How To Make A Summer Vacation Bucket List With Your Child: 5 Easy Steps To Create A Great One

When your children are still young it is important to teach them about goals, how to set goals and the steps they can take to reach those goals. 

These lessons will become a valuable tool your child is sure to use throughout their lives. 

Starting when they are young allows your child to develop a sense of purpose in their actions and satisfaction when they attain the goal. It also teaches them how to handle failure when they fall short of reaching their goal as well as perseverance to keep trying and not giving up even if things get hard. 

So how do you begin teaching your children about goals and goal setting? How about using a bucket list? I know this might sound kind of "adult-ish" or morbid but it doesn't have to be that way. 

A bucket list can be as broad or as narrow as you, the parent chooses, while still allowing your child to "dream big" and use their imagination to come up with ideas. 

via: Bestow.com

Each idea your child adds to their bucket list provides an opportunity for you to discuss the steps to take in order to reach their bucket list goals.

How about starting with a summer vacation bucket list? All kids love summer vacation! Plus it is a short enough time period to keep them focused on attaining their bucket list goals. You could start the summer vacation bucket list with your elementary age children (ages 6+) as a way to introduce goal setting.

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5 Easy Steps To Create A Great 

Summer Vacation Bucket List 

#1 Bucket List - Brainstorming

To begin a summer vacation bucket list grab a blank sheet of paper and pencil and let the kids use their imaginations to come up with ideas. Sky's the limit at this point! 

#2 Bucket List - Prioritizing

I recommend narrowing down their list to 10 bucket list items and then have them rank them in order from most important to least important.  

#3 Bucket List - Final List

There are lots of ways to make a cool looking summer vacation bucket list like posters, a big chalkboard or use a pre-made template if you don't think you are creative enough. Let your child decorate and design their final bucket list any way they want. 

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If you need a blank template for a bucket list to use with your child HERE is a great one from Bestow.com

Check out more great bucket lists ideas at the end of this post! 

#4 Bucket List - Action Steps

Now, starting with their #1 summer vacation bucket list item begin discussing plans or action steps to achieve this goal. Help your child come up with a list of action steps and then let them go to work!

#5 Bucket List - Review

Every time your child gets to cross off a completed summer vacation bucket list goal - Celebrate! Maybe they get to pick a special sticker to put next to the achieved goal or after crossing off a bucket list goal they get a small treat. Get creative and have fun with this! 

At the end of summer vacation spend some time talking to your child about all their accomplishments as well as the goals they didn't achieve. The reality is there may be items on their bucket list that they don't end up crossing off meaning they didn't achieve one of their goals. Reassure your child that it is OK! Use this as an opportunity to teach them what to do when they fall short of their goals and how to move forward. Avoid a pity party and encourage your child. 

More Awesome Bucket List Ideas & Tools 

via: Bestow.com

Looking for a cool & colorful bucket list template? Need a little inspiration to get you started creating your own bucket list? Check out this amazing set of printable bucket lists from the Bestow.com blog that collectively offer 150 ideas for travel destinations, wellness tips, money moves and even a blank bucket list for your little ones! Scroll through the bucket lists provided by Bestow.com to see all the great ideas below. Click to download or click on the Bestow.com link above to go directly to their website for more great bucket list tips!



Make sure you print off the templates on cardstock so it is sturdy and can hold up over the summer! Here is what I recommend:

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Decorating a bucket list can be just as much fun for your child as creating the list! I recommend fine tip markers to write out your goals. 

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What are your top 5 Bucket List goals? Have you checked any goals off your bucket list? What ones!!?