10 Fun Things to Do at Home Together as a Family

At the moment I'm writing a book about fun things to do together as a family to build connections and better relationships. I'm three quarters of the way through and have just about finished the first section which is about doing things at home which are free or inexpensive.

Spending time together to do something creates a strong bond for your family. Too often when you have teenagers, they spend most of their time by themselves or with their friends. Or if your husband is so busy working that most of his time is spent outside and when he does come home he is so that tired he does not have the time to spend with the children and you. Even young children these days spend a large percentage of their time by themselves watching tv or playing on the ipad, iphone or computer. The result is a fragmented and disconnected family.

To counteract this, below are just ten fun things that, when you make the time, you could do together as a family and increase your family ties.

1. Backyard or indoor camping

Pitch your tent in the backyard. Don't have a backyard? Then set it up in a room in your house! My children love this. Since they're on their school holidays, the tent is up right now in the middle of our family room.

2. Barbeque ‘campfire’

If you have a coal barbeque then light it up, preferably at night time. Sit around the barbeque with some corn on it and toast the marshmallows. Now you're ready for some family fun with storytelling and games.

3. Cooking challenge

Are your children or your husband complaining about your cooking? Challenge them to cook something beter. Divide the whole family into teams and judge which team's is more delicious. 

4. Creative fun

It's always satisfying to have a finished product that you've made. Make something together as a family such as knitting little squares then joining them to make a lap or baby quilt to give as a gift. Not into knitting? Then how about painting, sewing, beading, printing, pottery or cardmaking? Choose something that everyone would like to do together.

5. Game night

I've blogged about this before here. Assign a night or day each week to play a game together. It could be any type of game: board, card, electronic or traditional - as long as it's being played together.

6. Gardening

Just go outdoors and spend some time together to plant a garden. It could be a flower garden or a vegetable garden. It's so satisfying to see the fruits of your labour when the flowers bloom and the vegetable is harvested and know that by working together you can achieve many things.

7. Letter writing

I don't mean the instant messaging or email but the pen to paper type that you post in the mail. Each family member can write or make a small gift for a distant relative, put them into a larger envelop and post it. Your receiver will love the time and effort your family has put into doing this.

8. Puzzle it together

Depending on the ages of your children, you can put together one of those puzzles with many pieces. Do the 200, 500 or 1000 pieces. It is like solving a mystery together. You can get plenty of discussions going on as to which piece would fit.

9. Talent Quest or Show

Stage a talent quest where each member has to perform something that they're good at. It can be the recitation of the Qur'an, a poem or speech they've written - anything that they can do well. Record the whole thing on video and watch it at a later date as children get a kick out of watching themselves being on camera.

10.Write a book

Have you ever played those storytelling games where one person says a sentence and the next person continues the story by adding on another sentence? Writing a book together is a bit like that. Have one person as the scribe, the others can come up with ideas and sentences for the book. Once the story is finished, don't forget to edit it together. Who knows? You could even publish it!

These are the things that I, myself, do with my family. If you have anything else you'd like to add to the list then please comment (and if I include it I will mention you in my book!). In the meantime, g+ and follow this blog to keep updated with the release of this book.

Update 1/1/2015: This book is available now at Amazon . Find all 35 activities to do with your family in the one book.

Click here to buy this book