I am so excited to share this year’s summer bucket list with you all! I have a general bucket list for kids and also am sharing some of my favorite Chicago area bucket list ideas as well. Before I share those though, I wanted to share some of my tips for getting the most out of summer!

First of all, extend your summer! Who says “summer” needs to start in June and end in August or whenever the kids go back to school? I declared May 1st as the start of our summer and we are going to enjoy fun times as long as the weather will let us (which will hopefully be into September!)

Make sure to plan it. We’ve had many Saturdays that were filled with errands and before we knew it, we’d wasted a gorgeous day off with things that can be done in little chunks of time elsewhere throughout the week. Schedule the fun in! I have our summer bucket list in a notebook that I carry around so that if bad weather cancels Jake’s baseball game I can come up with an indoor activity to do.

Lastly, don’t forget to record it! Take lots of pictures of the memory making. Another thing we are doing this summer is having the kids write in journals daily. They’ll practice their writing skills but also record all the fun times they had.

When planning my bucket list I thought of all the fun things I’ve enjoyed in the past, either as a child or with my own kids. I also looked into events going on in my community and found many free ones. I discovered many places have free activities and events including ToysRUs, Home Depot, Walmart, bowling alleys and more so make sure to look at stores in your town as well! Anything we definitely wanted to do I added to my calendar as an event. I then made a list of all the passes we had along with free or discount days at places, open gyms, story times, farmer’s markets and anything else that happened on a semi-regular basis or had certain hours.

Creating my bucket list took almost a whole day but if you don’t have much time I encourage you to start one and add to it as you think of things. I found splitting my list into categories helped me so I have it split by: places I want to travel to, day trips, Chicago city fun (since I live in the suburbs), neighboring towns, my town, home- outside, home- inside, and things to learn/practice. I also made a bucket list for myself since mom needs a bucket list, too!

Now to the fun! :)

Our Family Bucket List

 

Home- Outdoors:

• Fly a kite
• Have a water balloon fight
• Draw with chalk
• Make smores over the fire pit
• Play in a bounce house
• Ride bikes and scootes
• Blow bubbles
• Play on the slip n’ slide
• Get ice cream from the ice cream truck
• Play in the rain
• Host a BBQ
• Play water balloon baseball
• Race remote control cars
• Paint with water
• Catch lightning bugs
• Wash the car by hand with soapy water
• Treasure hunt in the sandbox
• Play in the water table
• Build a sandcastle
• Have a water gun fight
• Watch a sunset
• Play catch

Home- Indoors:

• Make homemade pizza
• Have a cousin sleepover
• PJ/Movie day
• Make lemonade
• Have a family game night
• Bake cookies
• Make rootbeer floats
• Do science experiments
• Make homemade popsicles
• Build a fort in the TV room
• Eat watermelon
• Have an indoor scavenger hunt
• Enjoy breakfast for dinner
• Make ice cream sundaes
• Cook dinner together

Things to do in our town or neighboring towns:

• Go to garage sales
• Visit at least 5 different playgrounds
• Have a picnic in a local park
• Visit the local Farmer’s Market
• Go to ChuckECheese
• Attend library storytime
• Have a family walk around the neighborhood
• Go to a kid’s workshop at Home Depot or Lowe’s
• Spend a day at the local pool
• Go paddleboating
• Play mini-golf
• Go fishing
• Ride horses
• Go to the local arcade
• Go out for ice cream
• Make your own pottery
• Feed ducks at the lake
• Star gaze
• Eat a sno cone
• Go geocatching
• Attend a craft class at Michaels
• Go on a nature walk
• Enjoy a movie or concert in the park
• Go for a train ride
• Pick fruit
• Go to a parade
• Watch fireworks
• Ride go karts
• Play laser tag
• Go to a drive in movie
• Go to an amusement park
• Go to a baseball game
• Go to the movies
• Volunteer together
• Go to a waterpark
• Attend an art class
• Go bowling

To learn or practice:

• Learn: how to ride a bike without training wheels
• Learn: how to tie shoes with laces
• Learn: a magic trick
• Learn: how to dribble a basketball (Luke)
• Learn: sight words (Luke)
• Learn: how to swim
• Learn: to skip rocks
• Practice: reading
• Practice: writing
• Practice: sports

Mom’s to do list:

• Have a spa day
• Clean out and organize garage
• Create travel display
• Complete a puzzle
• Have a date night in Chicago
• Spend an afternoon reading in the hammock
• Travel somewhere at least a few times a month
• Enjoy a pina colada
• Go to lunch with family
• Go to Sunday brunch
• Eat a meal by the water

Our Chicago Bucket List

 

City:

• Navy Pier
• Hard Rock Cafe
• Taste of Chicago
• China Town
• Millenium Park
• Michigan Avenue
• Water Tower
• Visit “the bean”
• Museum of Science and Industry
• Shedd Aquarium
• Donut Vault
• River tour via boat
• Get a lobster roll
• See Chicago from Montrose Point
• Walk along the lake
• Get popcorn from Garrett’s
• Stay overnight in the city
• Splash in Crown Fountain

Suburbs:

• Great America
• LegoLand in Schaumburg
• Downtown Naperville and the riverwalk
• Air show in Bolingbrook
• Sky Zone
• SciTech
• Morton Arboretum
• Blackberry Farms
• Outlet mall
• Phillips Park Zoo
• Ravinia Fest
• County Fair
• Ribfest in Naperville
• Wolfe Wildlife Refuge in Oak Lawn
• Children’s Museum in Naperville
• Red Oak Nature Center
• Brookfield Zoo
• All Aboard Diner

Day Trips:

• Diecke Discover Zone- Huntley
• Indiana Dunes
• Starved Rock
• Bourbonnais- Bears training camp, Strickler Planetarium, Perry Farm Park
• Long Grove
• Valporaiso- Valplayso park

Weekend Trips:

• Camping
• Wisconsin Dells
• Michigan- Beach and Saugatuck
• Mackinac Island