My oldest baby is five! How do these tiny babies grow up so fast?! I have been reminiscing over her first 5 years of life a lot lately. We just brought home her new baby sister this summer, and of course she has a little sister who is already 3, and man have we been on a lot of adventures. I think if you asked my oldest child if she has a good life, her response would be a resounding, YES!
We really have been on some great adventures, and I have never let having small children hold me back from having fun. But I am looking at my 5 year old and looking at my 5 month old, and I don’t want her to get lost in the shuffle. I want to make sure my middle child, and my youngest child get to do all the fun things that their oldest sister got to do!
I went on a deep dive to see if I could find a list of things to do before you turn 5. There aren’t really any. There are lots of things to do before you die, turn 30, retire, or have kids. But not to make about things to do before you are 5. There are lots of lists about books to read, and things to learn, but that wasn’t what I was interested in. I wanted life events! I wanted to have a list of things to do. Then I realized, I already had a list. My oldest had already lived it, and being the first child it was very well documented! I just needed to work backwards on this.
So I sat down and I looked over my baby book, and my facebook memories, and old pictures and started to compile a list of 50 things to do before you are 5! I thought I would share them with you. These have been things we have done with our children in tow, and have absolutely been a blast. Some of them are pretty normal, but some of them are really fun.
Kids don’t have to be a Debbie downer on all the fun. They really do just provide a new layer of fun to any occasion. They force us to slow down and be present. And when a new baby comes into the picture it’s a chance to do all those things over again. I want to make sure all my kids can look back on their first five years of life and think it has been great. So here we go:
50 Things to do Before you Turn Five!
- Read a bunch of books!
- Go to the zoo!
- Go to the Aquarium
- Go to a Children’s Museum
- Go to a professional sporting event
- Become regulars at a local ice cream joint
- Visit the beach
- Visit the lake
- Hike a mountain
- Fly on a plane
- Ride on a boat
- Be on a team
- Spend thousands of hours outdoors.
- Make a new friend
- Grow something to eat.
- Watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly.
- Help decorate a Christmas Tree
- Go to a festival
- Dance at a concert
- Watch fireworks
- Try all the parks in your area
- Make 1,000 art projects
- Carve a pumpkin
- Go to a play/ballet (or both!)
- See a movie in theatre.
- Cook something new.
- Make gifts for someone else
- Visit a new state
- Host a holiday party
- Start a new tradition
- Go stargazing
- Visit a Pumpkin Patch
- Visit an Apple Orchard
- Volunteer
- Splash in muddy puddles
- Visit a planetarium
- Get a library card
- Watch your parents vote
- Decorate your room
- Have a birthday party
- Play in the snow
- Pick Flowers for your friends
- Play with a sensory bin
- Learn to ride a bike
- Visit a farm
- Go on a date with Mom.
- Go on a date with Dad
- Go on a road trip
- Be a tourist in your own town.
- Have a lemonade stand
Life with kids is so much fun. This isn’t an exhaustive list. We have done some really cool things with our kids in tow, and getting ready to do so many more. Hopefully, this list will help you jumpstart some core memories with your children and make the first 5 years of life even more fun.
