Parenting

100+ Easy Family Bonding Activities | Benefits of Family Togetherness

With our busy lives it’s important to take some time for family bonding activities.

Creating a strong attachment between young children and their parents is so important in their development.

Doing small activities throughout the month will help your family grow a closer bond that will last a lifetime!

After you check these ideas out I’m sure you’ll love:
Family Goal Planning
Helping Your Kids Make Smart Goals
Toddler Activities When Mom’s Busy
Preschool Activities
The Best Preschool Board Games
Free Educational Activities
Stay At Home Activities for Kids
Outdoor Fun for Kids
The Cutest Frozen Toys and Games

What are the benefits of spending time with family?

There are endless benefits to spending time with family and growing a family bond with your children.

  1. Security– Creating a bond with your kids is important to make them feel secure and safe in their family.
  2. Importance– Spending focused time with your children makes them feel important and wanted.
  3. Confidence– Strong family bonds can build confidence and self esteem in your kids naturally because they feel secure and important in their family.
  4. Happiness– A bonded family makes for happy kids. Your kids are happy spending time with you. Focused time that makes them feel wanted and important.

    Their happiness will carry over making them positive in other areas of their life. This study from University of Illinois found that children with a strong bond with their parents will be more positive and responsive with their peers and adults in the future.

Through family bonding you grow stronger as a family unit as you spend time together.

Parents gain many of the benefits kids do from family bonding feeling more attached to their children and watching them grow up happy in the family you’ve created for them!

How do you promote family bonding?

Promote family bonding in your home, on vacation, and while your out and about with the tips below.

  1. Create opportunities of time spent together. Don’t wait for family bonding opportunities to come to you, create them. Plan family activities and events.
  2. Get Unplugged– Screen free time promotes family bonding. When your kids are bored they can think up all kinds of games and activities to do together. They will want you to get in on the fun too!
  3. Turn activities into traditions, so you have planned times to bond during holidays and special events. Family traditions create extra special bonding memories that your kids will treasure forever.

Family bonding time with your kids doesn’t have to be hard! It can be as simple as giving them a kiss goodnight to spending a day at their favorite theme park.

Sometimes it’s fun though to mix things up a bit and create fun bonding experiences that your kids will remember forever.

Here is a handy list of easy ways to bond with your kids and don’t forget to grab your FREE printable Family Bonding Ideas List at the bottom.

Family Bonding Water Game Activities

Walmart
Walk on Water Walking Ball Roll Inflatable Zorb Ball
Now $183.99

If you've always wanted to try walking on water now you can! This ingenious invention is tons of fun for friends and family. It is also a perfect tool for showcasing your products in a new and exciting way. Come and get one right now!

Buy Now
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
Walmart
Inflatable Lawn Water Slide with 2 Bodyboards
Now $29.99

  Extra long water slide for children to bring endless summer fun. 

Buy Now
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
Walmart
Pool Toy 16" Light up Beach Ball Toy, Glow in Dark Pool Games Toys with 16 Color Changing Lights Child
Now $12.99

Pool Toy 16" Light up Beach Ball Toy, Glow in Dark Pool Games Toys with 16 Color Changing Lights

Buy Now
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

What activities are done together in the family?

