Family Bucket List; 50 Fun activities & ideas to do with kids at home

Now is the time more than ever to make special family memories.

The last few years have shown us how important it is to appreciate the small moments and time together. Walking, playing at home and enjoying more time in our local areas has inspired us to appreciate each other and the simple things more.

So how about having a family bucket list full of special and simple moments to treasure with the kids….before they grow up and move out!

This is a list of fun ideas and activities that you can do with the kids at home or close to home to give you some ideas.

Look out for our family bucket list of things we are looking forward to doing together as a family and planning for fun time together for the future. As there is so much fun comes in planning and anticipating exciting and fun times together with the kids.

Your kids only get one childhood, so make it count….

Active ideas in and around the home –

👉 Indoor “camping” complete with blanket tents and s’mores in the toaster oven.

👉 Make an obstacle course inside and time each other running through it.

👉 Put hop scotch on the pavement in front of the house.

👉 Host your own family olympic games

👉 Play Mini-golf. Better still create your own mini golf course in your house or garden. If you are feeling ambitious it could go all around the house!

👉 Have a Water Fight (obviously this is dependent on the outside temperatures where you live!)

Game and puzzle ideas

👉 Play a competitive game of memory…it is funny how the youngest kids always seem to win that.

👉 Put together a big puzzle…leave it out on the dining room table and every day everyone has to put 5 pieces in. See how long it takes to complete!

👉 Make your own version of monopoly.

👉 Play Cards – A simple deck of cards can lead up to hours of entertainment. Teach the young ones to play your favourite childhood game here are 15 easy and classic card games for kids

👉 Charades

This is a great game for all ages. To play charades, you have to act out movie titles, songs and things without making a sound.

👉 Play party games –
Put together a plan for all your favourite old fashioned party games and have a party! Pass the parcel, musical bumps, musical statues, pin the tail on the donkey, blind mans buff and hide and seek. You could even make party food to have after the games!

👉 Scavenger hunt

Create a list of things to collect and bring back (or photograph if you don’t want to remove the items from where you found them). The person (or team) with the most items (or images) or who completes the hunt the fastest wins.

Or try one of these brilliant themed treasure hunts

Making and creative ideas

👉 Bake cookies. Bake cakes. Bake bread. Just Bake!

👉 Make your own ‘create your adventure story book’

👉 Make puppets with socks and then put on a puppet show.

👉 Make a volcano.

👉 Make a bird feeder.

👉 Face painting

With some face paints you can do each other’s faces with butterflies or spider webs. Just search for easy face painting designs and you will get lots of easy ideas.

👉 Have an art day. Get creative, spend a whole day doing creative projects. You can set a theme for your crafts, set out resources and space for everyone at the start of the day and at the end of the day create an exhibition for your work.
See 5 easy and fun craft ideas here

👉 Budget home make-over

Brainstorm about themes together then redecorate the kids rooms using things that you already have or have pulled from another room. Then repaint or sew to give the room a fresh look.

👉 Photography project –
Go out as a family and take photos of each other or landscapes, anything. You can even set a theme or challenge and then share your pictures later.

👉 Make jam – you can go and pick the fruit (depending on the time of year and where you live) or you can get creative with mixing different fruits together.

Make a family recipe book – favourite recipes that can be carried forth and kept by your family of the future!

👉 Make things out of cardboard boxes! A fort, a space helmet or event a cardboard dolls house –
Use this guide and template here for a cardboard dolls house

👉 Or Create a cardboard arcade – if you never saw this delightful video about the boy who created a whole garage full of arcade games made from cardboard boxes; then watch it now full full on inspiration! Watch it here

Being together ideas

👉 Movie night with a sheet screen, big speaker, movie style snacks, turn the lights off and feel the atmosphere!

👉 Dress up posh for dinner.

👉 Dress up silly for dinner.

👉 Have a ‘Come dine with me dinner’ – everyone (who is old enough) be responsible for a different course and mark each other. (younger ones could work in teams with adults or prepare something cold)

👉 Have a tickle fight.

👉 Create a Family Scrapbook. You could even create a scrapbook from lockdown.

👉 Create a time capsule

👉 Research your Family Tree and create a big visual family tree.

👉 Make S’mores

👉Make a Family Music Video – choose your favourite family track. choreograph a dance, come up with a style for the music video and get creative!

👉 Play Dress Up – adults too!
Not only does playing dress up important for children because it helps them use their imagination and builds confidence, it is just a plain fun family thing to do. Let your kids pick a theme, and make sure you join them is dressing up!

👉 Play dress up in adults clothes! Taking the dress up idea one step further is allowing the kids to dress you (and them!) in your clothes! Let them have free reign – after all who is going to see and what’s the harm! You might even discover you have a Vivienne Westwood of the future!

👉 Put on a Family Talent Show

Outdoors with the kids ideas

👉 Picnic at the park…even if it is cold.

👉 Be a tourist in your own town

Here are some ideas for how you can do this

👉 Fly a Kite

👉 Go on a bug hunt – see what bugs you can find; draw or photograph them so you can discuss them later.

👉 Go on a foraging hunt: Give the kids baskets and lists of things to find (white feather, black stone, yellow leaf…)

Mindful and family wellbeing ideas

👉 Go 24 Hours without Internet, Radio or Television
Ok this is a challenge for even the adults! But think about it. When was the last time you went for two hours without your phone? Try going 24 hours without internet, radio or TV. Go camping, read a book together or use the time to complete some of the ideas on this family bucket list. See how it makes you feel and communicate as a family. And if it helps have a big fat reward that you all agree on and get if you all manage it!

👉 Do a Random Act of Kindness
Random acts of kindness are some of the most fulfilling things you could ever do and giving without expecting anything back is a valuable lesson to teach every child.

👉 Donate some food
There are plenty of food banks and charities that help those less fortunate than ourselves. So find your local one and make a delivery. Most supermarkets also have bins at the checkouts so even getting the kids to put a few bits in there teaches them about sharing and caring.

👉 Pick up litter in the park

👉 Make a calming jar – If your child is feeling anxious or worrying then a calming jar can work well. The falling beads and glitter will help them relax and slow their breathing. and making one together can be very therapeutic for both of you too!
Here is an easy how to guide for making a calming jar

👉 Make a gratitude jar. Every weekend when you sit together as a family take it turns to write down something you are grateful for on a piece of paper, fold it up and put it in the jar. Next year on new years day you can open the jar and read everything you were grateful for last year.

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