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May 24, 2013

Old School Summer Bucket List

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Even though we’ve never done one before we’ve decided to make a bucket list for the summer!  

Usually we like things to be low key and laid back in the summertime, but then we came up with the idea of old school activities for children! 

You know what I mean–all of the fun summertime activities that we used to do when we were younger.

We decided to come up with an old school summer bucket list!

"Old school" bucket list for summer! A huge list of activities for children that we used to love when we were little!

Some of the activities on the list are ones we love, some we don’t do enough, and some we haven’t done before, but all of them are ones we want to pass down to our children.  

I’m excited to share some of my childhood with my kids!

Old School Summer Bucket List (so far):

1.  Play kick the can.

2.  Make paper airplanes.

3.  Build a fort.

4.  Make friendship bracelets.

5.  Go swimming after dark.

6.  Make sun tea.

7.  Sing jump rope songs.

8.  Play hopscotch.

9.  Camp out in the backyard.

10.  Watch the clouds.

11.  Have a picnic.

12.  Blow bubbles.

13.  Have a water balloon fight.

Host a Lemonade Stand

14.  Host a lemonade stand.

15.  Make popsicles.

16.  Play clapping games like Miss Mary Mack (Mack Mack).

17.  Make tin can lanterns.

18. Tie dye a shirt.

19. Catch fireflies.

20.  Find constellations.

21.  Have a hose fight.

22.  Play Marco Polo.

23.  Slide down the slip ‘n slide.

24.  Roast marshmallows over the fire.

25.  Play manhunt.

26.  Play spoons.

27.  Decorate our bikes.

28.  Go fishing.

29.  Play flashlight tag.

30.  Tell spooky stories.

31.  Play UNO.

Make Pet Rocks

32.  Make pet rocks.

33.  Run through the sprinkler.

34. Play whiffle ball.

35. Play Spit.

36.  Eat ice cream in our pajamas.

37.  Go to a drive in movie.

38.  Play kickball.

39.  Hula hoop.

40.  Make ice cream.

These are some of the activities we are going to do this summer–I can’t wait!  

What about you?  What would you add to an “old school” bucket list for summer?

About Megan Sheakoski

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

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Comments

  1. Carol Hampton Rasco says

    May 24, 2013 at 8:20 pm

    Brilliant post, Megan! I felt like your list was a compilation of someone who had a tape of my summers through high school. I am going to do many of these with my young grandsons and will keep this post to continue to move through the list as they reach the ages to do the rest of the activities! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      May 24, 2013 at 9:54 pm

      That’s fantastic! I’m looking forward to a fun, lazy summer and wish you the same!

      Reply
  2. Play Create Explore says

    May 24, 2013 at 10:52 pm

    Fabulous! Now this is OUR kind of list 🙂

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      May 24, 2013 at 11:17 pm

      Awww! Thanks! It was the only kind of bucket list I could commit to for the summer!

      Reply
  3. Jackie Higgins says

    May 25, 2013 at 8:54 am

    I love this list!! One question, what is spit? That is not something we ever played in my neighborhood!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      May 25, 2013 at 11:04 pm

      It’s a card game! I’ll have to do it soon so I can post about it! It’s fun!

      Reply
  4. Erica @What Do We Do All Day? says

    May 25, 2013 at 12:51 pm

    I always feel so heartbroken that my kids can’t camp out in the backyard. It’s just not the same on a fire escape. lol This is a wonderful list, though.

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      May 25, 2013 at 11:03 pm

      LOL! You need to pretend camp one night in the family room then! You can sleep in a fort and tell spooky stories! No animals. No bugs. And you could secretly sneak back into your bed to sleep if you wanted to!

      Reply
  5. Carli Eklund says

    May 26, 2013 at 12:49 pm

    Great list! Fun ideas

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      May 27, 2013 at 11:05 am

      Thanks Carli!!!

      Reply
  6. Shannon says

    June 1, 2013 at 8:07 am

    Love the list and I plan to use it, but I would like to give fair warning on the lemonade stand one. Kids can only do a lemonade stand if they get a permit. Seriously. You have to obtain a business permit or the cops will shut down your stand. So before you encourage your young ones to do a lemonade stand, look into the permit for your area and prevent a heartbroken child.

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      June 2, 2013 at 4:10 pm

      So crazy!!!! Maybe we’ll have to have a backyard one then…

      Reply
  7. Melinda Lee says

    June 1, 2017 at 7:30 am

    Making mud pies
    Freeze tag
    Leave a jigsaw puzzle set up on a table for rainy days or quiet activity during the heat of the day or evening time.
    Red light Green light
    Hop scotch
    Make ‘stilts’ out of the big cans that pineapple juice comes in.

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      June 1, 2017 at 12:28 pm

      LOVE these!!!! How could I have left mud pies off????

      Reply
    • Shawn Anderson says

      June 1, 2017 at 12:36 pm

      I was thinking also of:

      Red Rover, Red Rover and
      Simon “says”

      I could think of a whole bunch more, I just don’t have the recollection I used to have.

      I so love reading this, even though I don’t have any children, I think of my childhood fondly.

      Thanks for posting.

      Reply
      • Megan Sheakoski says

        June 1, 2017 at 3:56 pm

        I forgot about Red Rover too!!!!! I may break that one out tonight!!! 🙂

        Reply
  8. Wendy Smith says

    April 24, 2018 at 11:11 am

    In addition to paper airplanes…after a big rain storm, make paper boats and find a small stream to “sail” them

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      April 24, 2018 at 11:57 am

      LOVE that idea!!!!!!

      Reply
  9. Jan says

    July 16, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    Great post! 🙂

    Reply

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