Family Time Activities

October 20, 2026

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Spending time together as a family builds strong relationships and supports children’s learning. When children develop strong family bonds, it builds their resilience and makes it easier for them to overcome challenges because they know they have their family’s support. During family activities, children observe adults as they model social skills such as taking turns in conversations, practicing empathy, compromising, and solving disagreements. Many activities also offer opportunities for children to practice math, literacy, science, and other social-emotional skills. The following are family activity ideas you and your family may want to try.

Indoor Activities

A healthy balance of both indoor and outdoor activities allows you and your family to spend time together regardless of the weather. If your family is playing indoors on a rainy day or the weekend, start with family activities that will release some energy and promote physical development. Consider a family dance party, stretching exercises, a tiptoe race, handclapping rhymes, or a socks toss game. Play a game of Simon Says, Mother May I, or Musical Chairs.

If you are planning family activities for the evening, choose games that are quieter so everyone can wind down to sleep. These might include card games, board games, domino games, puzzles, a creative craft, a movie night, or reading books together. Family card games that can be played with a standard deck of fifty-two cards include Uno, Crazy 8s, Go Fish, Hearts, or Slapjack. Visit the public library to check out board games you can play. This is a great way to try different games without spending any money. You can also work together to create your own board game to play.

Playing board games and card games together helps children learn how to take turns, manage feelings of disappointment, build resilience, and develop a sense of fair play. In addition to benefiting social and emotional skills, these games also offer children the chance to learn new vocabulary, practice communication, and explore math skills such as counting or identifying shapes and patterns. Choose games you used to play in your own childhood to share with children and talk about how you remember playing them.

Try playing a game of charades. Each family member can write down the name of a movie, book, or task. Fold the slips of paper and drop them in a bowl. Take turns drawing a slip of paper and act out the word(s) without speaking. The person who guesses correctly can go next. Continue until all the clues are gone. For younger children, print the names of emotions or familiar tasks as charade clues. Create a set of cards with questions that encourage everyone to share family memories and celebrate strengths.

You can also make your own memory card game. Make a set of twelve cards and choose six pictures to glue on six of the cards. Make a second set of six cards with the same pictures. Lay the cards face down and mix them up. Take turns turning over two cards at a time. If the two cards match, keep them. If they do not match, put them back face down. The players try to remember where they saw the duplicate cards so that they can turn over a pair. The person with the most pairs at the end of the game wins. Make cards from photos or images you print, or you can use stickers.

Outdoor Activities

Take advantage of the fresh air and sunshine to enjoy outdoor activities like going for a walk, playing at a park, riding bikes around the neighborhood, going on a nature scavenger hunt, gardening, visiting a farmer’s market, going on a picnic, or enjoying a game of basketball, soccer, or softball. Check your county’s website for regional parks and state parks. These larger parks often have nature centers to explore or free community events such as concerts in the park or family movie nights.

On hot days, play games with water such as a wet sponge toss or playing a game of tag with the sprinklers on. Use sidewalk chalk to create a hopscotch or obstacle course. Take turns going through the obstacle course to see who is fastest. Competing in a race makes it more challenging by requiring that everyone move sideways, hop, or crawl to the finish line. Use paper, scissors, a stapler, and string to make a simple kite you can fly outside on a breezy day. Each family member can make their own kite and see which one can fly the longest. If you have a spacious back yard, set up a tent and camp outside or host a family talent show outside and invite extended family or friends to participate or enjoy the show. Another fun activity is to make paper airplanes and see who’s can fly the farthest.

Experiencing outdoor activities as a family promotes physical health and mental wellbeing. As you all strengthen your muscles and lung capacity, you also support children in developing their balance, coordination, flexibility, and spatial awareness (awareness of how their body moves through a space). Children also practice math and science skills as they measure, count, estimate, make predictions, study nature, engage in critical thinking, and relieve stress. Playing together outside creates a healthier lifestyle and creates positive memories.

Family Field Trips

Plan fun family field trips to a nearby park, beach, tide pools, public library, museum, movie theater, zoo, or community fair. Look online first and check the hours places are open, whether or not there are parking fees, and any other rules you may need to be aware of in advance. Many places also have information about how to plan your trip as well. If traveling to different locations is challenging, there are also virtual tours you can do online. Virtual tours are a fun way to visit places that are in other states or in another country. Below is a short list of virtual experiences you and your family can explore.

  • These sixteen museums offer virtual tours on their websites.
  • Take a virtual tour of the Louvre art museum in Paris, France.
  • Take a tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to learn about the history of our planet and how humans interact with the environment.
  • The China Guide website has a virtual tour of the Great Wall of China.
  • Visit the National Aquarium’s livestream exhibits to observe marine life.
  • Watch live cams of baboons, penguins, polar bears, apes, giraffes, elephants, tigers, and more on the San Diego Zoo website.
  • Take four different video walks through Yellowstone National Park.

Spending time together as a family creates wonderful memories and builds strong relationships between you and your children. Discover more free or low-cost family activities by browsing our selection of Activity Guides.

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