Summer Bucket List for Kids: 101 fun ways to Homeschool THIS summer!

Mom, I’m bored…
I have nothing to do!
Mom…

If this is something you hear from your kids at least 500 times a day -this post is for you! I’m just about to give you a list of 101 fun ways to Homeschool this summer. I have also created a bucket checklist which you can print out and put on your fridge, just in time for the summer vacation. Because summer’s approaching with the speed of a tornado! In a blink of an eye it’s here and you wonder why you don’t have anything planned to keep the kiddos busy and engaged.

Obviously you can splash in water, drink cold drinks, lay at the beach and eat popsicles. But maybe you had hopes of getting some learning or educational activities in as well. This is where my list comes in handy. On the list you can find activities that are fun AND educational. Experiences fun enough that the kids won’t feel they are learning.. But they will learn -through experience.

Some of the activities work well on trips and out and about, but most you can do at the comfort of your own home.

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Summer Bucket List for Kids: 101 fun ways to Homeschool THIS summer!

1. Bake something yummy together
2. Take a hike and look for signs of the ice age
3. Go outside with a flora and try to identify some of the flowers you see
4. Go outside with a flora and try to identify some of the trees you see
5. Look for signs of animals (spider webs, foot prints etc..) while hiking
6. Choose an animal outside (insect?) to observe. Write down what it’s doing and why
7. Play with Google maps. Find a place in the world where you’d like to go
8. Research the place you’d like to go; read and watch videos on YouTube or Netflix
9. Go to the library
10. Find fun, free activities at your local library
11. Visit a nearby museum
12. Learn to finger knit (tip: check out videos on Netflix)
13. Crochet a simple purse
14. Build a pet bed/house from cardboard boxes
15. Look for a place where you can go riding
16. Volunteer at a local soup kitchen or animal rescue together
17. Paint with water and brushes outside
18. Plant a seed
19. Sew a fantasy animal
20. Collect and paint rocks
21. Collect and paint sticks
22. Read books together
23. Create pom-pom animals
24. Listen to the different languages around you: can you recognize them?
25. Pack and weigh your own suitcase to make sure it’s not over weight
26. Play card games that involve counting
27. Make a quiz walk in the park (put up simple questions with 1, X or 2 answers)
28. Treasure hunt (lots of free printables online)
29. Buy a nice journal and write daily (if you can’t write, then draw instead!)
30. Collect summer memories (such as rocks, feathers, sand, ticket) and frame or put in a keepsake box
31. Go out in nature with a sketch pad and draw what inspires you
32. Learn how to crochet (YouTube!)
33. Make your own art exhibition
34. Go swimming in a lake/sea/pool
35. Take lots of nice pictures of your summer vacation and make a PowerPoint presentation
36. Do some animation videos using the free version of Stop Motion or similar program
37. Take an art class
38. Do a family reading challenge
39. Stay up late and do stargazing!
40. Go camping in yard/camp ground
41. Visit a local fire station
42. Train for a walk/race
43. Visit a local Pow Wow
44. Go biking
45. Explore a new part of your city
46. Practice hula hooping
47. Catch the train somewhere fun 
48. Practice story telling (one starts and the next person continues)
49. Visit an arts exhibition
50. Visit a historical place nearby
51. Write a snail mail letter to a family member or friend
52. Tour a local recycling center
53. Collect bugs and watch them under a magnifying glass (make sure to let them out when you’re done!)
54. Collect plants and inspect them with a magnifying glass
55. Bird watching
56. Have an “international day” where you make a craft, play a game and cook/bake something from a specific country
57. Listen to (educational) podcasts
58. Start composting
59. Make something creative from recyclables
60. Do charades
61. Study the clouds
62. Build a fort or tree house
63. Repaint furniture
64. Make your own stepping stones, using grout
65. Build a dollhouse/stable
66. Sew clothes and accessories for dolls
67. Make a big abstract painting
68. Finger painting!
69. Play in water and mud
70. Create with clay
71. Do something that scares you
72. Do yoga outside (beach, backyard)
73. Pick flowers
74. Make popsicles
75. Weaving, using handmade loom
76. Solve cross words or sudoku
77. Build a birdhouse (from scratch or a kit)
78. Make homemade Play-doh
79. Sew pillows
80. Pick berries
81. Build sand castles and imaginary cities in the sand or dirt
82. Make imaginary passports and pretend you’re flying overseas
83. Learn about places you’re planning to visit
84. Wash the car/bike/toys
85. Try to create a rainbow with different mediums (water, light, reflections)
86. Go roller skating
87. Do a dinosaur themed day
88. Make a growing chart
89. Write postcards
90. Clean the windows
91. Make puppets from socks or paper bags and put on a show
92. Play miniature golf
93. Go bowling
94. Play “I spy” on car rides
95. Read and write poems
96. Write your own little booklets
97. Make “magazines” and exchange with friends
98. Make a floral wreath to wear in your hair
99. Make a mayflower
100. Make a maypole
101. Write a story with Native American symbols on a rock

Additional tips for a fun (Homeschool) summer

• Chill -Don’t put your ambitions up too high. After all -it’s vacation! Give yourself a break as well as your kids.
• Pick only the things from the list you think that you and your kids will really enjoy doing
• Plan ahead! Countless hours -and days- can pass without anything exciting happening if you don’t plan ahead. Try to sit down together at the beginning of the week and decide which fun activity you’d like to do and when.
• If you need any printables, print out the day before. Otherwise you might loose their interest (while you’re frantically looking for things online) even before starting.
• Have fun. Don’t forget vacation is for rest and relaxing.
• And remember -“Play is the work of the Child”.

Want to remember this? Post “bucket list of fun ways to homeschool this summer” to your favorite Pinterest board!

Please share your own fun ways to Homeschool this summer with us!

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