Summertime Fun "Bucket List"

Summertime fun does not have to cost a lot of money. Being the OCD listmaker that I am, I have a list of things I am going to do with my kids this summer. I am grateful to those that have shared their ideas with me.

If you choose, you can make your list on index cards and put them in a cute "bucket" so the kids can choose their activity of the day.

If you have several friends who are interested, you could have a craft day where each mom prepares the materials for one craft and you set up tables at someone's house where the children can go from table to table doing many different crafts.

1) Dye pasta/rice and let kids create jewelry and pictures.
2) Paint rocks (I don't know why, but kids love to do this). A note from my friend, Sandy, an experienced KG teacher and mom of 4 grown children:have your kids paint two rocks---one white, one black. Put out in the sun for a couple of hours, and then go check on them. The white rock will not be as hot as the black. Then... they could paint them according to the temp (white rocks....snow pic; black rocks---orange sun, etc
3) Make stepping stones (kits at Hobby Lobby) and paint these.
4) Paint by number (at Dollar Tree).
5) Fingerpaint. Click here for a recipe to make your own.
6) Paint with foam stamps and rollers (Oriental Trading Company has 2 sets).
7) Print Doodle Art pages and color
8) Homemade crayons-Melt little crayon stubs in foil cupcake liners. Cool and color with your new creation.
9) Bingo stamper (dot marker) coloring pages from Oriental Trading Company. Here are some free printable dot pages from DLTK, Making Friends, and Early Learning Activities.
10) Paint little plaster of Paris figurines found at Wal-Mart or Oriental Trading Company.
11) Paint sun catchers
12) Paint salt dough ornaments
13) Father's Day: Make a crossword or wordsearch about Daddy
14) Father's Day: Make a pennant banner
15) Father's Day: 10 things I love about Daddy
16) Father's Day:Using a transparency and Sharpie markers, make a stained glass picture for Dad.
17) Father's Day: Make a questionnaire for the kids to answer about Dad's favorite things.
18) Father's Day: Use tissue paper squares to make the word "Dad" or "Father"
19) Use perler beads (fusion beads) to make a picture for Dad.
20) Do rubbings of leaves, coins, a comb, etc...
21) Sand art- buy empty bottles at Hobby Lobby or Oriental Trading Company. Recipe to make your own colored sand here.
22) Make fingerprint pictures
24) Make stick puppets and have a puppet show
25) Make homemade popsicles
26) Make paper bag costumes/vests
27) Decorate visors with jewels or foam shapes
28) Make a windsock
29) Make a mobile
30) Make a mosaic with paper or tile pieces
31) Make Rice Krispie Treats
32) Make homemade ice cream
33) Make ice cream in a ziplock baggie recipe here.
34) Make homemade play-doh recipe here.
35) Ice Sculpting: Make lots of ice cubes (we have different shaped ice trays), drop food coloring in them, and let the kids build scupltures outside.
36) Go to a pottery painting place. Ours has specials on Wednesday.
37) Go bowling
38) Find out if your theater has specials for the summer
39) See if your library has a summer reading club. Our library has events for kids every Tuesday.
40) See if your bookstore (Half-Price Books) has a summer reading club
41) Get snow cones or buy a Snoopy Snow Cone machine and make them yourselves.
42) Go to the closest zoo
43) Go on a family bike ride
44) Just play in the sandbox
45) Go to the closest Children's Museum
46) Go ice skating
47) Go to a waterpark
48) Go to an amusement park
49) Go to the beach
50) Go fishing
51) Go camping (even in the backyard). It hits 100 degrees here daily so we could even set up a 2-3 man tent in the house.
52) Go ride Go Carts
53) Play miniature golf
54) Go to the Omni if you have one
55) Games Day
56) Puzzles Day- We have found tons of great puzzles at Dollar Tree. Dora, Princesses, Tinker Bell, Cars, Mickey Mouse, Pooh, and more.
57) Gather giant boxes and let the kids make a "city" in the backyard (firestation, school, McDonald's). Check out these adorable pictures from Frugal Family Fun blog.
58) Spray bottle painting. I found this blog with more examples. I bought each of my kids a white flat sheet at Anna's Linens for $4.99. Can't wait to let the kids loose on this one.
59) Lite Brite
60) Spin Art
61) Lemonade Stand
62) Make S'mores
63) Plant a garden
64) Make soap
65) Make candles
66) Play dress-up with the girls (make-up, mani/pedi, and hair)
67) Indoor scavenger hunt (save for a rainy day)
68) Outdoor scavenger hunt
69) 4th of July-Handprint painting flag (palm is blue, fingers alternate red and white)
70) 4th of July-Paint popsicle sticks like U.S. flag
71) 4th of July- Use red, white, and blue stars to create a sign for the door
72) 4th of July- Make a windsock
73) 4th of July- Make these cute stars to hang or use as a table decoration
74) Make a fort with blankets (rainy day)
75) Let the kids make a scrapbook using all the pictures you took of their Summer Fun.
76) Make a "fortune teller" to decide what to do today. See blog post with pictures here.
77) Go to a splash pad.
78) Create a sprinkler fun zone in your yard (Slip 'n slide, etc...) Family Fun magazine had a cute "kid" car wash you can make out of PVC pipes.
79) Alphabet scavenger hunt- kids must find something that starts with A, then B, etc.... through Z
80) Camera/picture scavenger hunt- if you trust your kids with your camera, send them out to take pics of certain things. We did this with our youth group and had to take pics in a phone booth, on a bridge, etc....
81) Make homemade bubbles. Recipe here. Dollar Tree has giant wands, or you can make your own.
