Are you looking for fun and mostly free Family Bonding Activities, everyone will enjoy? This list of the best family bonding activities will give you great ideas on how to spend time with your family while taking a little break from your busy lives and schedules.
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As a family, we often find ourselves running from one appointment to another. Hardly ever do we find time to just sit down and spend actual quality time together. A couple of months ago we decided to dedicate one day out of the week, where we turn off our devices and let the kids pick an activity we can all enjoy together.
Having a list of family bonding activities is great, especially in the colder months, when leaving the house isn’t ideal. Most of these family bonding ideas are designed to be free or low cost, meaning they should be accessible to most families. Hopefully, there are some simple family bonding activities on the list that you haven’t tried yet, but it is okay to repeat your family favorites too.
Best Family Bonding Activities
This list includes family-building activities for the whole family, whether or not your kids are young or older.
FAMILY BONDING ACTIVITIES AT HOME
Family Game Night
Having a family game night is the best way to connect and have fun as a family. We usually let the kids pick out their favorite snacks and just spend the whole evening playing a bunch of different board and card games.
A few of our favorite board games:
- Age 3 and up are Zingo, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Candy Land, Count your chickens
- Age 6 and up are Trouble, Catan Junior, Hedbanz, Guess who?
Family Hide & Seek
Even if your kids are little anymore, everybody loves a good hide-and-seek session in the dark. We play this when its dark outside and keep all the lights off. It’s a ton of fun for the whole family, not just the little ones.
Family Indoor Camping
Kids love camping, but during the cold winter months, that isn’t an option – so we bring camping indoors. If you have the space, set up a tent in your living room, and have a sleepover there. Read books at night with a flashlight and bring a few card games. The kids will love sleeping in a tent together with the whole family.
Family Neighborhood Walk
Spending time outside together is always a great idea. Walking your neighborhood is an easy way to bond with your children while getting everyone outside for some fresh air. Kids can ride bikes, and scooters, or just walk with the family.
Family Movie Night
Plan a movie night in, with your favorite snacks, and have the kids pick a movie to watch. To avoid fights over what movie they watch, have each kid pick their own movie, and spread it out over several days or weeks. We plan a movie night once a week on Friday nights, it’s a good time for everyone to relax after a busy week.
Make your own Pizza Night
If you want to enjoy homemade pizza for your movie night or just any night, making Pizza from scratch with the whole family is a lot of fun. You can make the pizza dough from scratch or just get the pre-made one from places like trader joes. Buy all your favorite toppings and have each family member create their favorite pizza or pizza slice.
Our favorite pizza recipe is this Margarita Pizza recipe. It is full of delicious tomato, basil, and cheesy goodness but simple to prepare for even a novice cook.
Bake Together
Kids love to help in the kitchen, especially when it comes to baking and they can taste-test everything. If you are not a baker, try a simple cookie recipe or buy a cookie mix from the store. My kids’ favorite are these healthy chewy and soft Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Reading together
One of the best bonding activities for families is reading books together. This can be an every night ritual or something you do on the weekends together. Kids love being read to and can make it into a fun tradition to read books together and eat those yummy cookies, you made earlier.
Family Puzzle Night
If you have done game night already and want to try something different, try a puzzle night. Every kid, or family member, gets to pull out their favorite puzzle and you solve it together as a family. Enjoy chatting together and bonding with your kids, while you find the many pieces of the puzzle.
Make Acai Bowls
Making your own Acai Bowls would be great paired with a movie or game night. Put out all the yummy toppings such as chocolate chips, granola, Nutella, fruits and berries, nuts and seeds, coconut flakes, peanut butter, or any other toppings and have everyone make their own bowl.
Family Dance Party
Put on some loud music and have a family dance party in the living room. I’m sure everyone will have a blast.
OUTDOOR FAMILY BONDING ACTIVITIES
Go on a Walk/Hike
Go on a little adventure and explore a new bike or hiking path. You don’t have to go too far,…….. Just spending time together outside is a great bonding activity.
Find a new playground
My kids love playing at the park, and we usually go to the same one. Once we drove a bit further to go explorer a bigger and newer one and they had the best time. They loved it and still talk about it and ask to keep going back there.
Waterpark/Sprinkler Park
We have a free Sprinkler Park in our area and the kids love spending time there. Bring some snacks and chairs, and spend a few hours there. I’m sure everyone will have a great time, plus it’s completely free.
Play mini golf
Regardless of your kids’ age, this can be a great bonding experience for the whole family. It requires no advanced sporting skills, and kids even have a shot at beating the adults.
Fly kites
The teamwork involved in flying kites makes it a great family bonding activity. You could even try making your own kite.
Have a water gun/Nerf gunfight
This is such a fun family activity, that will have everyone engaged. The last time we had a water fight in our yard, we all ended up being soaked but had the absolute best time just laughing and running around.
Garden together
We started a little vegetable garden during the lockdown in 2020, and we’ve been adding new veggies and even fruits to grow each year. The kids absolutely love planting little seeds, watering their plants, and then watching them grow. It’s been one of our favorite activities together as a family, and it’s a great learning opportunity for the kids and adults alike.
Visit a zoo or museum
Spending a day at a local zoo, museum, or aquarium can be a great experience for the whole family.
Camp in the backyard
There is probably nothing more exciting for kids than sleeping in a tent, using a flashlight, and making a fire. If you don’t own a tent, maybe ask a friend that could borrow you one, or renting one is also an option.
I hope this post inspired you with some new ideas for your family. If you have any other great family bonding ideas, feel free to leave a comment below.
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