How To Help Kids Write a Bucket List

by Tonya Staab
Published: Last Updated on

Do your kids want to build a snowman, visit the beach, or go camping? Help them write their own bucket list with these tips.

bucket list ideas for kids

Each year I write a bucket list. It’s not a bucket list for the rest of my life, but a bucket list for the next year; things I want to accomplish or learn, places I want to visit, and fun things I want to try.

Last year for the first time I had my eldest son make a bucket list. He scoffed at the idea at first, but after discussing it he gave in and made one. Throughout the year we’ve been crossing things off that bucket list. I never knew he wanted to do things like getting his scuba diving certification, bench press a certain weight, attend the release of Jordan shoes (who even knew you could line up at the crack of dawn for shoes), and learn to drive a car. We haven’t crossed everything off his list, but because of this list, I was able to help and support him in accomplishing as many things as possible.

This holiday season I will be sitting down with my younger kids and have them create their own bucket lists. They will probably need a little more help coming up with ideas, so I’ve been making notes of things to suggest.

Before I share some of those ideas with you though, let me share a few tips for helping kids create a bucket list:

Kids bucket list tips

  • Make it doable. You may not get everything crossed off and that’s okay, this is just a guide, where they will feel a sense of accomplishment as they cross things off, and you will gain creative ideas on activities to do with them.
  • Keep it small. You don’t need 100 things on the list. Start with 20, kids won’t feel so overwhelmed.
  • Variety. Give them a variety of options for example – something to learn, something to do, a fun place to go, something totally for fun.
  • Alternatives. Instead of making a bucket list for a year, you could make a summer or autumn bucket list, or a list of things to do before they turn a certain age.

Kids bucket list ideas

  1. Jump in mud puddles and make mud pies.
  2. Go on a scavenger hunt.
  3. Learn how to make my own breakfast.
  4. Plant and care for my own garden.
  5. Learn how to skip rocks.
  6. Go geocaching.
  7. Make a snowman that looks like Olaf from Disney’s Frozen.
  8. Learn to hula hoop.
  9. Hike to a waterfall or to the top of a mountain.
  10. Write (or draw a picture of what you did) every day in a journal.
  11. Become a Jr Ranger at a State or National Park.
  12. Do something nice for someone else, just because.
  13. Go to the library every week, or at least once a month.
  14. Fly a kite.
  15. Put on a magic show or puppet show.
  16. Camp outside under the stars and learn about the constellations.
  17. Watch a sunset and sunrise.
  18. Pay someone a compliment.
  19. Go tide-pooling.
  20. Find a pen pal and write them a letter – contact your friends in other states or countries who have children to arrange this.
  21. Learn to play an instrument.
  22. Tie their own shoelaces.
  23. Go to the County Fair and indulge in the food and rides.
  24. Build a sandcastle and swim in the ocean.
  25. Have an egg and spoon or potato sack race.

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bucket list ideas for kids

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