82) Make homemade goop. Recipe here.
83) Make homemade sidewalk chalk.
84) Monoprint painting. See here.
85) Fly kites
86) Make face and body paint. See here.
87) Go to an outdoor concert. Here in Aggieland we have the Wolf Pen Amphitheater Saturday night concerts.
88) Service project: contact the local food bank and find out what they are in greatest need of, then ask friends and neighbors to help.
89) Buy window markers and let the kids go crazy...as long as they clean the windows when finished.
90) Make a pyramid out of empty vegetable cans and throw a ball to see how many you can knock down.
91) Make a birdseed biscuit.
92) Make a time capsule.
93) Make homemade lollipops.
94) Make Jell-o
95) Make cupcakes together
96) Visit new local parks. College Station has over 5 great public parks that have covers over the play equipment. Feed the ducks while you're there!
97) Make liquid sidewalk chalk.
98) Make homemade puffy paint.
99) Milk art
100) Movie time at home: make popcorn and have everyone's favorite candy on hand.
101) Texture scavenger hunt: You have to see this blog to appreciate. You make rubbings of certain things around the house and the kids have to figure out what it was.
102) Close-up picture scavenger hunt-Again, you have to see this blog to appreciate. Take pictures of various objects so close, that you only see a pattern. The kids have to find the item in the house.
103) Homemade marbled paper with shaving cream. Another great idea from the Having Fun at Home blog.
104) Ice cube painting. Find pictures here on Share & Remember blog.
105) Make fluffy flip-flops.
106) Paper dolls-My daughter was flipping through one of my activity books and found instructions on making paper dolls. I couldn't believe how excited she was. I got out some scrapbooking templates that have lots of different clothes and hair-styles and she couldn't wait to get started.
107) Paper mache
108) If you're really brave, set out a flat sheet or LARGE piece of paper for each child, plus all your painting supplies that they've already learned how to use, and see what creation they come up with.
109) Rinse out empty soup and veggie cans and let the kids paint them to help organize supplies: paintbrushes, scissors, popsicle sticks, etc....
110) Make "Gooey Gunk"
111) Make "Scratch & Sniff Watercolors"
112) Make "Bathtub Finger Paints"
113) Make "Funny Putty" aka Silly Putty
114) Make your own "Shrinky Dinks" here on Skip to my Lou blog.
115) Make "Invisible Ink"
116) Make "Magic Bubble Paint"
117) Make "Cotton Clay"
118) Buy a 3 foot wooden "stake" at Home Depot or Lowe's. Ask for some wood scraps and let the kids paint yard signs.
119) Make "Jewel & Gem Goop."
120) Make "Sand Castle Clay". Get your sand molds ready. We have found several at Dollar Tree.
121) Make "3-D Puffy Sand"
122) Make "Spray Chalk"
123) Make your own garden stones.
124) Make your own "Crystal Rock Garden."
125) Make "Cool Crayons"
126) Let the kids make/paint their own T-shirts
127) Make your own "Moon Sand" by Domestic Charm.
128) Ride a train.
129) Make "Homemade Bouncy Balls" by I Can Teach My Child blog.
130) 4th of July: Make and decorate sugar cookies: star, flag, US, bell, etc...
131) Fill an ice chest with water and different squirters, pitchers, etc... I found this idea on I Can Teach My Child
132) Make edible sand....again from I Can Teach My Child. I love her ideas.
133) Go to a baseball game. I wish we still lived close to the Texas Rangers, but even though was are in a small town, we can still go watch The Aggies or the Bryan Bombers.
134) Go to Chuck E Cheese for no reason other than summertime fun!
135) Put out a bag of marshmallows and a box of toothpicks and see what the kids can make.
136) Outdoor games: hopscotch, 2 square or 4 square, drop popsicle sticks into empty milk jugs, etc...
137) Attend a Saturday kids' workshop at Home Depot or Lowe's.
138) Attend Little Chef's School at H-E-B. Here in College Station it is Tuesday mornings and it is FREE!
139) Make an alphabet mat and do the activities suggested here on I Can Teach My Child.
140) Use Duplo or Mega Blocks to make math problems....there are so many options depending on your child's grade level. For pre-k you can write a numeral (8) on one block and then draw 8 objects on another block. Repeat until you have a variety. For older children you could show them how to snap 3+3+2 "pictures" to equal 8.
141) Make window paint found here on Living at the Whitehead Zoo blogspot. Let the kids paint the windows and clean them when they are finished.
142) Make your own watercolors from I Can Teach My Child. Then, when the kids are finished, use the leftovers to do #143.
143) Make your own Paint with Water Pages. I LOVED these books as a child and was so bummed to find you can't buy them at stores anymore. I can't wait to make these pages for my kids.
144) Get ready for bed as usual and go out for an ice cream treat in jammies.
145) 4th of July- Make these adorable Patriotic Paper Starbursts.
146) Father's Day: Make a treasure hunt for Dad to follow to find his gift(s).
147) Make these slotted disks from Having Fun at Home blog and let the kids build and build.
148) Make a water-wall using empty plastic bottles and containers, zip ties, and a strong board to fasten them to such as plywood). I found this idea on Share and Remember.
149) Blow straw painting found here on Family Fun.
150) Make a stained glass picture like this one.
151) Marble painting as seen here at Things to Make and Do.
152) Splatter Painting also found on Things to Make and Do blog.
153) Make your own Rainbow Crayons found here on Papersnitch Blog.

