Wondering how you can enjoy weekends with your family and have fun with the kids? Then you will love these more than 60 free activities for families list and there’s even a handy free printable. These fun family activities and things to do include indoor activities, summer, winter and fall activities, family games for family night and so much more.

It’s time to create your own family bucket list and start spending some much-needed quality family time together. And with these fun activities, family bonding time is easy and frugal.

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Before we jump into the list of things to do together as a family, let’s quickly discuss the importance of family bonding. Why we need to spend time together as a family and the benefits thereof just to remind us why we need to make time for each other.

a family secret

Do you want to know the secret of how I improved the relationship between my daughter and me? We created a mother-daughter bucket list, filled with fun things we would love to do together. And, even though doing the activities are fun, adding to our list is a couple of minutes we share, dreaming and planning together. It became a special time shared only between the two of us and helped to make our mother-daughter bond even stronger.

I’m planning to also start a mom-son bucket list and are definitely getting us one of these to make planning fun and easy.

What do you think? Are you going to give it a try?

what is family bonding and why is it so important

Family bonding time includes moments where we do activities together whilst building a strong connection. This refers to the quality family time during which we focus on building relationships and getting to know each other.

Family bonding time has numerous benefits including

• improved parent-child communication
• healthy family relationships
• growing confidence and self-esteem
• teaching skills important life skills like how to
  • share
  • trust others
  • respect all and
  • resolve conflict
• decreasing behavioral issues
• building emotional intelligence
• promoting happiness and kindness

family bonding statistics

A recent study by Anaheim showed that an average workday for parents includes 37 minutes spent with kids and a whopping 3 hours and 40 minutes using an electronic device. That’s scary! Does your day look similar?

*The percentages above are calculated assuming 16 hours wake time for an average working adult.

Statistics like these should serve as a wake-up call for those of us who don’t even realize the amount of time we actually spend with our kids compared to our time spent doing other things like using our phones. And sometimes we don’t even realize our kids perceive us to be overly engaged with our phones.

So I dare you today, to ask your kids whether they think you spend a lot of time using electronic devices. Their answers might surprise and even shock you … And then be sure to change your habits and schedule more quality time with your family.

Here are some great tips on getting that right as well as 51 great family activities.

how do you spend quality family time

Spending quality family doesn’t need to be that hard. We simply need to find different activities for families to do together. And it certainly doesn’t need to be expensive or overly time-consuming. Spending ten minutes every weeknight at bedtime, sharing experiences from your day adds up to an amazing additional 50 minutes of quality time. And that is free and easy! No excuses …

not sure how to start a family bucket list?

Then you need to check this out. It explains the how, where and what of creating family bucket list including great examples and activities.

51 free activities for families

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of the 51 fun and free activities for families.

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Need some ideas on fun things to do with your family or not sure how you can have fun with your kids? Here’s a great list of free activities for families and things to do together that is either free or frugal. Including fun activities for all ages.

Remember to grab your free printable including all 51 free activities for families in an easy-to-use PDF format for you to print and keep at hand when creating your family bucket list.

no-spend weekend family activities

Here are some easy ways to enjoy weekends together as a family. Including things families can do for free on a no-spend weekend. Try out some of these activity ideas

• go for a walk in the park, forest or at the beach
• do a community fun-run
• listen to your favorite music together and shake your sillies out
• grab a camera and take photo’s whilst teaching your kids some photography skills and capturing magic moments
  • we got our daughter this awesome gadget (so glad I also found this to keep it safe and protected whilst running around outside) and she has been creating the most awesome pictures and videos we will all cherish for years to come

Be sure to add these free things to do to your to-do list and you will never be out of ideas on what you can do with your family this weekend.

weeknight family activities

Yes, weeknights are often hectic and definitely not our top time choice for doing family activities. But it’s actually very easy to include 10 minutes of quality family time into your bedtime routine.

Here are some fun things to do on a weeknight that don’t take up much time but can help to improve sleep quality and bedtime routines

• family yoga
  • check this out if need some family yoga ideas
• go for a short walk
  • remember no running as the point of the exercise is not to overstimulate the kids before bedtime
• prepare family dinner together
  • get kids involved by allowing them to set the table and help to wash vegetables and make salads
• play a card of a board game
  • we play three games of this card game almost every night without fail and the kids love it!
• start a craft project and do 10 minutes together every night

Remember it’s not about spending hours together, it’s about finding easy and fun activities you can do together for a couple of minutes whilst growing your family bond.

indoor activities for families

Having fun at home is frugal and fun. Wondering what is an indoor activity the kids will actually enjoy? Here are a couple of great ideas of things families can do together at home

• family movie night
  • with special popcorn
• having a picnic inside
• cooking together
• family game night
• family yoga
• baking and decorating biscuits
• making ice-cream sundaes
• playing card games
• doing arts and crafts
• creating a family photo album
• having a tea party
• build a tower with anything you can find from spoons to buckets

outdoor activities for families

Spending time together outside is not only fun but has loads of health benefits for everyone. Consider adding some of these family fun activities next time you are ready to hit the outdoors

• go for a walk in a park or forest
• collect things from nature and make collages
• blow up 10 balloons and play outside
• blow bubbles
• play ball games
• go to the park and teach your kids about plants and trees
• do a family scavenger hunt
• go for a picnic
• visit the fire station
• sleep outside in a tent

seasonal activities for families

Whilst creating your family bucket list, be sure to include great seasonal activities. Consider these

summer activities

• go for a swim
• spend a day at the beach
  • building sandcastles
  • playing volleyball
  • eating ice cream
• go fruit picking
• have a water gunfight using an astronaut space pack!
• play in the rain
• have a treasure hunt

winter activities

• paint each other’s faces like penguins, sharks or sea turtles
• have a pajama party
• make holiday decorations
• play in the snow
• go go-kart riding
• knit scarfs
• go sledding

fall activities

• go on a road trip trying to find something outside in every color of the rainbow
• fly a rainbow kite
• climb a tree
• do crafts with fall flowers and leaves
• gaze at the stars

arts & crafts projects

Spending time with our kids doing art and craft projects is an easy way to not only share quality time but teach them skills at the same time. Choose projects to improve their fine motor, reading, writing and drawing skills. Good options include

• do coloring
  • here are some free bee coloring pages
• creating a family gratitude journal
• do a painting project
• make clay animals
• make holiday decorations
• create family photo albums
• make birthday, Easter and Christmas cards
• plan your bucket list adventures

weekly family bonding activities

An easy way to ensure you get to spend some quality family time is to schedule a bonding activity into your weekly routine. For example, we have movie night every Friday. First, we prepare pizza, popcorn, and milkshakes together and then enjoy a movie. Each family member gets to choose their favorite movie. The kids love it. Everyone looks forward to Friday nights. And, we all know it’s part of our schedule and not to be missed!

Here are some fun ideas to help you choose your favorite weekly family activity. Simply choose one and be sure to schedule it.

• weekend morning trip to the fresh fruit market
• teaching kids to swim, ski, skate
• weekly soccer games
• preparing a meal together
• visiting your favorite park
• plant a veggie garden
• plan and do random acts of kindness

Please leave a comment

and let me know your favorite family activity. Is it one on the list or another fun activity?

Final thoughts on free activities for families

Hope you enjoyed this massive list of free things to do with your family that is fun and frugal including great family time ideas. Remember to download your free printable family activities list. It’s time to plan and schedule your bucket list adventures using all the frugal and free activities for families above. Have fun!

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