A childhood friend shared this article on Facebook. I immediately recalled the hours chasing her around outside her home. With her, I got to first experience feeding dogfood to a rescued baby bird, wheeling, then dumping, her little brother into the rosebushes because red wagons don’t corner well, and protesting the adoption of all her roly-poly puppies because we wanted to keep them all.
The article states what we already know, that in the age of Facebook and smartphones, children are more sedentary than ever even when they are outside, with one in 10 unable to ride a bike. This is their list of 50 things kids should do before they are 12 (plus a few I threw in). Since my son is almost 11, I’m just going to use it as a rough guide of 50 things to try to do before college. Though now that he is heading to college, we’ll say before his younger sister goes to college…
Feel free to join us for any or all of them!
The full list is as follows:
1. Climb a tree
After volunteering at a pancake breakfast we found an awesome tree with thick broad branches perfect for climbing!
2. Roll down a really big hill
One of the greatest activities at this party was the impromptu roll down a huge hill. If kids picked up enough speed they could go right in the lake.
3. Camp out in the wild
It’s dawn – time to wake up?!
4. Build a den
5. Skip a stone
Right-handed Softballer; Left-handed Stone Skipper
6. Run around in the rain
7. Fly a kite
Flying Free with the wind in her hair!
8. Catch a fish with a net
9. Eat an apple straight from a tree
10. Play conkers
11. Throw some snow
This was the first snow found – dirty snow in the parking lot
12. Hunt for treasure on the beach
13. Make a mud pie
14. Dam a stream
15. Go sledging – I’m guessing they meant sledding as sledging is a great way to pollute the air with smacktalk!
Sailing over the snow!
In CA we also sand sled!
16. Bury someone in the sand
What if your head isn’t what’s buried in the sand?
17. Set up a snail race
18. Balance on a fallen tree
19. Swing on a rope swing
I called this Ewok Training Camp in Hungary
20. Make a mud slide
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild
22. Take a look inside a tree
23. Visit an island
24. Feel like you’re flying in the wind
Not a ride in nature, but the closest thing to flying at Knott’s Berry Farm!
25. Make a grass trumpet
26. Hunt for fossils and bones – or our hunt for Elliott if we want to be fully transparent – Like Elliott!
Only the cave knows what treasures it holds
27. Watch the sun wake up
28. Climb a huge hill (bicycle optional!)
Carson rode all the way up this exhausting hill for bragging rights and an ice cream!
29. Get behind a waterfall
30. Feed a bird from your hand
31. Hunt for bugs
32. Find some frogspawn
33. Catch a butterfly in a net
34. Track wild animals
35. Discover what’s in a pond
36. Call an owl
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool
38. Bring up a butterfly
39. Catch a crab
40. Go on a nature walk at night
41. Plant it, grow it, eat it
42. Go wild swimming
Swimming upstream!
43. Go rafting
44. Light a fire without matches
45. Find your way with a map and compass
46. Try bouldering
47. Cook on a campfire – 11/9/13 Lauren and her friend Riley learned how to cook Snickerdoodle cookies on a campfire in a box oven. I wish I’d taken a picture, but I didn’t so here is what it looked like (but we used cinder blocks, not coke cans).
The Snickerdoodle cookies were a hit! Thanks Prepared-Housewife.com for the photo! I’m your newest fan!
48. Try abseiling
49. Find a geocache
50. Canoe down a river
51. Go on dog sled
Mush! We have a lot of Montecito Sequoia to explore!
52. Visit a national park preserve
Even grander in real life!
53. Do snow/sand angel
After falling off her bike a lot that day, she preferred activities already on the ground.
54. Squish toes in the mud
55. Jump in a pile of leaves
The crunchy leaves smell like fall!
56. Relax in a cave
Contemplating Superstitions at Superstition Mountain
What about you?
Do you have any bucketlists for your family?
What have I left off of this list?
Which National Park MUST I see first?
How have your family travel plans changed once kids go to college?
Makes Me Wander 
