A Month of Quick and Meaningful Family Activities

Working parents often find themselves strapped for time at the end of the day, neglecting essential elements of their life such as family dinners or exercise. Here are 31 fun and meaningful activities you can do with your family in approximately 15 minutes a day. Each activity is intended to promote values of family, education, and self care and is appropriate for variously aged children.

Mute your TV during the commercials or take a quick excursion together and enjoy!

1. Send an email together to a friend or family member.
2. Ask your child about his or her day at school.
3. Mail artwork or school papers to family members who live far away.
4. Record your child's height on a growth chart.
5. Read a book together while waiting in line at the store.
6. Teach your child a simple magic trick.
7. Look through the Help Wanted ads in the newspaper and ask your child what they want to be when they grow up.
8. Make instruments out of things you find in your kitchen. An upturned pot can be a drum. A closed box of rice can be a maraca.
9. Create a grocery list and weekly meal plan together.
10. Have a mock fire drill.
11. Draw pictures of each other, then draw self-portraits.
12. Take a donation to the local food bank.
13. Play follow-the-leader through your house.
14. Ask your child to share a favorite book for family story-time.
15. Try to fill in the state names on a blank map of the USA.
16. Go greeting card shopping for upcoming family birthdays.
17. Look at the weather for the week and take turns playing the weather forecaster.
18. Pick out a favorite comic from the newspaper. Cut out the individual frames and have your children put them back in sequence.
19. Browse the online library catalog and create a list of books to read.
20. Color on a white picture mat then use it to frame a recent family photograph.
21. Create certificates for each member of your family highlighting special achievements or contributions to the family.
22. Walk to a local park and take turns pushing each other on the swings.
23. Sort laundry together while discussing dark and light colors and counting socks.
24. Using different colors of finger paint, make hand prints on white paper. Use this paper to back photographs.
25. Trace each other with side walk chalk on the driveway. Draw clothes and scenery for your chalk family.
26. Play P-I-G in the house with a wastebasket and crumpled up paper.
27. Write a good old-fashioned letter to family members. Let your child put on the stamp and decorate the envelope.
28. Paint a square on your child's wall with blackboard paint. When it dries, write notes to each other in chalk.
29. Make no-bake cookies together. Let your child measure or pour ingredients.
30. Have a fashion show of last season's clothes. Donate what no longer fits
31. Give hugs to everyone in your house.