I know what you’re thinking…she’s already blogging about summer? It’s only May 1st. But YES. That’s how excited we are around here that it’s May 1st!
Only one more month left of school, warmer weather is here, longer days, lighter fare for dinner, the end of the school year craziness is upon us…we are PUMPED about summer.
Every year, I blog our Summer of Fun list and this year, I was going to do it in a few weeks, but on Saturday.. we stayed indoors in our pjs all day and thought it was a wonderful time to make our list.
This is going to be Madeley’s first summer as a Shull, so we are extra pumped to have her in on the fun 🙂 . Here we are making our list (we made it extra BIG this year!)…
Needless to say, we had FUN making our sign (we hung it upstairs). Every year, our list includes a mix of places to go, things to do, some free things, some things that cost money, and some things that are just silly. Here are some of our ideas for this summer
1. Make homemade ice cream
2. Go get snow cones
3. Karaoke night
4. Stay up late and play baseball
5. Slumber party
6. Play in the sprinklers
7. Go on a family vacation
8. Play basketball in the pool
9. Go to Hawaiian Falls
10. Blow bubbles
11. Have a dance party
12. Kayak in the lake
13. Do nothing one day (stay in our pjs)
14. Make a blueberry pie
15. Ride bikes
16. Have a bubble gum blowing contest
17. Family game night
We make these lists every year and it’s always helpful on those days when we don’t have anything planned. We can check our list and pick something fun to do (even if it’s as simple as having a bubble gum blowing contest…my kids think that’s a fun way to kill an hour!).
So, those are some of our ideas for summer fun. What are yours??? We are always looking for new ideas every summer. My kiddos are 2, 4, 7, and 8…so on the younger side, but please feel free to share ideas for older kids too because I know many of you need them for your big kids!
Happy May 1st!
Leslie Z. says
Such a fun list. I love that it’s such a mix of even the smallest things! When I was a kid I always loved “camping” in the living room with the whole family. We would make a giant fort and all sleep in it.
ELizabeth says
I can’t believe it’s already May! So ready for summer – these ideas sound so great!
Xo, Elizabeth
http://stripesandsolitaires.com
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
You are such a great mother. The kids are going to love summer! Family vacations are always nice.
–
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Sarah says
This is awesome!! My girls would absolutely love this!! For sure our list will include lots of trips to the neighborhood pool and the YMCA pool, play dates and splash pads, trips to the mountains, going to the lake, playing in the sprinklers, and more!! Love your ideas of homemade ice cream and blueberry pie 🙂
Have an awesome Monday!!
-Sarah http://www.thefrugalmillionaireblog.com
Amy Heinl says
what a great list and I agree with Lezlie we did camping out in the living room and it was always such fun. When my son qas the age of your kids we would do an adventure drive day. we would head out and he would tell me turn left turn right etc and we would stop at whatever he saw that interested him…could be a playground..a creek…a yard sale…ice cream stanf. some trips we would make a hidden discovery and end up there all day and other times we would make numerous stops. you could do somwthing different and take turns by having each child look on a map and pick a town that begins with their initial to go visit and explore
Sheaffer Sims says
COME! ON! SUMMER!!!!!!!!
Cori says
Come on summer! I came accross the fun idea to send yourself a postcard home while on vacation! When you get home you have some fun mail to remind you of your fun trip.
Erika Slaughter says
MAY 1, we’re so happy to see you!!!!
Courtney says
Hi Shay!
What about an arts and crafts day? Spread out all of your supplies on the table and just make stuff!
Have fun!
Courtney
http://www.greywoodmama.com
Jodi says
Participation with the Summer Reading Club at the library is always a fave of ours! I also themed our summers for about a decade…My kiddos are 13 and 15 now and don’t want a theme anymore…But some based on their interests were: Safari Summer, A Pinterestingly Fun Summer, 17 Independent Bookstores in 17 Days, A Fruity Summer that is Out of this World (Strawberry Shortcake/Solar System), Made in the USA (American Girl dolls/American presidents), and more…???
Narci Dreffs says
This has me so excited for summer!!!! Bring on the summer fun!
