Family Activities: 31 Ideas to Try Now
If you are looking for family activities, you will find 31 ideas to try now. This is a great way to forge those familial bonds and have fun in the process.
Have you noticed that many families spend their days going from activity to activity?
In a quest to have ‘well-rounded’ children, the idea of staying home and just being together as a family has taken a back seat.
Add in the rise of screen time (watching shows or playing video games) and the amount of interaction between family members has shifted.
But, there are many benefits to having more family time.
Studies have shown that the simple act of having nightly family dinners does wonders for the emotional, academic, and even physical development of the children in the home.
Imagine how much more could be achieved with regular, fun activities that will also help you all bond and become even closer as a family!
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31 Family Activity Ideas To Try at Home
Sometimes the hardest part of finding an activity to do is coming up with the idea.
Use the following list of family activities as a launching pad.
Then enjoy that family time and build those relationships!
Baking
Let everyone choose something they want to bake together as a family.
It could be cookies, cake pops, muffins, a pastry—anything yummy and bake-able!
Then, you all work together as a family to get the ingredients and make something super delicious everyone can be proud of being a part of.
If you have a big family, you can even do a different baking project every other day until everyone has had a chance to make their favorites!
Need inspiration?
Here are some of our favorite recipes for baked goods.
Chocolate Strawberry Muffins
Flourless Brownies with Craisins & Pistachios
Gluten-Free Russian Tea Cakes
Lemon Cheesecake Crumble Bars
Lemon and Ginger Scones
Nutella Banana Bread
Snickerdoodle Cookies
For a more competitive nature, check out my friend’s GBBO Bake-Along Group. I’ve just recently joined after seeing how much fun another friend has while participating.
If you prefer a kit to get you started, Cratejoy offers a variety of food and baking kits.
Gardening
Gardening is a very useful skill. It can also be a lot of fun to get into.
You can start a little vegetable, herb, or flower garden depending on the space you have.
If you have a lot of space, everyone can have their own little plot where they can grow what they want as well!
Gardening is a great way to show your kids how patience, hard work, and perseverance can pay off in big ways!
Story Time
Reading aloud has so many benefits! Plus, it is a way that everyone can enjoy a single story at the same time.
If you don’t want to have one person reading the story, consider taking turns. Or, find an audiobook format to allow all to listen.
To get the whole family involved in a favorite story, try acting it out instead of just reading it!
Everyone will become part of the story, and you will all have an amazing memory to look back on forever.
Bonus points for going all-in with costumes, funny voices, and homemade props!
Board Games
Sometimes just a relaxing day of playing board games is a great way to pass the time.
If you want to add a little something extra, try making up some new rules and change the same old games up a bit!
You can also create your very own games like themed charades, or scavenger hunts!
Unleash your creative side, and play by your own rules. 😉
Read 10 Classic Games to Play on Rainy Days
Craft Day
Coloring, collages, slime making, painting, etc. are all examples of super fun crafts you can do with your family.
Art is something that can be therapeutic, so make sure this is a positive experience with no bad ideas or critiques.
Art styles are all different, and there is no wrong way to be creative. Just have fun!
Need inspiration?
Visit Pinterest, or you can go to Fun Family Crafts for great ideas.
Alternatively, find a craft kit with all you need to purchase. Cratejoy has several options available.
Pizza Night
Pizza is a favorite food for most people.
Why not create your very own family pizzeria experience?
All you need is dough, toppings, sauce, and an oven.
Everyone gets enough dough for a personal-sized pizza, and they can top it however they want.
Then, you just bake and enjoy!
This makes personal pizzas truly personal, and makes for great bonding time with food and fun!
Make Garlic Herb Pizza Dough for your base.
Homemade Pizza sauce is easy to do with a few simple ingredients and a blender or immersion blender.
Skip making your own dough and use English Muffins for the base.
Pillow Fort
One person can make a pretty awesome pillow fort, but a whole family can make an epic pillow CASTLE!
Use cardboard boxes, blankets, couch cushions, pillows, and more to create a huge pillow fort to hang out in.
Need visuals for inspiration? Check out IKEA’s 6 ideas on fort building.
Movie Marathon
This is a great add-on to pillow fort day!
Get comfy and watch a movie series for a day with lots of snacks and finger food.
Stay in your pajamas for extra coziness!
