Fun Family Bonding Activities For Parents And Children
If there was ever a time to get into some bonding activities for parents and children, it would be now.
I grew up in a close-knit family.
Some would even say that I was blessed to live in a two-parent household in which both of my parents are still married and for the most part seem happily married.
My fiancé also comes from a two-parent household in which both of his parents seem for the most part happily married.
However, for a lot of the people we know, this is not the case.
The divorce rate is at an all-time high and I will be curious to know what it will look like post-pandemic since we are stuck in the house together.
If you didn’t REALLY get to know your partner and kids during this pandemic, then you didn’t quarantine right.
Even though this virus was unexpected and no one saw this year going like this, it has surprisingly brought many families closer together.
In fact, Huggable conducted a survey with 538 mothers with children 3 years and younger and found some amazing results.
They found that not only were parents spending more time with their children because of COVID, but they also reported feeling closer to them. Other results found:
- Moms are spending an average of 49% more time with their children than they did before COVID-19
- 63% of moms say they have grown either significantly or slightly closer to their children
If you are interested in that survey and would love to see more of the results, you can find it here.
With all of this time in the house, this is the perfect time to start doing some family bonding activities that not only create memories that we will all cherish but bring us all closer together.
Here I will be discussing some fun family bonding activities for parents and children.
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The Importance Of Family Bonding
So before I get into those fun bonding activities for parents and children, let’s talk about the importance of bonding as a family.
If you have read about me on here, then you know that I have an educational background in marriage and family therapy and have worked with quite a few families.
In my work, I have noticed how important strong family bonds are.
Alot of the miscommunication within homes usually boils down to how the parents and children communicate with one another.
If a parent and child relationship is strong, respectful, and open, you will usually see a decrease in risky behavior because the child trust what the parent has to say about it.
This does not mean that the child won’t participate in behaviors that the parents don’t like, but that the child will likely make better decisions amongst the bad ones.
For example, if you have an teenager that decides to drink knowing that they underage, but then making the decision not to drive or get in the vehicle with someone who has been drinking.
You can be upset about the drinking behavior, but praise your teen for not getting behind the wheel.
Kids are going to make mistakes and take risks, because that is what kids do.
But the last thing any parent wants is their child taking a life-threatening or life-alternating risk that could change their lives for the worst.
This is why it is so important to have strong family relationships and you have to start early.
By starting early, you are creating a foundation and setting the tone for how your family functions.
With that being said, let’s get in some fun family bonding activities that can help improve those relationships between parents and children.
Fun Family Bonding Activities For Parents And Children
Family Dinner Night
Can you really mention family bonding activities without mentioning family dinner nights?
This is the epitome of family bonding.
As adults, we go on dates and get to know each other by eating dinner together, so why couldn’t this apply to families as well?
I know many people like to look at family dinners as old-fashioned in this day and age, but it doesn’t have to be.
When I was a kid, we used to have dinner at the table every weekday night.
And on the weekends, we might get the chance to eat out at a restaurant, but even then, we still ate together as a family.
At dinner is where we find out how our days at school and work went.
In fact, this might have been the only time we could all sit down and have an actual face-to-face conversation with one another the entire day.
We would have some of the best laughs at the dinner table and I can still recall some of those conversations today.
I know that it is not feasible to have a family dinner every night and we don’t either.
And believe me when I say that this is really hard to do with a loud and messy toddler.
But we do try to have dinner as a family a couple of times a week to get her used to the idea of sitting together at the table.
Family Movie Night
Movie nights are great bonding activities for parents and children.
And there are so many streaming services now that this will be relatively easy to do.
When I was younger, we would go to the movie theater as a family to go see the latest kid movie and have the best time.
If you are up for it, I would highly recommend going to the theater as a family for that type of experience.
But if you are like us and have a smaller kid in tow or don’t care for the movie theater prices, then this is best to do at home.
Our movie nights are usually on Friday nights and we like to order pizza and pop some popcorn.
We all sit in the living room together and attempt to get through a movie together as a family.
I have to say attempt because once again, I am dealing with a toddler who doesn’t like to be still for more than 5 minutes.
As she gets older, this will be a lot easy to do and an activity that we can all look forward to.
Baking Together
Did any of you all own an Easy Bake Oven when you were younger?
I did and you might as well have called me Jass the Baker because I was always whipping up those small cakes and baking cookies.
I loved baking as a kid and thought it was so cool to make cupcakes and cakes.