Maggie says
Have y’all been to the Fort Worth Children’s Museum of Science and History? It’s really good!
Lizzie @ This Happy Life says
I can’t believe summer is around the corner! I love that that they all get together and make a list of summer fun!!
liz says
Loving the list!!! We are headed into winter and I am trying to be exited about that but it’s hard. Cold is. Not. My. Thing. Maybe we’ll try making a winter list.
Canadian Cathy says
we have been doing a “Summer Bucket List” since 2008. It has evolved and now each member of our family picks 3 things; something to eat, somewhere to go and something to do. One of our fave things to do (all year round) is to let the kids lose in a small grocery list with %40 (total not per kid) and let them choose their own dinner. Sometimes it is ice cream and cereal bur that is okay!
Lisa D says
If your local Y has sports day camps those were always a hit with my kids. They did a soccer week every summer for several years, my youngest did a fantastic gymnastics week one time, and they all had swimming lessons at the local pool when they were young kids too. We loved summer with the relaxed schedule and played outside a lot! Boy, I sure miss those days! Kids are grown but the wonderful memories remain. Happy May Day!
Heather says
This is so cute! I love how most of these things are so simple. What a great activity for families to do before the summertime!
Carrie says
We do summer swim team every summer so that eats into our mornings for most of the summer. My girls are 9 and 6 so not toddlers but not older kids. Last summer I decided to sort of go with the flow and it was awesome. Lots of play dates! One of my favorite things we do is a day of park hopping. We line up 4 or 5 parks, pack food and sunscreen and hit up a bunch of playgrounds. We have a blast and it is something different.
Jennie says
It is always fun to see what the kids think of… and it is never as grand as what adults include. See a parade, play a new golf course, go to the beach (build a sandcastle). Just a few ideas from my own kids.
Melissa says
Summer Fun Lists are my favorite! We’ve been doing one since my oldest (who’s now 12) was headed to kindergarten so we’ve had a lot of fun over the years. I’ve already started our list for this year, but it will probably get tweaked a little as summer gets closer…we always do library days, homemade snowcones, homemade cards for soldiers of kiddos in the hospital, read-aloud book (when we finish we watch the movie together) and this year we are adding Six Flags, Playstreet Museum and the Gaylord Texan since we just moved to the DFW area last month : ) I can’t wait to have all of my chickens home with me ; )
Laura @ Laura Likes Design says
This sounds like such a fun summer! Love the idea of making a HUGE list! <3
Angela Ellingson says
Such a fun list! I’m in Sioux Falls, SD and we woke up to snow on the ground… Happy May 1st to us. 🙁 But it shouldn’t stay long. Anyway, we made a summer fun list last summer and my then 3-year-old son added “ride a real whale.” Haha! We were dreaming big! 🙂
Anna says
When I was about Kensington’s age, my friends dad would have a cookout for us and then he’s set up a real tent in his living room for us to “camp out” for the night. We were too scared to sleep outside in the back yard 🙂
kellie carrara says
Lots of great ideas here! My daughter does a theater camp that has 2 big shows…one is Alice in Wonderland, the other is Annie this year. We also split times with the grandparents: A week in Vermont and a week in Tennessee. As a family we spend a week on Cape Cod/Martha’s Vineyard, too. We also love Newport, RI — we’re lucky to live only an hour away. Throw in an amusement park and some pool time, a Red Sox game and that’s our summer! Enjoy yours!
Lorie says
Drive-in Movies always make me think summer. Not sure if there is one where you live, but there is one in Fort Worth and one in Granbury. Love, love , love your blog…thanks for all you share with us!
SS says
We do lots of sidewalk chalk and painting. We make our own sidewalk paint. We do scavenger hunts. We go to fruit farm and pick blueberries!!!
SS says
Oh forgot… We do a couple of sports camps, but our local library has some great like hour long camps… Mostly art for free or under $5!!!
