Its been a family tradition for a few years now to create a Summer Bucket List each year. It helps us to not just get lazy and stay inside with the teens playing video games all summer. Phoenix has some great things to offer that are great for your list.
Don’t miss our list of 50+ Things For Teens to Do This Summer and
10 Things to do during HOT Arizona summers with tweens and teens
One: Water Park – It’s hot here and a great way to enjoy the summer is at one of our water parks. Our favorite is Six Flags Hurricane Harbor (Glendale, AZ). There’s also Big Surf Water Park (Tempe, AZ) and Golfland Sunsplash (Mesa, AZ) and a few resorts also have great water parks.
Two: Desert Botanical Gardens Flashlight Tour – The Desert Botanical Garden is an amazing experience if you’ve never been – the desert plans are unique and beautiful. And you can usually spot some wildlife. During the summer they offer flashlight tours which are a great opportunity to tour when the temperatures are cooler and you might see some creatures that are more active at night.
Three: Moonlight hike – Wait until the sun goes down and temperatures drop to enjoy some summer hiking. Bring flashlights and enjoy the sites and sounds of the desert in the night. Several of the local parks offer moonlight hike nights.
Four: Salt Water River Tubing – Water, outdoors, friends, what better way to spend the day. Salt River Tubing (Mesa, AZ) offers tube rentals and transportation back to where you parked.
Five: Kayaking on Tempe Towne Lake – Tempe Towne Lake Boat Rentals offers kayak rentals and they’re one of the few places in town that offers rentals of doubles so if you have a younger child they can share the boat with you. The lake is also a great place if you’ve never kayaked before because the water is calm and wide open.
Want to get more into kayaking? We put together a list of the kayaking essentials you need to get started.
Six: Indoor Paintball – My son loves paintball and its great to have a place to do this indoors out of the heat. Or give airsoft a try.
Saven: Phoenix Zoo Snow Day – Snow in July? Every year the Phoenix Zoo brings in snow for a snow day. There’s an area for the kids to play in the snow or have a snowball fight. The animals have fun to with their own snow and ice chunks (often with treats inside)
Eight: Ice Skating – The Ice Den is a great way to escape the Arizona heat. Dig out your long pants, hat and gloves and spend the day on the ice, forgetting that its over 100 degrees outside.
Nine: Arizona Diamondbacks – Catching an Arizona Diamondbacks game is always a great family outing to root for the hometown team.
Ten: Roller Skating – Flashback to the 80s. Another day of fun inside, out of the Arizona heat. Great Skate (Glendale) and Skateland (Mesa) are great places for roller skating.
Spending a lot of time in the pool this summer? Check out our BEST Pool Toys for teens list for a summer of fun