I realized a couple days ago that this is our ninth year of doing summer fun club, or our family summer bucket list for kids! It’s been such a wonderful structure structure to allow us to intentionally give our kids opportunities to practice skills, develop curiosity and understanding, work hard, and expand their world view – while also leaving plenty of time for nostalgic fun and unstructured play. Our kids love it and look forward to seeing what I suggest each year!
While they generally choose their own books to read through the year, this is a fun time for me to consider their interests and needs and choose some excellent, varied, diverse literature for them. I love it and it’s helped them find lots of new favorites that they wouldn’t have necessarily picked up on their own (and a few that aren’t their favorites, but that are still good/important for them to read ;)).
What Does The Family Summer Bucket List Involve?
We have 7 Summer Fun Club categories:
- FUN: these are the same for everyone and are mostly low-key, nostalgic summer ideas like making ice cream or skipping rocks, or things we’re planning as a family (like visiting a National Park)
- LIFE SKILLS: This might be my favorite section every year! These are intended to give my kids a push to carve out time for something that’s good to learn (cook a family meal, learn how to address an envelope, learn how to clean a toilet, navigate with a paper map, an online First Aid class for teens, etc.)
- READING: I usually choose 4-10 books each for my kiddos to read (depending on length and how quickly they read), and then they choose plenty of others on their own. Since we’ll be doing a big Europe road trip this summer, they’ll have plenty of reading time. 🙂 (I listed out the book lists by age below.)
- ATHLETIC: These are usually goals to help my kids stay active, enjoy movement together, and sometimes work on a specific skill or interest they have
- ACADEMIC: These are mostly intended to help my kids love learning and develop their curiosity. There’s usually a bit of skill maintenance for things like math facts, but beyond that, this is really to help them maintain an excitement for education, especially in the natural world.
- ARTS: I always include a few different areas of the arts – visual arts, music, film, etc. Exposure is key here – I want the arts to feel familiar, and to give my kids chances to practice enjoying and interpreting them.
- SERVICE & FAITH: This final category is basically my Be A Good Person category haha. It’s easy to live in our own bubbles without thinking of others, so I want to give my kids opportunities to practice looking for ways to serve and doing things for others.
Many of the items are things we’d do anyway (like visit a National Park. or make lemonade), some are fun reminders (do an egg drop challenge, watch a musical), and a few give them a push to carve out time for something that’s good to learn (First Aid class, navigating without a map). And lots are things that are just ways for us to connect as a family (play tennis, make ice cream, skip rocks).
In the past, when they’ve completed the tasks at the end of the summer, they’ve gotten to choose a special one-on-one activity with Mom or Dad. These have included things like a trip to our local amusement park, dinner out at a nice restaurant, a waterpark visit, or a special bike ride and a treat. This year, we decided to let each kid plan out a “fmaily Yes Day” – we’ll give them a budget and they get to plan a special day. They could use all the money on a special activity, split it between multiple meals, use it for special treats, or whatever they want. It’s really fun, plus I figure it’s a good way to sneak in an extra planning/budgeting goal, too. 😉
Our 2026 Summer Bucket List for Kids
I loved putting together my kids’ lists for this year! For reference, this summer my kids are 15, 13, 11, 8, 6, and almost 4, and each have age-appropriate suggestions in each category. (I also listed out the books below if helpful!)
If you’d like to each of my kids’ lists by age (along with a blank page at the end that you can use to edit your own if you’d like), just pop in your email below. When you open it, go to File > Make a Copy to save your own copy that you can edit to suit your own needs, interests, abilities, and areas for practice. And if you’d like to see some of our past lists, you can find them HERE. Enjoy!
2026 Summer Book List for Kids
15 Year Old Summer Book List
13 Year Old Summer Book List
11 Year Old Summer Book List
8 Year Old Summer Book List
6 Year Old Summer Book List
Almost 4 Year Old Summer Book List