Ella says
We love parks, pick your own vegetables farm, zoos, local family fun days (last year our town had an antique car show, and July 4th fireworks, and a carnival)
Lesley McFarland says
we always make a list…I want make sure NOTHING is left out. Last summer we put everything in a jar in hopes on a day we wanted to do something we would just pull something out and go for it. Well that did not work out too well because we kinda like to know what to do and not fly by the seat of our pants for the most part. But we did do it some days and it was a fun surprise.
Bring on summer!!! It CAN NOT get here fast enough!!
Briana N. Lee says
Love the bubble gum blowing contest. Your kids are too cute!
Briana | youngsophisticate.com
Laura says
Hi Shay! My kids are 2, 6, and 9 so similar ages ? We are trying something new this year…Field Trip Fridays! There are lots of things on our list: Perot Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Klyde Warren Park, Hams Orchard, the Aquarium, and the list goes on (we live in Dallas). Love the ideas your kids came up with. Come on summer!!!
Karen M says
We lived a couple of blocks away from the Mississippi River and would get on our bikes and have a picnic lunch and watch the boats pass. Because the levees are high hills, a cardboard box served as a great sleigh and we would exhaust ourselves sliding down and running back up again. I am not familiar with your area, but maybe you have a place within biking distance for the little one’s that you could bike to and have a picnic with some scenery that would be new for them or least an area that they don’t get to visit often. Have fun this summer!
Jennifer says
Our list always includes: camping, fishing, boating and smores. I love that your list is created by the kids and is on a large scale. Super cute!
Francie says
Great list of summer activities, Shay! I look forward to your summer bucket list every year. http://www.supersimpleways.com
Ashley says
I wanted to leave a comment on your chili chicken taco recipie you recently posted, but there’s no where to comment on it for some reason. But, I made it last night with Tab’s guac and it was so amazing! Will definitely be a stable recipe in my house. 🙂
Carly M says
Happy May Day to your always adorable bunch! Can’t wait to see all of your updates on your summer plans.
Jamie says
My boys are 17, 15, 13, & 11 and we kick off summer with strawberry picking. We later pick cherries and peaches. Fresh picked fruit would be perfect in your home made ice cream.
Jennifer says
Hi! I remember you showed us your ice cream maker last summer…do you mind sharing what you have again? I think I looked too late last summer and couldn’t find it, but would like to get one for this summer. Thanks!
Marti says
My kids are 17, 19, and 24, so I no longer have to entertain them during the summer. That makes me both happy and sad. When they were young, however, one thing we did was have “park day” once a week. I’d make a picnic lunch and we would go picnic and play at a different area park each week. We all enjoyed it immensely! Once I get to be a grandmother, I want to do the same with my grandkids. 🙂
Britt Hensley says
Super, super fun list!! I love that you captured the kiddos making the list together. Precious memories for sure!
Alexis deZayas says
This is precious!!
Tracy says
Oh how we loved making summer lists when my kiddos were little (they don’t seem to want to do that as much now that they’re young adults – ha!). Here are some of our favorites from summers past…
VBS @ church (they volunteered when they got too old to attend)
Bowling (check out the Kids Bowl Free program for lanes in your area)
Museums (look for small, unknown museums in your area as well as the bigger popular spots)
Visit a new ice cream (or cupcake) shop
Visit a Farmer’s Market
See a movie that’s coming out this summer that interests the kids
Read a book together
“Dive-In Movie” (check your local pools) OR a Drive-In Movie if you have one in your area
Meet dad for lunch
Obviously these are nothing new or groundbreaking! But they do all require time together. We would sometimes join friends for things (like bowling) but often times like just being together as a family (and my kids still like that at 18 & 21!). Have fun!
Holly says
Fun list! My kids loved 3 parks day. We would drive to 3 different parks (a little further than our closest parks so they would be different. We would go to a park and I would set my timer for 30 minutes. They were off running (often they would bring a friend). When the timer would go off, they would hop in the van and we would drive to two other parks each for 30 minutes. They loved the new adventure and trying to pack as much fun in each park before the timer went off.
Jennifer Campbell says
These are great! One thing special we started doing was once per summer, we have “ice cream for dinner” night. I buy all the fixins’ for sundaes and that’s what we have. It has become a special little tradition and we usually wait until the end of the summer for it, kind of like a last hurrah!
