2025 Summer Bucket List + Our Essentials

Looking for inspiration for your summer bucket list and how to keep the kids busy this summer? This post has all the resources you need to be prepped for a great summer with your kids!

At the beginning of every summer, I sit down with my kids and ask them how they want to spend it. They’ve always got some big ideas (Go to the beach! Go to Disney World!) and some really small ideas (Eat watermelon! Visit the pool!), and it’s so fun to see what’s important to them.

I love a summer bucket list, because it gives us a bit of a guide on those long, slow days that start to blur into one another. If we get to the middle of a week and we haven’t really left the house or done anything productive I can declare it a bucket list day, and we can knock an item or two off the list. There’s no arguing about the activity because it’s on the list, so we have to do it.

We recently made our 2025 Summer Bucket List, and I wanted to share our list along with some ideas for how to keep everyone busy and happy all summer long. I spend a lot of time thinking about how to maximize our summers and I think I’ve become a bit of a pro. So, let’s dive in, shall we?

2025 Summer Bucket List

The way our bucket list works is that each member of our family gets to add 5 things to the list. It gives us a list of 20 total tasks, with a really good variety. My husband and I occasionally veto an item a kid adds (for example, we’re not going on a beach trip this year even though Grant wanted to put it on the list), but for the most part we let them add whatever they want.

Here’s what made it onto the list for 2025:

Grant’s Summer Bucket List Items:

Living room sleepover
Go shopping at the plant store
Go to Gattitown
Bake cookies together
Have a family Just Dance tournament

Jackson’s Summer Bucket List Items:

Tie dye shirts
Go to the movie theater
Sleep over at Grandma & Papaw’s
Go to the zoo
Make s’mores

My Summer Bucket List Items:

Go to a water park.
Try 8 new recipes from our Disney cookbooks
Have a family game tournament
Make homemade shaved ice
Make homemade strawberry lemonade

Corey’s Summer Bucket List Items:

Do an escape room
Ride the train downtown
Have a movie marathon
Do a big family LEGO build
Move (?!?!!?!)

Other Summer Bucket List Ideas

Of course, our 2025 summer bucket list might not be the best fit for every family. We’ve got some pretty niche tasks! But, don’t worry – if you’re feeling stumped for ideas I have this post with more than 100 summer bucket list ideas to get you feeling inspired. Read the list with your kids and pick your favorites! Or, you can even snag this printable bucket list where the work is already done for you.

Summer Yes Days

Another really fun tradition we do each year is give each of the boys a “Yes Day”. We do one in June and one in July (and we alternate who goes first). You can see all of the details of our Yes Day rules and how they work on this post!

Our Summer Essentials

If you’re going to have the kids home all summer long, you’re going to want to think about some ways to keep them busy. My kids generally do great keeping themselves occupied while I’m working most days, but things go more smoothly when I’m prepped with some things I know they love!

Here’s a roundup of all the things I make sure to have on hand as soon as summer hits:

Air Dry Clay – This is one craft my kids will turn to over and over. They never get tired of it, so I always make sure we have some on hand!
Summer Brain Quest Books – We’ve been doing these every summer since before Jackson started kindergarten! It’s a required part of their pre-screen-time checklist (more on that in a minute), and they truly have fun with it.
Water balloons. What’s a summer without a water balloon fight or two?!
Some jigsaw puzzles. If it’s really hot and everyone is starting to get cranky, I love to spread out a jigsaw puzzle on the dining room table and let everyone go to town. At my kids’ ages, I find that a 300 piece puzzle is perfect for an afternoon activity.
A tie-dye kit. We tie-dye shirts every summer and my kids always look forward to it so much. We spread out on the back porch and usually the whole family gets in on the fun. It’s messy, but such a fun memory and we wear the shirts all summer long!
A cheap sprinkler toy No matter how careful we are these inevitably only last us one summer so I always find something cheap and just let the kids run it into the ground. They love getting out in the backyard with the hose on and it’s an activity that’s guaranteed to keep them happy for actual hours. I’m also eyeing this sprinkler toy for the trampoline!
A really great pool bag. We spend a lot of time at the pool in the summer. Like, a lot a lot! So, it’s vital that our pool bag is easy to use, holds a ton, and stays organized. I keep this guy packed and ready to go all summer long so we can leave at a moment’s notice. See all of the accessories + organization I’ve added to it here.
Some paint by numbers. Grant doesn’t always have the patience for these but Jackson loves them! It’s a fun creative activity for a hot summer afternoon, and they always love having something they can display in their rooms afterwards.
Books your kids love. I encourage a lot of reading in the summer – it’s part of their daily routine! We always visit the library every week or so, but I also love to surprise them at the beginning of summer with a new book or series of their own!
Sidewalk chalk. Sidewalk chalk is always such a fun activity, no matter your kids’ ages. As they get older you can get more creative – challenge them to fill the entire driveway or make a hopscotch course so complex even you can’t do it!
A shaved ice machine. Grant got an shaved ice machine for his birthday last year and it was such a fun activity to do together! We haven’t broken it out a lot since we got it but it’s my mission to use it a few times this summer.
Some good games. Uno never gets old around here, and busting out a game is my favorite way to get through a cranky afternoon with the kids. You can see some of our favorites to play together right here.
A chore checklist. This is a vital part of our summer routine. We have these reusable to-do lists on the fridge, and there’s a list of tasks my kids have to complete before they can have any screen time. It encourages them to get creative, move their bodies, and think about things other than video games for the first part of the day. And, they’d never admit it but I know they like the routine and structure of it!
Bracelet making supplies. My kids are super into making bracelets right now (isn’t every kid?) so I grabbed a new set of beads to make sure they’re stocked up. I love keeping tons of different craft supplies on hand for the summer – we also love origami kits and making sure we have lots of general craft supplies.
Lots of backyard toys. And, of course, I’m a fan of anything that encourages my kids to get outside in the summer. It gets hot here, so typically that means I lean into water toys they can play with in the backyard!

It took me many years of juggling parenting + working from home in the summer before I reached a point where I could truly enjoy it. I used to find it stressful and overwhelming, and I spent most days feeling frustrated that we didn’t balance fun and work enough. But, with some preparation and planning I’ve gotten to a point where our summers truly are a ton of fun!

I’d love to hear about your summer routine and essential things for fun. Leave a comment below and we can make this a big ol’ resource!