While you can do any mix of movies, watching a series is perfect for a long day.
Sometimes the challenge is finding what to watch. Our family uses JustWatch to find where movies and TV shows are streaming. You can sort by streaming service, having the app or website show only those things available with the services you have.
I keep a running list of things to watch in the app on my phone. Then when people ask what to watch I can pull it up. Once we watch something it gets marked as seen.
Learn Sign Language
Sign language is a very useful language to know, and it is actually a lot of fun to learn.
You can use books and/or online tutorials, help each other practice, and even try going a whole day communicating with just sign!
Visit Start ASL to start learning sign language.
Film For A Day
Use your phone or an old camcorder to document a whole day with your family.
Then you can watch it back and even edit it into a fun family movie if you want to!
As the years go by, it will be fun to look back and remember what a fun day you had, and how you lived at that time.
Pulling segments together can be done using an app on your phone or a program on the computer.
For personal enjoyment, you can add your favorite music to the background. But, if you plan to share it, make sure it is royalty-free.
On my phone, I have used InShot to put together videos.
Here is one example on my YouTube Channel that combines photos and video segments.
On my computer, I have Adobe Premiere Elements 2020.
Dance Party
Make a playlist with everyone’s favorite songs, and have a big dance party!
Go crazy and have fun just shaking out all your troubles.
You will get a great workout for it, too!
You can also use the video game route with Just Dance.
Yoga or Pilates
Speaking of workouts, Pilates and Yoga are fantastic ways to help with flexibility and fitness.
Start with beginner positions, and practice daily until everyone is super comfortable with learning gradually more complex positions.
Never overdo these exercises, and they can be a really amazing way to promote a healthy body and mind.
YogaBasics has a nice page for beginners.
YogaDownload is a subscription site with routines from beginners to advanced practitioners.
Use the code YDL-50ME to get 50% Off Monthly Elite Online Yoga Packages.
Picnic
This can be indoor or outdoor, depending on your situation.
Pack up some food, drinks, snacks, pillows, and blankets. Then set up a nice little picnic spot in your house or backyard!
Picnics are always a lot of fun and much more relaxing than a typical formal meal at a table.
Make Cards or Write Letters
Letters and cards can mean so much to the elderly in nursing homes and troops overseas.
Make some handmade cards with happy messages, or write some kind letters, and send them out to senior homes and military bases.
This is a wonderful way to boost morale and spread love to people who may be lonely and discouraged.
You can use these links to send your cards: https://supportourtroops.org/cards-letters AND https://www.operationgratitude.com/express-your-thanks/write-letters/
And don’t forget your family and friends! After all, who doesn’t enjoy getting real mail?
Fashion Show
Let the kids try on some old clothes from your closet, and make the craziest outfits they can think of… Then, the parents can pretend to be fashion show judges and score everyone’s costumes.
The judges can even have their own eccentric outfits on for extra fun!
A spin on this is to create costumes from what is in your closets.
Write A Story
This can be done in a lot of ways.
You can use a white/chalkboard to add words while everyone takes turns adding one word at a time.
You can also write one altogether and put it on paper you can bind together into a homemade book.
This also works with filling in mad-libs if you need a starting point to get your creativity rolling!
Tie Dye
Tie-dye is a lot of fun, and is also a great outlet for creativity!
You can tie-dye just about any article of clothing, and there are a million ways to tie and dye them!
Once they are all finished, you will have a great memory every time you wear whatever you made!
Check out 5 easy tie-dye instructions — plus, 4 tie-dye patterns to try
Learn To Sew
Sewing is a skill that always comes in handy at one time or another.
Even knowing how to sew on a button can be the difference between an awkward situation and a quick fix with no fuss.
Basic stitches are also good to know in any future fashion emergencies.
One easy sewing project is a square pillow.
I still have one I made in elementary school with a quilt appeal as 9 different fabric squares were sewn together to make the front panel.
Build Models
Order a model airplane, building, robot, car, etc., and build it together as a family.
Model building is an awesome way to learn about how things go together, and how to work together as a team.
Don’t want to spend money on a model? Consider a LEGO building challenge instead!
Family Video Games
A lot of modern video games and systems have awesome multiplayer options that make family fun super easy!
The Wii, in particular, has some of the best games and features for this, but you can use any system if you take turns playing one single-player game.
