One of our sons is engaged to be married in May. So most of our extended family came to Tyler over the weekend for a bridal shower some friends of ours threw for the happy couple. Everybody congregated at our house after the big event. Parents. Grandparents. Siblings. Cousins. Aunts and uncles. Nieces and nephews. In-laws. Girlfriends. And lots and lots of grandkids.
We played games. Ate food. Washed up the dinner dishes. And then, when there was a brief lull in the afternoon’s activity, my brilliant husband passed out latex gloves and pressed the entire crew into service by having them weed on our front lawn.
The job wasn’t onerous – just five weeds each was all he asked . But the crowd (and the inevitable competition!) made it fun for everyone involved. “Many hands make light labor,” as they say. And with 48 hands working together, our entire lawn was weed-free in short order. This, despite the fact that our not-so-well-established St. Augustine sod seemed to be fighting a losing battle with the dallisgrass that had dominated the lot while our home was under construction.
Of course, pulling weeds is not the only work to be done fun to be had this time of year. There’s also spring cleaning. Washing windows. Airing bedrooms. Clearing leaves out of the gutters. Changing air filters. And so forth. Now that spring has sprung, I’ve posted a fresh new bucket list of fun ideas to keep our family busy for the next three months.
50 Fun Ideas for Spring
Fly a kite
Buy one at the dollar store or make your own. But keep it away from trees when you send it soaring.
Make blueberry pancakes
If “breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” I can’t think of a tastier way to start it.
Plant some herbs
Mint. Basil. Oregano. Cilantro. Thyme. Rosemary. Plant the herbs you’re most likely to cook with, and let your kids help harvest them when it’s time to make dinner.
Run a 5K (or 10K or marathon!)
If running isn’t really your thing, check out the couch to 5K training program.
Shop at a farmer’s market
Nothing beats the taste of produce picked fresh off the vine.
Dye and/or hunt Easter eggs
Go berry picking
They’re so sweet, juicy, and good for you!
Open the windows & air out the house
Mmmm! Spring air smells so fresh — especially right after a rain.
Visit an arboretum
It’s a great place to get inspiration for your own (smaller scale) flower gardens at home.
Clean out the closets
Declutter and donate outgrown clothes and seldom-used items to charity.
Pull weeds in the lawn or garden
Enlist as many family members as you can to help!
Make chocolate-covered strawberries
So sweet and juicy. The perfect combination.
Go fishing
My kids and grandkids always carry a roll of fishing line a a few hooks. It pays to always be prepared.
Make Easter bonnets & newspaper hats
Bake resurrection cookies
You’ll find a simple recipe here, plus a list of scripture verses to read at each step.
Ride go-karts
Visit the zoo
Play freeze tag
Last one to be tagged wins.
Build a birdhouse
Put it high on a post or hang it low in a tree, depending on what kind of bird you want to attract.
Plant a butterfly garden
They’re fun to watch and good for your garden.
Invite friends over to play boardgames
You can peruse a few of our family’s favorite boardgames here: Fun Family Games
Go hiking at a State Park
If you go often enough or have a big family like ours, you may want to invest in a State Park Annual Pass. Ours lets cardmember and all occupants in the same vehicle in for free every time they go.
Build a tree fort — simple or elaborate
Do it together, and you’ll build some lasting memories to go with it.
Play Bananagrams
This game’s a great way to sneak in some extra spelling practice!
Visit the planetarium
Go stargazing in the comfort of an air conditioned auditorium with padded seats.
Arrange a bouquet of fresh flowers
I love cut flowers. If you can’t grow them fresh, bring a bouquet home from the grocery store and arrange it yourself.
Eat strawberry shortcake
Play kick ball
To make it more even, we require kids over 12 to kick with their non-dominant foot. And we also put up cones several feet in front of each base. Once the younger kids run past the cones, they’re safe, even if their short little legs haven’t carried them all the way to the plate.
Shoot some basketball hoops
Anybody up for a round of knock-out?
Make clover or daisy chains
Bake a fresh fruit cobbler
You can find our family’s go-to fruit crumble recipe here.
Write a poem
Make friendship bracelets
This craft keeps our kids busy for hours!
Feed the ducks
They love feed corn.
Soak in some sunshine
Mulch the flowerbeds
Don’t you love the smell of freshly mulched beds?
Have a garage sale
To make your next sale a success, check out these great garage sale tips.
Make a fruit smoothie
Photograph spring flowers
The azaleas and dogwoods in our piney woods of East Texas make magnificent subject matter for landscape photographers.
Nap in a hammock
Host a tea party
Serve our pretty sugar cookies with your tea, then take our Tea Time Trivia Test.
Bake banana nut bread
Our favorite recipe for banana nut bread is moist and delicious!
Blow soap bubbles
Swing or slide at a playground
Have a cook-out
Make burgers and franks for the meat lovers, veggie kabobs and grilled corn on the cob for the health conscious.
Draw chalk portraits on concrete
Make a pinwheel
Take a walk in the rain
…with or without an umbrella and galoshes.
Play 4-Square
Our family loves this game and plays all the time.
Sing!
We try to keep a good balance of both chores and games on our bucket list. All work and no play may make Jack a dull boy. But all play and no work turns his home into a pigsty! Plus, with everybody pitching in on the chores, they’re finished faster.
That means more time is left for enjoying the more traditional fun stuff of spring: flying kites, going on hikes, playing games, picking berries, feeding ducks, dying eggs, having tea parties, shooting hoops, etc.
Don’t stop with just 50 fun ideas for spring — make our list your own
If you need inspiration, you can find plenty of ready-to-print springtime bucket lists on the Internet (including our family’s version above). But we recommend gathering your children together and brainstorming a list of your own. Or at least appending a few tailor-made ideas to whatever list you’re using.
We had a family powwow for this very purpose on Monday – the first official day of spring! There was no shortage of great suggestions. One child asked if we could build a tree fort (since we left our old swing set behind when we moved). One wanted to take a family bike ride before breakfast every morning. Another child favors kayaking (we did that in New York last year and had a blast). Another thinks we should plant a vegetable garden.
There were several votes for eating frozen yogurt, playing Putt-Putt golf, and going to see a drive-in movie. One of our daughters is hoping we’ll attend the Great Balloon Race in Longview this year (although I think that technically takes place in the summer).
Your family’s list may look far different from ours, but the memories we make will be the same: priceless.
Extend the fun all year long
Print one of our other bucket lists once you’ve knocked off all the spring list items that interest you. Or when the season changes. Whichever comes first.
- Summer Bucket List: 50 Things to Do for Summer Fun
- Fall Bucket List: 50 Fun Family Activities for Autumn
- Winter Bucket List: 50 Things to Do for Winter Fun
- Holiday Bucket List: 50 Fun Things for Your Family to Do this Christmas
- Economical Bucket List: 50 Frugal Ideas for Family Fun
- Back to Nature Bucket List: 50 Ways to Enjoy the Great Outdoors
- Edible Bucket List: 50 Wholesome, Quick, and Easy Snacks
Note: This 50 Fun Ideas for Spring post was adapted from a weekly column called Family Matters that I write for The Tyler Morning Telegraph.
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