Summer Bucket List Ideas for 2026 - 90+ activities - Stay At Home Habits

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What’s on your bucket list this year

Even though three months of summer seems like a short time, it can still be packed with activities and family entertainment.

So today we are going to take a look at my summer bucket list this year with more that 90 free activities to do both indoors and outdoors.

Most of the activities are free, and some of them are cheap, making this easy on your wallet.

Before we dive in, always make sure you take a look at the internet and your local newspaper for any upcoming free events near your home.

When summer arrives there’s usually a build-up of summer camps for kids. Also, check for any workshops or fun carnivals available in your area and set a reminder on your phone!

For adults, do can keep an eye out for food or wine tasting events happening locally. If you love food, you will enjoy trying out new flavours. I love Facebook for this, they often show notifications of events that might interest you.

Finally, there are also Bible schools that offer some learning and kids crafts in summer.

**This post may contain affiliate links. Please read disclosure.

What should I do in summer?

1. Roast Marshmallows out in the open. Nothing like welcoming summer with some roasted marshmallows.

2. Paint – whether its your fence or your indoor living space, now is the time to refresh it with some new colors.

3. Visit a flower garden or a garden centre – maybe bring home a plant or two for your living room. You may find some easy to maintain indoor plants that are good for air purifying. I have an Aloe Vera and a dragon tree in my living room that serves this purpose.

4. Herb garden – If you have never planted herbs before start with a mint plant. They are easy to grow and maintain indoors. You don’t need to buy a plant, just plant to stalks of your used mint leaves and they grow back!

5. Treasure hunt – check out this indoor scavenger hunt for kids

6. Bird/insect spotting. Write down or print types of flowers, insects, birds or leaves in your garden and get the kids to spot them.

7. Camping in a tent – indoors or in the garden

8. Have a Picnic in your backyard – fill up a picnic basket with the kids favourite fruit and snack! They will enjoy this treat.

9. Lunch outdoors – swap dinning on the table to an outdoorsy meal with the whole family!

10. Water balloon fight these are just so much fun. I find the Bunch-0-balloons on Amazon really easy for this, otherwise it can be time consuming to fill the tiny water balloons.

11. Enjoy a water gun fight

12. Outdoor paddling pool

13. Bake a fun treat or invent something new

14. Cook a new meal

15. Recreate a restaurant style recipe at home

16. Learn to make 4 ingredient treats with kids

17. Make your own smoothie

18. Homemade fruit popsicles – puree berries or other summer fruits to create a healthy popsicle

19. Cheap DIY crafts

20. Homemade beauty products – body scrub, soap, lotions etc.

21. Reorganise your home

22. Change the decor

23. Paint and declutter

24. Trim and maintain your garden

25. Try Hula Hooping. Use can also place the hula hoops on the floor to play hopscotch or toss bean bags in them – great for kids to practise their aim.

26. Self-care at home

27. Have a new haircut

28. Change your hair colour

29. Paint your nails

30. Home spa

31. Ask kids these 50 funny questions

32. Play Hopscotch

33. Draw on the sidewalk

34. Paint on a large roll of paper

35. Create a memory box

36. Make pipe cleaner finger puppets

37. Make origami

38. Indoor Scavenger hunt

39. Pretend play activities – teacher, fireman, doctor

40. Play restaurants

41. Book/toy swap

42. Build a sandpit in the backyard

43. Build something with lego

44. Plan ahead your activities for the week. Make use of this free download to note down your weekly summer schedule – including places to visit. Just click this link to download your summer bucket list planner