154) Make your own marble maze using old wrapping paper cardboard tubes-found here on Family Fun. Here is a similar idea using paper towel and toilet paper tubes.

155) Marble-ous Maze is where kids use straws and a shoe box lid or an empty box to create their own maze. Found here on Family Fun.

156) Play "Marble Launch" using an old pool noodle and some marbles.

157) Let the kids transform a window into "Non-Staining Glass" using tissue paper squares, plastic wrap, a glue stick, and a window.

158) Grab those annoying rubber spike balls (found at Dollar Tree), some tempera paint, and a large sheet, and let the kids make these "Monster Murals" found here at Family Fun.

159) Make these "Tin Types" using only scissors, Sharpies, and heavy gauge aluminum foil.

160) MYO puzzles- Cut the fronts off of several cereal boxes (cracker boxes, rice boxes, cookie boxes work too). On the back, divide the puzzle into as many pieces as you'd like, fewer pieces for smaller kids. Using a paper cutter, or fun-shaped scissors, cut out the pieces. My 6 year old pointed out she could color a picture on the back for a 2-sided puzzle.

161) Medicine dropper painting- Pick up some droppers for $1 each (with the squeeze end). Let the kids suction a small amount of paint and blow it out onto the paper.

162) Fun with Shaving Cream-Let the kids spray and play as found here on Kindergarten Creations. I like the idea of using dried markers, but you could also use food coloring.

163) Tether Ball-oon from Family Fun magazine. Let the kids use their spray bottles to send a balloon back and forth.

164) Check out this "Cool Ice Art" on Mom 2 Posh Little Divas blog.