Summer in Vancouver: Childhood Bucket List

Every year on the summer solstice, ParticipACTION encourages Canadian families to celebrate the Longest Day of Play. with only seven percent of kids aged five to eleven getting enough active time, the group is encouraging families to bring more unstructured activity into their lives. This year they came up with 24 things every child should do before the age of 12, including playing leap frog, riding a bike with no hands and making up a dance routine. The Longest Day of Play may be behind us for 2014, but there’s still lots of summer to come. Inspired by their encouragement to play, we’ve come up with our own Vancouver twist on the childhood bucket list.

Childhood Bucket List

Here are 20 things we think every Vancouver kid should do, with thanks to ParticACTION for the inspiration and some of the suggestions:

1. Lift up a rock on the beach and find a baby crab.
2. Hike up a mountain.
3. Ride a bicycle on the seawall.
4. Experience total weightlessness at the top of a swing.
5. Swim in the ocean.
6. Build a sand castle.
7. Ride the wooden roller coaster at Playland.
8. Go blackberry picking.
9. Swim in the Second Beach Pool and/or Kits Pool.
10. Climb a tree.
11. Paddle a canoe, kayak or stand up paddleboard.
12. Go puddle-jumping and come home soaking wet.
13. Roll down a big hill.
14. Walk across a suspension bridge.
15. Look up at a really, really, really tall tree.
16. Fly a kite.
17. Get up close and personal with a farm animal.
18. Try bowling.
19. Make up a game involving a ball.
20. Go skim-boarding.

“Active, outdoor play is an essential part of every Canadian childhood,” says Elio Antunes, President and CEO of ParticipACTION. “As the Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card reminds us, all kids need regular opportunities to let loose, run around, make mistakes and make their own fun.” That’s why we encourage you to make your own childhood bucket list for your little ones, and tick off a few items this summer.