Spending time with family can be very challenging especially in our busy modern world. If you are struggling to do so, you and your family should designate a specific family time at least once during the week to spend time together and enjoy each other’s company. The best way to bond with family is to do activities that everyone will enjoy and outings to cool places where you can learn and have fun. We have had lots of fun over lockdown and are enjoying new bonding activities that we will continue to do together.
Here are some suggestions of bonding activities for the whole family to enjoy:
Cook Dinner Together
Eating has largely been a communal endeavor for people since the beginning of time. As a family, cooking dinner together is an act that involves everyone in a crucial task. It is a lot of fun preparing a meal as a family where everybody participates. It is also a great learning experience for the children.
Learn a New Language
More on the educational side, a great bonding activity for the whole family is learning a foreign language. Learning a new language can be a lot of fun, the key is to keep it light and entertaining! There are so many ways you can make this activity game-like: for instance, learning a foreign language is much more fun if done through an interactive program such as Babbel. You and your family can practice with each other, quiz one another and even give out small prizes for achievements. This can also be a prelude to a family trip to the language’s home country.
Read Together
If you are a calm and laid-back kind of family, then reading together is a wonderful activity. There are so many books that you can read together as a family. You can do a sort of “book club” and discuss the book after every session to discover how each family member enjoyed the book and what insight they got from it. This is a great way for getting kids curious about books, practicing their reading skills and also a conversation starter for important topics.
Go Camping
For families that like to explore the great outdoors and be active, camping is the ultimate bonding activity. It is also an activity that requires every family member to participate and pitch in for a successful camping trip. It can also be a teachable moment for a younger generation who could gain valuable survival skills, as well as learn to disconnect from technology and appreciate nature.

Go for a Picnic
For a milder outdoor experience, a picnic in your local park can be a fun weekend activity for a family. You can prepare food and snacks together and everyone can enjoy it on a beautiful day outside. Pack board games or cards and have a nice place under the shade after lunch. Changing your eating venue as a family offers a great and new experience and the perfect occasion to enjoy a nice sunny day.
Take Care of / Plant a Garden
Tending to plants, flowers or a vegetable garden is a great way to nurture and strengthen family bonds. Keeping track of watering, harvest etc. is very educational for children as it teaches them how to take care of something and also to have responsibilities. You can even buy seeds and let each child plant their own in a personalized vase with their name on it. Seeing the plant grow under their care will be a source of great pride.
Arts and Crafts
Arts and crafts stimulate creativity and for children, creating something together with their parents, is super fun and entertaining. You could even attempt to make things that are needed around the house, like following a DYI tutorial from YouTube for example.
Doing activities as a family a couple of times a week helps family members discover other sides of each other and helps strengthen the strong bonds children have with their parents and siblings. It also offers a different dynamic to family interactions as well as the chance to learn.
What do you like to do during family time, do you have any examples of fun bonding activities?