- Pick berries (then use them for this strawberry poke cake!)
- Eat ice cream before it melts
- Make s’mores or s’mores bars if you don’t have access to a fire. Don’t forget the graham crackers!
- Have a water balloon fight
- Play beach ball volleyball
- Plant flowers
- Eat corn on the cob
- Travel somewhere you’ve never been
- Go to a local museum
- Find a dinosaur (maybe on this dinosaur hunt)
- Spend a day barefoot
- Lay on grass and look at the stars
- Drink ice cold lemonade
- Have a family slumber party (this is one of my favorite things)
- Swing on the swings
- Go to a baseball game
- Do a flip a coin day where the coin determines where you go
- Send a postcard
- Go to a fair
- Go to summer camp or use these summer camp themes to have camp at home!
- Go hiking, even better if it’s a new trail
- Run a race
- Take summer pictures
- Make homemade ice cream
- Relax in a lazy river
- Ride a roller coaster
- Order pizza at the pool (or make a summer charcuterie board, still at the pool)
- Go fishing
- Play frisbee
- Drink a tropical drink
- Go to a splash pad
- Sleep in
- Take sunflower selfies
- Float in a pool (then play one of these fun pool games)
- Wave a flag
- Try 12 flavors of ice cream! You could do something homemade like this birthday cake ice cream or try out all new local places!
- Have a backyard BBQ
- Go see a show. Or you could even do a movie marathon at home or an outdoor movie night!
- Find a double rainbow
- Play until the daylight is gone
- Play hopscotch outside
- Celebrate Christmas in July (I recommend these Christmas games!)
- Make something tie-dye
- Eat fresh pineapple (or turn it into pineapple bread)
- Read a book by the pool, even if it’s just an inflatable pool in your backyard
- Do a service project or random acts of kindness
- Send letters to friends
- Go geocaching
- Blow bubbles
- Explore the great outdoors
- Make paper airplanes and have a flying competition
- Create a time capsule
- Create pictures out of sidewalk chalk
- Try new foods to see which one’s the best
- Paint a rock collection
- Go to a science center or just do a science experiment at home
- Eat something from a food truck (I love food trucks!)
- Go to a zoo or wildlife sanctuary to see animals you’ve never seen before
- Pick out new places to try each week (so skip the nearby park and try out a new one instead)
- Visit a National or State Park
- Stay up late playing night games like Ghosts in the Graveyard or Flashlight Tag
- Make up silly skits and perform them for friends
Make Your Own Summer Bucket List
You can make your summer bucket list however you want – just write it out on a piece of paper, make one with post-it notes, or even do something like my boredom buster jar where you put things in a jar and pick them out as you go! If you want something more structured, I’ve created two different printables you can use to get started.
Printable Summer Bucket List
I’ve created a summer bucket list you can use to get started with that has all sorts of fun summer ideas like playing water games to catching fireflies. There’s a filled out version of this bucket list AND a blank one you can use to create your own.
Summer Bucket List You Can Color
Or if you want a blank slate, I’ve also created a blank black and white summer bucket list that’s designed to be used as a summer activity – print it out as a large engineering print (at any local office store), color it in, and decorate! Make it yours, whatever that looks like to you. This is the one my kids created for us this year – you can see the size of it in the pictures at the bottom of this post!
I gave them crayons and a couple of sets of summer stickers to let them decorate, and it was maybe the most fun we’ve ever had making our family bucket list!
What is a bucket list?
If you’ve never made a bucket list before, they’re so much fun because they’re all about what YOU want to do!
A lot of people have bucket lists full of items they want to do sometime in their life. Maybe a travel bucket list of places they want to travel or a seasonal bucket list (like this Christmas bucket list or this fall bucket list) of things they want to do during a specific season. It’s basically a list of things you want to accomplish within a set amount of time.
Summer Bucket List FAQs
What should I put on my summer bucket list?
Fill your summer bucket list with fun activities and ideas that you and your family personally want to do. Add things you can only do during the summer like going to a waterpark and things that are better in the summer because of the water like sleeping under the stars in a sleeping bag.
Or just add things to the list that you want to do while you have some free time like a treasure hunt, making an obstacle course, and going for a boat ride!
How many things should I put on my bucket list?
The number of items that goes on your bucket list is up to you, who is doing the bucket list with you, how long you have to do the things on your bucket list, and how long each of the items on your bucket list takes. Reading a new book or going on a day trip for instance take more time than riding a ferris wheel or visiting local parks.
For a summer bucket list where you only have a couple of months to complete it, I recommend a list of around 25 items. This is about two a week assuming you’re working on your bucket list for all of June, July, and August.
Download the Summer Bucket Lists
Enter your first name and email address in the form below to get the printable free download PDF. You will receive a link to download the PDF to your email within minutes. Print on card stock and you’re on your way.
If you can’t see the form below, click here to get to the form to enter your info. If you’d prefer to not provide your email address, you can get a copy in my shop here.
You’ll receive a copy to your email shortly after that includes a 4-page PDF:
- The regular summer bucket list
- The blank summer bucket list (small one)
- The black and white color it in bucket list
More Fun Summer Ideas
If you need some more fun things to do this summer, try out these fun activities!
- Summer bingo – free printable summer themed bingo game, great for any summer party!
- Outdoor games – the best collection of backyard games, yard games, and outdoor games!
- Summer party ideas – tons of great ideas to beat the heat while entertaining this summer!
- Summer chore chart – printable chore charts for the summer that includes chores and reward ideas!
- Games with balls – fun games to play with balls, perfect for outdoor fun this summer!