Summer is a great time for fun, but who wants to spend the whole time planning? 100 spontaneous summer bucket list ideas.

In the past, over scheduling left our family tired. This summer, I hope for balance; a mix of scheduled and spontaneous activities from this bucket list.

Are you an over-planner or under-planner? Often, we get stuck in a rut and do nothing. Nothing is great once in a while, but we need to get out too. Having a list of activities to pick from helps me be more spontaneous. Wide open days on the calendar are a gift; I want to use them well!

If you have some wide open summer days, read on. You’ll find over 100 low-cost ideas for family fun, with minimal planning.

100 Spontaneous Summer Bucket List Ideas

Serve Others

When the schedule isn’t packed, it creates time to intentionally serve. I want our kids to know the value and blessing of serving others. The best way to teach that lesson is to get out there and do it! For these reasons, our bucket list begins with ways to serve others this year.

None of these activities require much money or preparation, and kids of any age can participate. Who will you serve together?

1. Deliver frozen treats to the neighbors after dinner
2. Pack Meals at Feed My Starving Children
3. Write a letter to someone in the military
4. Bring a meal to a family with a new baby or health concern
5. Make prayer cards for friends and family and pray through them during the summer
6. Volunteer at church as a family – in the nursery, as greeters or hosts, clean up afterwards
7. Put on gloves and pick up garbage at a local park or bike path
8. Make Thank You Cards for the Garbage Collector, Mail Carrier, Pastor, or others who provide services to your family
9. Help a neighbor pull weeds or offer to water flowers when out-of-town
10. Leave a sweet chalk note for a friend in their driveway without them seeing you
11. Host a block party
12. Invite an acquaintance over to get to know them better
13. Help kids clean out their rooms and toy box, choose a charity, and drop off donations
14. Visit a nursing home
15. Take a prayer walk and pray for people living in your neighborhood
16. Write thank-you notes to Sunday School teachers, pastors or coaches
17. Sponsor a child through World Vision
18. Take the kids grocery shopping so they can buy the ingredients for a recipe and make dinner for the family

I want our kids to know the value and blessing of serving others. The best way to teach that lesson is to get out there and do it. #parenting #summerbucketlist #motherhood Click To Tweet

Fun In Your Own Yard

Just because we have a wide-open day for spontaneous fun, doesn’t mean we have to leave home. We can have lots of fun in and around our house, using things we already have. Take one summer bucket list idea, add creativity and laughter for a memorable day of family fun.

1. Wash the car in the driveway
2. Host a Lemonade stand
3. Paint rocks
4. Roast Marshmallows around a campfire
5. Camp in the backyard
6. Play Flashlight Tag
7. Play Yardzee or other large yard game
8. Host a Bocce Ball Tournament with other families
9. Grill Homemade Pizzas
10. Have an epic family water fight
11. Make juice Popsicles
12. Host a root beer float or ice cream social at your house
13. Create your own backyard olympics with simple competitions and prizes – races, limbo, long jump, jump rope, hula hoop, hand stands
14. Paint a Turquoise Table and get to know your neighbors
15. Play volleyball or badminton
16. Run through a sprinkler
17. Have a scavenger hunt
18. Read a book outside
19. Sit in a hammock
20. Find shapes in the clouds
21. Stay up late or get up early to watch the next meteor shower
22. Take a nap on a blanket outside
23. Play Frisbee
24. Have an all-ages, neighborhood kickball game
25. Stay in pajamas all day long, just because you can
26. Do backwards day – dessert first, dinner for breakfast, take a backwards walk around the block, breakfast for dinner, etc.
27. Grow the ingredients for salsa in your yard and make it
28. Water balloon toss and fight
29. Play hopscotch and 4-square
30. Make a home video
31. Dance party on the deck
32. Build a fort under the deck – no parents allowed
33. Play games with SOLO cups
34. Paint the drive way with chalk paint
35. Create a backyard obstacle course and use a stop watch to time each family member going through it
36. Stay out and play in the rain on a warm day
37. Rescue all the worms from the driveway or sidewalk after rain
38. Build a rock sculpture
39. Decorate bikes and parade up the street
40. Watch the sunset
41. Jump in puddles
42. Get up early for the sunrise
43. Create chalk people – trace the outline and color in details
44. Write numbers starting at 1 to as high as there is room to write on the driveway
45. Build a fort and read books with a flashlight

Many of our must-do activities for summer can happen right in our own yard. What's on your bucket list? #summer #bucketlist #spontaneousfun Click To Tweet

Out and About

Even a homebody like me needs to get out sometimes. While a day trip may take a little bit of planning, most of these activities can be planned the day-of or day-before. When you’re ready for an adventure, head out on one of these summer bucket list ideas as a family. Don’t forget to take pictures to remember the fun!

1. Go to a museum
2. Spend a day at the community pool or community center
3. Let the kids take nature pictures on a walk with your phone or camera
4. Go fishing
5. Catch (and release) Fireflies
6. Build a sandcastle with a moat
7. Bury someone in the sand
8. Hike in a county or state park
9. Swim in a lake or river
10. Tube behind a boat
11. Kayak
12. Walk down to a marina and see the boats
13. Visit an ice cream parlor
14. Run a race
15. Climb a tree
16. Go for a family bike ride to get a treat or play at a park
17. Visit a new park every week
18. Play in a splash pad
19. Swim at the water park
20. Go to an amusement park
21. Find a county fair
22. Pick berries at a farm
23. Go to the zoo
24. See a show from a local theater company
25. Attend a baseball game
26. Go to a movie in the park
27. Go to the Drive In
28. Eat dinner at a food festival
29. Walk around a lake
30. Go bowling
31. Play games in an arcade
32. Cheer on a friend at a summer sporting event
33. Watch fireworks
34. Visit a historic landmark
35. Stop at a scenic overlook on the highway
36. Take a day trip – explore a nearby city or countryside
37. Eat on a rooftop
38. Take a ride on a riverboat
39. Leave messages in the sand
40. Bring a picnic to the park
41. Take pictures of your family in an open field
42. Visit a nature center
43. Catch a frog
44. Take a bus or train

What is your favorite spontaneous activity to do as a family?