  1. Read bedtime stories for 10+ minutes each night
  2. Plan a family game night
  3. Go for a walk around the neighborhood
  4. Ask about their day at school
  5. Bake cookies together
  6. Sing aloud together in the car
  7. Tell them how much you love them
  8. Plan a one-on-one date with your child
  9. Play tag
  10. Watch a family movie
  11. Play dress up
  12. Put on a play
  13. Jump on a trampoline, make up fun trampoline games
  14. Go swimming and play pool games
  15. Go stargazing in the back or front yard
  16. Start a new family tradition
  17. Have family dinner or breakfast daily
  18. Make time for no electronics
  19. Read a chapter book series together
  20. Go on a scenic family drive
  21. Go roller skating/ice skating
  22. Learn more about your child’s interests
  23. Make a craft
  24. Let the kids help make an easy dessert
  25. Ride a roller coaster
  26. Go on a family bike ride
  27. Plan a family picnic
  28. Plant a garden
  29. Carve out time for daily play
  30. Encourage your kids in their hobbies
  31. Let your kids help make the grocery list
  32. Go on a family road trip/day trip
  33. Get out some coloring books
  34. Draw pictures
  35. Learn how to play your child’s favorite video game
  36. Go camping
  37. Involve the kids in vacation planning
  38. Make yearly, monthly, weekly family traditions
  39. Explore some old family photos
  40. Tell stories about your childhood
  41. Ask questions about your child’s day
  42. Volunteer for a local cause
  43. Learn a new skill/hobby together
  44. Have a family contest/competition
  45. Create a schedule of family events
  46. Start a family YouTube channel
  47. Do a science experiment
  48. Take a class together (Art, exercise, cooking)
  49. Make family goals
  50. Volunteer in child’s classroom
  51. Go on a class fieldtrip
  52. Attend your child’s extra curricular events
  53. Build a LEGO set
  54. Make a blanket fort
  55. Start a new family tradition
  56. Go on a family hike
  57. Play a board game. We love Monopoly!
  58. Have a family Pokemon card tournament
  59. Build a world with your kids in Minecraft
  60. Tell jokes
  61. Donate old toys together
  62. Have a small, family only, birthday party
  63. Go to the park
  64. Take a weekly trip to the library
  65. Have  a themed story time
  66. Video chat with the kids when you are away
  67. Surprise your kids with a trip or fun activity
  68. Decorate a cake or sugar cookies together
  69. Go out for a family dinner
  70. Stick a note in their school lunch
  71. Find shells at the beach together
  72. Let your kids help with holiday baking and decorating
  73. Have a water gun/balloon fight
  74. Have a staring contest
  75. Listen and respond when your kids are talking
  76. Visit a zoo or museum together
  77. Make ice cream sundaes
  78. Learn a new game
  79. Go to a concert
  80. See a drive in movie
  81. Play instruments and sing together (Family Band?)
  82. Have weekly family meetings
  83. Go swimming
  84. Build a sand castle
  85. Feed the ducks at a park
  86. Pick out a family pet together
  87. Give your kids a big hug
  88. Make a secret code
  89. Go to a theme park
  90. Sing Karaoke
  91. Make dinner together
  92. Make a family calendar together
  93. Plant a tree
  94. Go on a bus/trolley ride
  95. Climb a rock climbing wall
  96. Blow Bubbles
  97. Make up stories
  98. Tell spooky stories
  99. Dance around the house
  100. Go searching for bugs, birds, wildlife
  101. Have a nature scavenger hunt
  102. Start a family piggy bank, save for a family trip or activity!
  103. Have a family slumber party
  104. Ask your kids what they want to do when they grow up
  105. Make a backyard fire pit, then make S’mores.
  106. Make chalk art in the driveway
  107. Play in the sprinklers
  108. Learn a new song
  109. Have a family pizza party
  110. Go searching for Pokemon
  111. Make Your Own Stained Glass Window Drawings With Crayola

Kids feel so much more safe, secure, and happy when they have a strong bond with their parents.

A lot of the things on this list are quick and easy to do. Picking even one bonding activity to do each day, week, or month goes a long way in developing a stronger bond with your kids and family.

What are some good fall family activities?

  • Visit a pumpkin patch
  • Go to a corn or hay maze
  • Make caramel apples
  • Press leaves
  • Attend a football game
  • Have a bonfire
  • Visit an apple orchard
  • Decorate a pumpkin
  • Go on a nature walk to observe fall colors
  • Attend a harvest festival
  • Make fall-themed crafts
  • Bake pumpkin pie or apple crisp
  • Go on a hayride
  • Host a family game night with autumn-themed games
  • Create leaf rubbings
  • Build a scarecrow
  • Have a backyard campout
  • Make homemade hot chocolate
  • Go on a fall scavenger hunt
  • Organize a family football or soccer game

Get all of these ideas FREE in a printable list >>> 100+ Family Bonding Ideas

How do you bond with your kids? What are your favorite bonding activities to do with them? I would love to hear from you in the comments below! 

Sammy

View Comments

  • I totally agree when you said that it would be a good idea to bring the kids to a theme park aside from a simple family bonding time. I will definitely bring my kids there since they are teens already. It will give me a chance to connect with them since I love thrilling rides as well. They got my genes of loving adventure which is why they always go out with their friends compared to us now.

  • Thank you so much for this, it is well written with helpful infomration to me as a young parent. Will definately use these points to bond with my kids.

    • Hi Paddy! Thank you! It makes me happy to know that this was a help to you. I hope are able to get some fun bonding time in with your kids. :)

  • Thank you for this post! There are so many great ideas! My daughter is three and I am about to start working full time, so I'm worried about not spending enough time with her. There are some really great activities here that can make what time I do spend with her even more special. I am definitely saving this!! :)

    • Thank you so much Jessica, I'm so happy it could help! I had to work full time while I was pregnant with my second baby. It was so hard leaving my son after being a stay at home mom so long. Thankfully, it all turned out okay and was probably harder on me than him. It also made our activities together that much more special. Good luck with your new job! :)

Recent Posts

Best Age Appropriate Preschool Games | Board Games for Little Kids

Now that we have a preschooler I've been searching for fun preschool games and board…

5 days ago

10 Creative Play Ideas for 2-Year-Olds

Looking for fun play ideas for your energetic 2-year-old? Here’s a collection of simple at…

7 days ago

Ultimate List of Free Baby Samples 2024 | Free Stuff for Newborn

Have you been scouring the internet for free baby samples? I've been there too! I…

7 days ago

The Ultimate List of Free At Home Learning Resources for Kids

Keep your kids learning and having fun at home with these awesome free learning resources.…

1 week ago

The Best Essential Oils for the Holidays

This post was written in partnership with doTERRA. I've been obsessed with having my essential…

2 weeks ago

12 Gentle Parenting Phrases to Make Talking with Kids Easier

Communicating with our kids is important and can have joyful moments like their silly stories,…

3 weeks ago