The Bucket List for Kids
What Every Child Should Do Before They Become a Teenager
I sat around the campfire with a group of young guys on the last night of summer camp. I soaked in the sights, the sounds and the smells. I love campfires, but, to me, there is nothing uncommon about sitting around a fire.
“This is incredible,” The young man sitting next to me piped up, “I’ve never done this before.”
“Done what?” I asked, perplexed.
“Sat around a campfire,” Came the rather sheepish reply.
“Are you serious? How old are you?” I asked.
“I’m seventeen,” He replied.
I was speechless. How could a person live 17 years and not have sat around a campfire? It got me thinking. In an age of digital everything, constant connection, screens that scream for attention and social media, what else are kids missing out on? I took it for granted that things like camping and sitting around a fire were universal ‘kid’ experiences, but, apparently, not anymore! It caused me to sit down and come up with this list. I call it, “The Bucket List for Kids.” These are the experiences that I want my kids to have before they turn thirteen. These are the things that I think all kids should get the chance to experience. Here goes:
- Toast marshmallows on a campfire (of course!)
- Go camping in a tent (or even without a tent)
- Climb a tree
- Swing from a rope swing into a river or creek
- Go fishing (until they’ve actually caught a fish!)
- Skim flat stones across a still lake
- Build a kite
- Fly the kite they just built
- Attempt to make a dam out of rocks in a flowing stream
- Learn to ride a bike
- Eat something that they grew themselves
- Build a soap box cart/billy cart
- Build a sand castle at the beach
- Post a letter that they wrote themselves
- Explore rock pools and catch a crab
- Visit someone in hospital
- Sponsor a child in a developing nation
- Write to that child
- Look after a pet
- Make play-dough
- Roll down a really big hill
- Run around in the pouring rain
- Make a pizza from scratch
- Play in real snow and…
- Build a snow man
- Visit a farm and learn where milk and eggs come from, then…
- Milk a cow by hand
- Build a raft and attempt a voyage!
- Start a business (yes… washing cars, mowing lawns or selling lemonade)
- Save for something they want and then buy it
- Save some money and give it away to a cause they care about
- Jump over waves at the beach
- Make a cake from scratch
- Explore a cave
- Learn how to make a good paper plane
- Climb to the top of a mountain
- Play in mud
- Build a fort out of blankets
- Ride a horse
- Run through a sprinkler on a hot summer’s day
- Complete a big puzzle
- Learn to skip with a skipping rope
- Go roller skating
- Unreservedly apologize to someone
- Finger painting
- Learn to hammer in a nail
- Have a family photo slide show night
- Lie on your back and find shapes in the clouds
- Observe a shooting star
- Go a whole week without the internet
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- Make orange juice from real oranges
- Be able to recall your family tree to at least three generations
- Play in piles of Autumn leaves
- Pick dandelions, make a wish and blow it into the wind
- Sit on Daddy’s lap and pretend to drive the car
- Look at something through a microscope
- Play a team sport
- Make sock puppets
- Perform a puppet show with the sock puppets
- Burn something with a magnifying glass (preferably a non-living thing)
- Learn how to sew a button back onto a shirt
- Watch ‘The Princess Bride’ (yes, every child should have watched this movie)
- Play a family board game by candlelight during a power outage
- Jump through puddles
- Build a model volcano and create their own eruption
- Write a letter to a politician about something they care about
- Learn how to put air in a tire (for their bike or the family car)
- Pick fruit off a tree and eat it
- Fail at something badly, get back up and try again.
When I look back on my own childhood, I remember many of these things with great fondness. How terrible would it be if my children only experienced these things only by watching someone else do it on YouTube. It’s time to throw myself and my kids into their bucket list! How about you? Would you add anything to the list? I’d love to hear from you if you would!
Happy parenting!
About the Creator
Dan Foster
Writer / Poet / Blogger
I'm here for community and conversation.
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