Create Your Family Bucket List for the Summer with These 5 Ideas!
The kids are excited for the summer, and you’re excited to spend some time doing fun things with them. Unfortunately, it’s easy to fall into a trap where you just stick around home in the comfortable air conditioning simply because you don’t have anything in particular planned, and you don’t want to brave the heat outside. Don’t make this mistake. Create a family summer bucket list so you’ll always have some things to do.
We’ve put together a list of things that we think will be the most fun, but it’s always best to personalize our ideas for your own tastes.
Go Somewhere You’ve Never Been
If you’re new to Winnipeg, there’s probably a lot of things that you haven’t seen. You may even be able to find enough ideas to go somewhere new every day in the summer! Those who have been here for a while may be starting to find that they’re bored with the same old options.
A good place to start is the Forks National Historic Site, where you'll find a wide variety of unique and diverse restaurants, performance areas and a market, all with the stunning natural backdrop of the Forks, where the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet. While you're in the area, you could also visit the Assiniboine Zoo, home to over 200 species of animals, including polar bears!
If you're in Winnipeg during July, you can also catch the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, North America's second-largest Fringe Festival. With over 170 theatre companies from around the world participating, you're bound to find something you love.
Learn Something New
School’s out for summer, but that doesn’t mean the learning has to stop. Throughout Winnipeg, you can find a variety of great educational activities to feed the mind as well as the stomach. Winnipeg is home to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which explores human rights issues related to Canada through video, art, interactive displays and more. Be warned that the museum doesn't shy away from a few sensitive subjects, so it might not be suitable for younger children.
Families with younger kids can visit the Manitoba Children's Museum, which houses 12 permanent galleries including the five-storey tall Lasagna Lookout, an Illusion Tunnel, a Splash Lab for conducting water experiments and a dedicated toddler area.
Get Crafty
The lazy days of summer might also be the perfect time to pick up a new hobby. Take the kids to Michaels and let them explore some of the craft options. There’s always things like needlework, crocheting, and the fine arts, and Michaels often has kits for these intended to teach kids how to do it. They also stocks things like paint-by-gem or model car kits.
Have Some Good, Old-Fashioned Fun
Remember all the games you used to play with the neighbourhood kids? Today’s kids don’t always have the same experiences, and we think that’s a shame. Encourage your kids to go out to the open green spaces in your neighbourhood to play games like tag, capture the flag, or kick the can with other kids from the neighbourhood. Organize a round of ghosts in the graveyard for after-dark play occasionally. You may need to teach some of the rules, but they’ll have fun once they get started. Fatherly will remind you of the rules for some of your old favourites.
Get Cool Stuff for the Yard
You chose your home’s location because you wanted a nice yard for the kids to play in, so maybe it’s time to stock the yard with some really fun items. For instance, you might be able to get them to read outside if you install a hammock chair as a cozy spot. But the Wonder Wave SeeSaw Rocker offers over-the-top fun. Older kids might like something like a fire pit for roasting marshmallows at night or anything that could help them be a ninja warrior, like a slackline for building balance or a ninja line for building arm strength. Try to get at least one new fun thing for the yard each year, and before you know it, all the neighbourhood kids will be flocking to your yard.
If you don’t have a good plan, summer can slip away before you know it. Take some time to have a family meeting and come up with a list of things that you’ll all enjoy doing.