Keep it pressure-free and have fun! Games are meant to be played to have FUN, not just to win.
Here are Favorite Games for Tweens and Teens available for the Nintendo Switch.
Check Out Old Photo Albums
Learning about family history is a great way to keep memories and traditions alive.
Great grandma’s cookie recipe will mean that much more if your kids have a face to place with the stories.
Pictures are worth a thousand words, and they also preserve the memories of the past.
Make A Scrapbook With New Photos
To make your own memories for your family’s future, take pictures and add them to a new album!
You can even try out scrapbooking to make it even more meaningful and organized.
Everyone can fill out a page in their own style and write their own little memory notes next to each picture.
Life Sized Drawings
Get a big piece of poster board and have someone lay down on it.
Then you can trace around their body so you have a template.
Once that is done, everyone can work together to fill in the template and make a life-sized drawing of the family member!
Karaoke
Karaoke is a lot of fun. Making it a family affair is sure to get lots of laughs.
You can even hold a contest for the silliest song/voice combo… Bonus points for interpretive dance!
If you have a video game system in the house, there are many options available to bring the karaoke experience to your home.
Nature Hunt
Clovers with four or more leaves are actually very rare.
Looking for some in the backyard can pass a lot of time!
Finding them is always very rewarding and exciting.
You can also choose something else to hunt for; like molehills, spider webs, or dandelions!
Make A Critter House
A typical birdhouse can be a home for lots of animals besides birds! Chipmunks, squirrels, mice, and other small mammals can also make their homes in birdhouses.
This is a great way to keep these little guys warm and sheltered in the rain or cold that may be coming up where you live.
Follow An Online Tutorial
This can be anything from cake decorating to wreath making, to knitting a scarf!
Just find a beginner video of something cool, and if you have the supplies you need—give it a try!
It can be a lot of fun to see how your finished product compares with the video.
This can be a team effort to do one big project, or each family member can work on one small project! This is a great way to see how differently each person can do the same thing.
Use this as an opportunity to teach your kids about individuality, and help them see that everyone is different in awesome ways!
Play In The Rain
Rain is usually an excuse to stay indoors.
But, you can have a lot of fun stomping in puddles and playing in the mud!
Just make sure it is not too cold out, and that there is not any lightning nearby.
Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are really awesome ways to get the brain and body moving.
There are also lots of ways to set up a scavenger hunt! You can theme it by color, size, room, and more!
Set a time limit if you have older kids, and make sure if you have younger kids, that they can have fun without feeling too pressured to “win.”
Family days and activities should be all about fun!
Paint Rocks
Have everyone find a cool rock outside.
Then, you can use your imagination to see the shape of something specific in that rock.
Once you have figured out what your rock looks like, you can paint it so it becomes that thing.
For example, a lumpy rock might look like a toad; so you can paint legs and eyes and spots on it to make it look like a real toad!
Quiet Time
Quiet time is an opportunity for the kids to think, play by themselves, and give mom and dad a break!
Here are a few ideas to try for quiet time:
1. Puzzles
2. Word search
3. Reading
4. Educational worksheets
5. Extra chores
Here are some helpful Links:
54 Mess-Free Quiet Time Activities for 3-Year-Olds!
Mad-Libs Story Generator
Puzzle Maker
Word Search Maker
10 Best Educational Websites for Kids
Family activities are wonderful opportunities to bond and create amazing memories with your kids.
Always be sure that everyone can enjoy themselves, and that not everything is a competition.
Just be creative and have fun with it, and it will be a wonderful thirty days of family activities the whole family will love.
Which of these activities are you most excited to try with your family?
What other family activities are favorites in your house?
FREE Resources for Family Activities
Grab one or all of these resources to download and use with your family.
The 31 Family Activity Bundle includes:
- 31 Family Activities Calendar Format
- 10 Kid-Friendly Scavenger Hunt Ideas
- 30 Family Friendly Karaoke Songs
- Easy-to-Grow Seeds
Activity Sheets for Movies
Ever wished you could merge an activity with a movie?
Visit each post to get the associate activity pages.
Frozen 2
The Call of the Wild (2020)
Onward
Moana
Finding Dory
Dumbo (Live Action)
Pete’s Dragon (Live Action)
The BFG
The Jungle Book (Live Action)
Zootopia
Strange Magic
This post was originally published on May 19, 2020, and has since been updated.