Kelly says
Sidewalk chalk! All day erryday. We play hopscotch and draw pictures and draw roads for bike and trike riding. ENDLESS fun. Plus I usually manage to sneak some learning in there, too!
SS says
Kelly equal parts water and cornstarch mix and add your favorite food coloring to make your color… Viola sidewalk chalk. Add some dollar store paint brushes = FUN!!! My tip make small amounts the cornstarch stinks after a day. Made that mistake once. We do like 3 colors that are about a 1/4 cup. If we run out I make more!!! Another tip… Use the cheap cornstarch for this! Lol!
Anna S says
Growing up, my sister and I each had our own little garden. We learned about the different plants that we could plant based on the amount of sunlight the gardens got each day. Other family activities we have done: camped in the backyard, summer reading program at the library, made roads and traffic signs with sidewalk chalk for our bikes (entertainment for hours!), went berry picking and made our own jam and mini pies, walked through the drive-thru at DQ for ice cream, dedicated an entire day to visit all of the parks in our little town, lots of day trips to different historical places in our area.
Lisa says
When my kids were younger, I chose one day a week for them to handwrite a letter to an older relative (they didn’t have any grandparents). The recipient loved getting mail and always sent a letter in return, which the kids loved to receive. It’s also a sneaky way to practice reading and writing ;). I also highly recommend this 30 Days of Kindness – which could be spread out over the summer rather than just 30 days. Great ideas that also give back to the community.
Carolyn says
Love this! Camp in the backyard; smores and all. (great kick off to summer if you can manage to do on first weekend after school ends! :)) Make boxcars and do and outdoor movie in the backyard. ( hang a white sheet on your fence rent or borrow projector if you don’t have one) and have kids decorate their box cars). Paint a mural using canvas painters tarp or using that spool of paper (secured to fence for keeping the mess outside. ;). Lemonade stand. Random acts of kindness ( bake cookies for the trash guys… they never get any love).
Simply Shining says
We adore all things summer 🙂 Love their adorable smiles !!! Happy May 1st !
Erin Port says
What a fun list. This year we are going to go to a local state park and camp one night like literally from 6pm for dinner until the next morning! HA! We also like to do the summer reading program at the library, cook smores over a fire, go to the lake, have cousin camp (where all the cousins go to Nana’s for “camp”), and go to another state park for a picnic, hiking and playing in the little creeks there. We can’t wait for summer — pools and lake time here we come!
Sue says
Drive-in movie and miniature golf were always favorites!
Bethany says
awe….I miss a drive in!
Jennifer Atmore says
Since we’re lucky enough to live close to two great zoos, I pay close attention to the weather in the summer on the early morning local news and if it’s going to be a cloudy or cooler day, we pack up and head to the zoo! Last summer, my 8y/o son Donovan and I went to the FTW zoo on a random cloudy June day and it may have been my favorite visit to the zoo EVER (and I’ve been hundreds of times). My goal this summer is to make the short drive over to the Dallas Zoo a time or two when the weather cooperates! I hope you enjoy your summer!
Whitney Pegram says
Can’t wait to sit down with my kiddos & make our summer bucket list!! ?
Elise Welch says
That is such a cool idea! I am also working on my summer goals and plans. I am so excited for summer too!
Elizabeth says
Such a fun idea! We’ve got to get working on ours!
Bethany says
Ice Cream Sundays and zoo trips are on our list!
Carla says
Thanks for the great ideas. I read your for may 1st to my 4 yr old and he’s taking some ideas from your kiddos. My 2 yr old doesn’t really get it so he just goes along with us. ? And we love May 1st in our house because it’s my birthday!! ?
Andrea Johnson says
CUTE! Love the two little lefties! Us Lefties have to stick together. 🙂
Lindsay says
My daughter (10) just told me she started her summer bucket list. Swim up movie, homemade ice cream, arts and crafts projects, family swim party, etc. I love the multiple park idea and visiting local museums and historical sites. One favorite from last year was gathering some friends together and driving to a popular swimming hole about an hour away. We packed a picnic and the kids loved it!