Since I finally put pen to paper and wrote up an extensive Ultimate Bucket List for Families, I thought, why not add in one for the teens in the family as well? When I googled “bucket list for teens”, I didn’t find very many ideas. So to make it even more specific, I decided to make a summer bucket list for teens, as that is when my teens are laying around the house either with their ear stuck to their phone or saying “I’m bored!” twenty times a day. So no worries, Mom and Dad, get out this extensive bucket list of things for teens to do this summer. I know for me, this summer bucket list helped me keep my sanity during those days my teens had off from school.
Do your teens ever say “I’m bored?” What about “I don’t have anything to do this summer?” We know the feeling. That’s why we put together this Summer Bucket List Ideas for Teens, just in time for all of the summer days that are ahead of us. Get ready to spend some quality time with your kids; they’ll thank you later!
Summer Bucket List for Teens
To do with Family and Friends on a Trip:
✦ Take a Road Trip
As with most families, we always took an annual road trip to somewhere where we could get into vacation mode in about 2-5 hours. Our typical road trips led us down many paths, but one we never stopped loving was going to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) Mexico down near the Sea of Cortez. We rented a house right on the beach and had plenty of endless summers there! The sea, the sand, the sand dunes, the ATVs, the fireworks, the shopping, the food – it was always pretty spectacular every year we did this!
So for you, pick a spot on a map that you want to go, and get your parents in gear for a drive. Pack the car and just go. There are very few activities in this world that are as exhilarating as going on a road trip with your family. The open road calls to all of us. Ask to invite a friend with you!
✦ Go to a Renaissance Festival
✦ Take a Deep Sea Fishing Trip with the Family
I will never forget the time we rented a deep-sea yacht for the day in Puerto Vallarta Mexico and took our kiddos for the time of their lives – out to try to catch some mahi-mahi fish in the Pacific Ocean near the Bay of Banderas. We had a blast, and I reeled in quite a beauty!
✦ Attend a Comic-Con
✦ Learn How to Paddleboard or Surf
✦ Visit a Nearby City you Haven’t Been To
✦ Go barefoot on the beach
✦ Go Camping with the Family
✦ Study Abroad
Look into camps or other things that interest you to study abroad in a different culture. Maybe do it with a friend, so you will have each other while you learn about different cultures. My son did study abroad for two summers while in high school, he went to Jamaica, Spain, to Chile. In Jamaica, he was a lacrosse coach for underprivileged kids, in Spain he studied Spanish, and in Chile, he was a ski instructor during the summer (their winter). Honestly, he loved them all and loved learning about different cultures and places. He was always a geography buff, so when the opportunities arose, he took them. Once in college, he did a study-abroad program in Barcelona Spain.
✦ Attend an Outdoor Concert
Summer Bucket List for Teens
To do with Family or Friends in Your Hometown:
✦ Ride in a Limo
✦ Have an epic Water Gun Fight
✦ Have a Water Balloon Fight
✦ Go Treasure Hunting with a Metal Detector
✦ Go on a Long Bicycle Ride
✦ Visit the Local Zoo
✦ Visit a Cool Museum
✦ Go to an Aquarium
✦ Go to a park and play frisbee (Frisbees are cool!)
✦ Go on a Hike
✦ Go Geo-cashing
Join the world’s largest treasure hunt called Geo-cashing. As I am sure there are some geo-caching sites near you. Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity for everyone, where you use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device (like your phone) to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches”, at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world! My kids loved doing this and I think you will too!
✦ Visit a Waterpark
✦ Go Thrift Store shopping
I don’t know about your hometown, but our hometown of Phoenix has a few stores called Buffalo Exchange. My kids love to go in there and look for anything vintage. At first, I didn’t “get it” as an adult, but now I know. We also take our clothes there and drop them off when we get tired of our old clothes, so now we usually always have a credit there!
✦ Go to the Dollar Movie Theater
✦ Go to a Drive-In Movie
✦ Go on a Scavenger Hunt in your Neighborhood
✦ Roast Marshmallows and have S’ mores on your backyard grill
✦ Go roller skating or rollerblading
✦ Become a tourist in your hometown
✦ Eat at In & Out Burger
Summer Bucket List for Teens
To do at Your Home:
✦ Tie-Dye a T-shirt, Shorts, or a Scarf
✦ Make Your Own YouTube Video
✦ Complete a 1000-piece Jigsaw Puzzle
Ok, so this is a fun one. I remember as a kid, we always used to get out or buy new 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles, put them on the main dining table, and each night we would sit around as a family or with friends and see what we could put together. Some of them were easy, other ones were hard, but in the end, we always finished it. Then my Mom would flip it over onto a bedsheet, spray it with lacquer or decoupage and hang it in our garage. Sometimes we even a piece (or a few) missing, but she didn’t care! Even today, when I go home, I see all the jigsaw puzzles that we finished! You can do this too!
✦ Learn to make Jewelry
✦ Learn to Cook One Thing Really Good
It doesn’t really matter what it is, as long as it is something that you can make really good. Then you can call it your signature dish and make it every time you have friends over. Or even when the family is hungry and Mom doesn’t feel like cooking. As you grow up, you will discover that it is often your go-to item to make, because you perfected it so well that you didn’t even need the recipe anymore, as you knew it by heart. For me, mine is Lemon-Pepper Chicken, I can still make it without a recipe!
✦ Have a Garage Sale
✦ Learn a Foreign Language
✦ Give Your Room a Makeover
This is a super fun one! Sometimes you just get bored with your room. So go to the paint or hardware store and pick out your favorite color. Buy a few cans of paint, paintbrushes, and a bucket, and get started. Invite a friend (or your sibling) to make the time pass faster. Before you know it, you will have a room makeover! And you are going to love it. Then go out to Target or your favorite online store and buy a few accessories to match the color and wa-la! – you have a brand new room! Now the hard part will be keeping it clean!
✦ Have an Outdoor Picnic
✦ Learn to Use Chopsticks For Fun!
✦ Figure Out How to Unlock a Rubik’s Cube
This way, when you go to Budapest Hungary, you can show your trick to your friends, as Budapest was where the Rubic’s Cube was founded in 1974. Ernõ Rubik, a professor from Budapest wanted to help his students understand three-dimensional problems. So he created the Rubik’s Cube!
✦ Sleep Outside Under the Stars
If you are lucky enough to travel the world with your parents like my kiddos, then I would suggest that you try to sleep under the stars. Maybe you can make it to Jordan in the Arabian Desert, as that place and its stars are amazing. But if not, what about your own backyard? On those warm summer evenings, get a bunch of your friends and sleep outside under the stars. But if it gets too cold, just come in the house!
✦ Get a High Score on a Video Game
✦ Make an Origami (The Art of Paper Folding)
Summer Bucket List for Teens
To Do In Your Local Community:
✦ Get a Makeover
✦ Volunteer a Local Animal Shelter
My teen boys volunteered at Home Fur Good. They loved taking these dogs for a walk, cleaning their cages, and overall just playing with the puppies. By the end of the summer, we adopted a puppy that we named Shasta! We love her so much!
✦ Work as a Lifeguard
✦ Participate in a Flash mob
✦ Send sill emails
Send an email with silly words that you learned today in school (sometimes it’s fun to just goof around!)
✦ Go on a Summer Picnic
✦ Go to a drive-through Safari
✦ Take Photographs
Take photos with your phone of the sunset and sunrise so you can compare them side by side, it’s really cool to see how different they are.