If your kids are super interested in what you are doing in the kitchen, then this is a great activity to do together.
Baking is a little easier to do with younger kids because the preparation mostly requires mixing things together and waiting for it to bake in the oven.
My daughter is a little too young to help but she loves to watch and do as much as she can.
She does have a little play kitchen that she has to pretend with and it makes her feel like she is baking.
This is the closest we get to baking together for now until we can really do it together once she is older.
Crafting/Creating Together
This is another creative family bonding activity for parents and children.
Crafts are such a great activity that involves creative thinking as well as using your hands to put together whatever is in your head.
When I was a young girl, I used to have a craft subscription box delivered once a month to the house and I absolutely loved it.
It was something to look forward and I was so excited to see what I could make each month.
If you are looking for a cheap subscription service that you can do with your little ones, a great program to go with is Abundant Play.
Abundant Play is a monthly digital activity book subscription filled with activities, printables, children’s songs, and other fun things for young children up to the age of 5.
It has become something that my daughter and I both look forward to because we get one on one time playing and learning with our monthly activities.
And it is only $9 a month, but if you use the coupon code JASS, you can get $8 off your first month.
I have more activities that you can do with young children through the link below if you are looking for more creative ideas.
- Read More: Play-Based Learning Activites For Toddlers
Have Family Meetings
A family shouldn’t have to come together for only the bad things that happen.
And should be able to come together because we are just that.
We should be able to talk about the good and the bad so we can work through it all together as a family.
If you don’t want to call them meetings because that sounds so formal, then call them something that sounds a little more inviting.
Call them family pow-wows or whatever gets the point across that this is a good time to come together and bond as a family.
Having family dinner nights can easily set up these times to have these family meetings so you can share the latest that has been happening with you.
That is definitely a form of having a family meeting.
But another way is just literally just sitting around and having an open discussion.
And the best part of family meetings is that they can continue into adulthood.
I’m grown and no longer at home and we all still call one another and talk for hours sometimes.
With the current situation and state of the world, technology has even allowed us to see one another as well during our family meetings.
Seasonal Outings
I know that the outside world is a little crazy right now, but hopefully, once everything starts to die down we can venture out more.
And you should definitely go out and venture out as a family.
Some families do not have the luxury of being able to take nice family vacations and that is ok.
If you are able to take those nice, beachy vacations then have at it.
We were blessed to take a summer family vacation every year and even a spring break one sometimes.
I also want to be able to take my daughter on those nice summer vacations one day, but for now, we are doing what I call seasonal outings.
If you are wondering what I mean by seasonal outings, then it means just that.
We participate in seasonal events that only take place during certain seasons.
For example:
- Spring: Going fishing and kite flying
- Summer: Visiting an amusement and water park
- Fall: Going to the pumpkin patch and hayrides
- Winter: Looking at all the holiday lights and going ice skating
You can obviously do whatever you want, but these are the family bonding activities that we have decided to do.
And I must say it has been fun!
It gives us all something to look forward and we get to create a family tradition that we get to do every year.
Your Turn
And those are all of the fun family bonding activities that we do as a family. Now, I want to hear from you all. What are some fun bonding activities for parents and children that you would add to this list? Let me know in the comments below and while you are still here, check out my previous blog post below. Until next time!
- Read More: Habits That You Need To Be More Organized
Love,
Just Jass
36 Comments
Rachel
Such great ideas. Thank you for sharing
Jasmyn Wilkins
Aw thank you and I’m glad that you enjoyed this post!
Cristina
I love these ideas. We love doing arts and crafts together and movie nights are always a hit especially since we have a big bowl of popcorn, sweets and fizzy drinks.
Jasmyn Heard
Movie nights are always a hit as well! So glad that you liked these suggestions!
Chelsea Bivens
Great post! I would probably add something like learning something new or taking some kind of class together. Even working out together is fun for me and my own kids. My girls love doing yoga with me.
Jasmyn Wilkins
Those are great ideas! I’m excited to be able to do some of those things when she gets older! Glad that you enjoyed this post!
Ms. Tee
Great ideas! I agree, family pow-wows are so.ething I feel should be done weekly. I have a toddler right now but I really hope I can raise him enjoykng weekly family meetings.
In this Texas Heat, we make every Friday evening and pool night. We have a small enough pool for our 3yo uet big enough for us to sit it with him and just toss the beach ball or splash each other. We really enjoy it and my son looks forward to it
Thanks for writing this blog!
