A bucket list is a list of activities or goals that your Little and you would like to achieve. Familiarize yourself with the concept of creating a bucket list, and then introduce the idea to your Little. Explain that you are both going to create a bucket list. Each of you can create a personal bucket list using the template below, as well as a joint bucket list of things you would like to do together. Store your bucket lists in a place (e.g. in a Google document, in a shared journal, on a poster you hang in your office, or somewhere else) where both you and your Little can return to it in the future.

To help get you and your Little started, the template below provides prompts to help you think of potential bucket list items. Feel free to add your own categories as well. Remind your Little that Bucket Lists do not need to include out of reach goals or aspirations. Instead, consider bucket list items within reach that you can easily check off and that will bring you joy. 

Keep your bucket lists and add to them over time. As you hear your Little share about their hopes or things they’d like to do and learn, encourage them to add those ideas to their bucket list. 

Refer back to your individual and shared bucket lists to help structure activities you may do with your Little or to help your Little set goals. The bucket list can help you and your Little reflect on values and goals, and identify important milestones and experiences. 

Reflect on the intended outcomes of making bucket lists. You can use these three prompts (What, So What, Now What) to guide a conversation about what you’ve learned: 

1. What: What was it like to create a bucket list together? Do you share any common goals or desires? What did you learn about each other? 

2. So what: Why might creating a bucket list matter? 

3. Now what: Now that we have written our bucket lists, what should we do first? 

• Keep in mind that your Little’s bucket list may be reflective of their real or perceived access to experiences both big and small. You may use this opportunity to encourage your Little to partake in new experiences while also honoring the ones that feel within reach.

• Keep your Little’s racial-ethnic identity or cultural background at the forefront of your mind. For instance, you encourage your Little to build a Bucket List that represents their cultural background or heritage. Use the Bucket List as a way to celebrate your identities and get to know each other more.

• Be mindful of what’s in the scope of your role as a mentor. For example, a Little might want to travel to Italy. This is not something you can provide as a mentor. However, you could learn more about what interested them about Italy and/or you could do some research about Italy as a match.

• This activity works best in a context that allows space for pairs to have conversations without getting distracted.

• This activity can be done with any age group. You may learn that youth of different ages focus on different types of bucket list items.