There are many unique and fun activities you can do at home with the kids that are both fun, and engaging. The best part, they aren’t expensive either! Here are 7 fun parent-child activities that your kids will love!
Note: this is a guest post by Jasmine from the Love, Life, Laugh, Motherhood blog. Be sure to check her site out!
Fun Parent-Child Activities your kids will love!
It can be a little challenging at times to find enjoyable parent-child activities that your kids will flip over. But, don’t be disheartened. We’ve collected 7 super fun parent-child activities that your kids are guaranteed to love!
Let your artistic side shine through
All kids love to draw and color. No matter if they are toddlers, to preteens. Have a drawing contest the whole family can be included in. Challenge your kids to draw their favorite animals, or if they are older, favorite landscapes, or landmarks.
If you have space, using butcher paper on the walls is a great way to get creative and let your kids have more fun with art. Create a family mural using paints, markers, or crayons!
Hold your own pottery class by using clays (or even just regular playdoh) to make bowls, urns, and mini sculptures. These might just seem like a way to pass the time, but remember; you’re creating keepsakes you can look back fondly within the years to come.
Camp Out In The Living Room (Or Backyard)
Everyone loves a tent or fort. If you have a large living area, pillow forts are the best! Use tables and chairs as structural pieces, and blankets as walls. Pillows can be used for furniture, and you can also include stuffed animals as comfort pieces.
Speaking of pillows…did you know you can buy hotel pillows? Yep, check out our guide for more info.
Design your fort to face the TV for movie night. You can even get ‘old school’ by making a tin-can phone to stretch into the kitchen for snack-reconnaissance missions. Don’t worry about how your fort appears visually. Kids love building a fort as much as playing in it, and you shouldn’t have to worry about the company coming over to ruin the fun. Just indulge and go for it!
- Speaking of backyards, be sure to check out our new backyard guides for Water Toys and Backyard Games.
If you do have camping tents, why not set them up inside? This is a great alternative if you do have yucky weather outdoors. If the weather is nice, move the tents outside and do a little backyard camping! Minus the campfire of course, if you live within city limits. If you live in the country, you’re in luck – because smore’s make everything more fun! If you don’t presently have a tent you can snag an affordable one for next to nothing. And, if you need an affordable fire pit, you can get your hands on one pretty reasonably.
Hold a parent-child cooking class!
One fun activity for kids that can be turned into a valuable life lesson; cooking.
Let the kids plan a menu, and walk them through the steps of cooking a meal. This is ideal for all ages, but especially the older kids you can trust around a hot stove. Not only will the children be engaged, but they are learning at the same time. Hopefully, parents can also do a night without meal prepping themselves (for the most part).
Start with something simple, like a Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Sandwich. Or, an easy chicken salad. Nothing too complicated! Then you can work yourself up to the big leagues of cooking class, and the kids will have fun creating their own culinary masterpiece! Snag a kids-focused cookbook if you suffer from a lack of imagination.
Plan a dance party or family concert
One fun activity you can always do no matter what the weather is like is a dance party!
Let the kids pick a few of their favorite songs to add to a playlist. Also, include a few of your own. Have a dance-off to incorporate some physical activity. This isn’t only good for everyone’s health, but the opportunity to bond and connect with your kids on a musical level.
Have the instruments? Why not plan a family concert? Set up your drums, tambourines, or flutes (whatever you play) and conduct a show! This is a great idea if you are meeting other family members on Zoom or Facebook to stay connected. Let your family band entertain your cousins and friends online!
Plant a family garden
One great family activity is a garden. You don’t need a lot of space to do this, although it certainly helps.
Decide what you want to plant – maybe a few vegetables like tomatoes, or onions? Want to be ambitious and grow cucumbers? Whatever you decide, involve the kids by mapping out where to start your garden in the backyard.
Being outdoors prepping the ground, pulling weeds, and watering your plants is a great way to have fun, daily chores. Plus, you’re teaching your kids (and maybe yourself) how to grow things, even if you just opt for a few flowers.
Don’t have a yard? Get a few planters for indoor growing (or if you’re really ambitious, look into hydroponic systems). Plants like aloe are great to keep around the house for things like burns and don’t require much maintenance.
Board Games, Puzzles and more!
Family Game Night should definitely make a comeback, and this is a great way to have fun with kids of all ages!
Even preschoolers can have fun with board games. You can play old-time favorites, like CandyLand or Guess Who? For older kids, Monopoly is still a great game even adults have fun playing! There are several Trivial Pursuit editions for almost any genre, so even pre-teens and teenagers can enjoy this. Educational games are a great way to keep the kids learning, all while having fun together as a family.
Looking for more game? We have an entire guide to travel board games you can play at home, too!
Puzzles are a great family activity to do at any time. You can start with a small, simple puzzle with big pieces for the little kids. Graduate to the larger, more difficult puzzles with hundreds of pieces for the older children.
Even if the puzzle can’t be completed in one day – dedicate a card table or puzzle mat just to a “family puzzle” everyone can work on as they feel! It will be neat to see the project come together over time.
Declutter the house…wait, isn’t this supposed to be fun??
Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be a post about fun family activities? Remember, even Tom Sawyer got kids to do his chores under the guide of fun.
Nonetheless, decluttering the house can still be turned into a really fun family project. Have the kids go through old toys they no longer play with. Set up donation boxes for local charities that take in toys and stuffed animals. You can even go through clothes and housewares while decluttering.
Even if the kids find things they don’t really want to part with, it may spark new interest (and new family activities) you can do together. But, you’re at least cleaning the house and having fun along the way!
Thanks for stopping by!
We hope you enjoyed this fun guest post on fun parent-child activities from Jasmine at the Love, Life, Laugh, Motherhood blog. Be sure to check her site out! Here’s her full bio:
Bio: Jasmine is a wife to a former member of the USMC, and mother to one little boy. She lives in Texas, where she blogs about Family Life, Homemaking, and Finance Tips for Parents. You can find her at Love, Life, Laugh, Motherhood.
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