Parents have revealed the top 30 things which should be on a child’s ‘must do’ list before they start school including jumping in a puddle, making a friend and visiting their local swimming pool.  

The poll of 1,000 pre-school parents revealed that children should also have fed the ducks, had a birthday party and met some friendly farm animals before starting primary school.  

Jumping on a bouncy castle, taking a trip to a toy shop and dancing with your parents also ranked highly on the list of things to do in their formative years. 

It also emerged 89% of parents believe it is important to regularly introduce new things to their children to help with their development. 

The research, commissioned by childcare provider Busy Bees, found for 72% of parents experiencing new things is important for building their little ones confidence.  

Seven in 10 believe it helps pre-schoolers learn new things while 60% say it allows children to explore different emotions. 

Deena Billings, head of experience at Busy Bees, said: “Life is full of wonderful things and every child should experience as much as they possibly can during their early years to help them develop their confidence and understanding of the world – sadly, many have missed out on important milestone moments due to the pandemic. 

“These findings confirm what we have seen in our nurseries and heard from parents as they hope to introduce their children to more experiences now that life is returning to normality. That’s why we’re building in extra activities at our centres to provide our children with the additional developmental support they need.” 

To extend these experiences further than childcare surroundings, Busy Bees has created a playful quiz to see which activities their child has already ticked off the list. Take it here: www.busybeeschildcare.co.uk/childrens-bucket-list-quiz 

Almost two-thirds of parents (63%) believe their child has missed out on many of these key experiences due to the pandemic, with 78 per cent agreeing their development has been held back because of this.   

Social interaction (53%), social skills (51%) and speech (30%) were voted the top things that have been affected. 

In a separate survey conducted by the nursery polling 2,000 Busy Bees parents, it emerged more than a third (36%) are concerned the pandemic has made it harder for their child to feel ready for school.  

In fact, four in 10 members of the Busy Bees Parent Panel said they had spoken to their child’s nursery key worker about the impact that the pandemic has had on their child. 

More than half (52%) plan on making up for this over the summer and have already started ticking things off their list, according to the OnePoll study, with eight in 10 parents planning new and exciting experiences for their child. 

It also emerged 89% ‘feel good as a parent’ when seeing their child enjoy new things with the average mum and dad aiming to give their child four new experiences each month.  

Despite this, a third still struggle to come up with new things to do with their little one. 

Deena Billings added: “There are lots of things families have missed out on over the last two years because of the pandemic, but it’s great to see that parents are keen to make up for lost time. 

“That’s why we’ve worked with parents to develop a list of 30 things all children should try before they start school.  

“We hope this provides some inspiration for family-friendly activities to take away over the coming summer months.”  

Top 30 things

1.          Swim in a pool 

2.            Jump in a puddle 

3.            Make a friend 

4.            Feed the ducks 

5.            Have a birthday party 

6.            Meet some friendly farm animals 

7.            Go to a toy shop 

8.            Go on a bouncy castle 

9.            Paddle in the sea 

10.          Dance with their parents 

11.          Bake a cake 

12.          Build a snowman 

13.          Play with playdough or slime 

14.          Watch at least one Disney movie 

15.          Have chips at the seaside 

16.          Finger painting 

17.          Jump into a big pile of crunchy autumn leaves 

18.          Ride on a bus 

19.          Dig a huge hole or build a sandcastle at the beach 

20.          Wear fancy dress 

21.          Have a teddy bears’ picnic 

22.          Make a sofa fort 

23.          Plant a seed and see it grow 

24.          Go to a funfair 

25.          Use a bed like a trampoline 

26.          Go on a treasure hunt 

27.          Eat a 99 flake 

28.          Go to the cinema 

29.          Go on a bug hunt 

30.          Scrape their knees.