Jasmyn Wilkins
I wish we had a pool for this Texas Heat as well because it ain’t no joke! We are hoping to raise our daughters the same way and keep up the communication! I’m so glad that you enjoyed these ideas!
Cassie
We’ve played a lot of board games and hide and seek lately!
Jasmyn Wilkins
Oh, hide and seek is a fun one! My daughter does quite grasp the concept of hiding but this will definitely be fun when she gets older! Glad that you enjoyed this post!
Nadia | Mom's Daily Diary
Great post! Love the seasonal ideas. Our favorite family activity has always been fame night where we play different board games.
Jasmyn Heard
Thank you and I can’t wait until our little one gets a little older for game night!
Clarissa Cabbage
This is awesome Jass! It’s great that so many families are getting to spend more time with one another! When I was growing up, my dad worked 70-80 hours a week to support us 5 kids. It would’ve been awesome to have more time with him. I’m glad kids are getting more of that now. That is one upside to all of this!
Clarissa – adventurefitforlife.com
Jasmyn Wilkins
This really has been the upside with all the current events! I’m so glad that you enjoyed this post!
Monique
These are great tips Jass! I definitely will be incorporating some of these activities with my family!
Jasmyn Wilkins
Thank you so much and I’m glad that you enjoyed these tips!
Jaya Avendel
Baking as a family is a lovely way to spend time together not only in the kitchen but also later over what comes out of the oven! We love playing games or just sitting and talking.
Jasmyn Wilkins
The best part is always what comes out of the oven! I’m so glad that you enjoyed this post and it’s good to hear from you!
Sarah Struchen
You pretty much beautifully covered the ones we do consistently in our home. My son is a little chef, always wanting to help out with baking and cooking. And we all enjoy creating things together with paper, scissors, glue, and whatever other random things we can find. One thing we do prioritize though is family day. We do it once a week, on one of my husband’s days off. We typically go outside and do something as a family, such as going to the lake, beach, park, or going on a hike, or picnic, etc. I very much look forward to these days.
Jasmyn Wilkins
Thank you and we try to do what you all do! My fiance only has a couple of days off at a time so we try to spend some of that time relaxing and the other half doing something as a family. I love that you all prioritize family day and I’m so glad that you enjoyed this post!
Britt K
Family time is definitely the silver lining of this whole situation, isn’t it? It has forced us to strip away many of the things that we do each and every day leaving us with time to focus on our bigger priorities – self-care, family time, etc. Basically, it forced us to slow down. You’ve got some great activities here. I can remember family game nights and family craft time growing up!
Jasmyn Wilkins
No one wants to talk about the good that has comes from this whole situation, but you are absolutely right! We are getting more family time more than ever and it has really opened up those doors to really get that quality time that we all need with one another. I’m so glad that you enjoyed this post!
Navina
Awesome ideas 👏 love it
Jasmyn Wilkins
Thank you! I’m glad that you enjoyed these ideas!
Melissa
Family dinners are a must at our house and the kids love movie nights. Another fun activity is game night…it may get a little heated from time to time, but we have a great time.
Jasmyn Wilkins
Game nights are the best! My daughter is a little too young for them right now, but it’s on when she is older!
Audrey
Seasonal outings have really saved us! We love going to the pick your own berry farms in our area. There is even a pick your own flower farm that we’re going to check out soon. Thanks for the great family bonding activity ideas!
Jasmyn Wilkins
Picking berries and flowers sound so much fun! I’m glad that you enjoyed these ideas!
Yanitza Ninett
I love this! I feel like this is such an important topic to talk about. Great suggestions! For me personally, I bond with my sons while hiking/nature walking. Great post!!
Jasmyn Wilkins
That sounds like a great way to bond with your sons! I’m so glad that you enjoyed this post!
Melissa
These are all really great reminders! As a family, we go on lots of nature walks and pray together as well.
Jasmyn Heard
Nature walks are great family activities and we like doing those as well!
Andrea
We try to engage in bonding activities as a family once a day, but that’s not always possible. However, I always have an art activity on hand or a fun board game. Thanks for these cool suggestions!
Jasmyn Heard
I can’t wait until my daughter gets a little older so we can do board games! I’m glad that you enjoyed these suggestions!
Tamara
these are AWESOME!!!!
I love cooking and taking walks with my kids 🙂 <3
Jasmyn Heard
That’s awesome! I’m so glad that you enjoyed these suggestions!