There are so many boring parts of family life… jobs, cleaning, schoolwork, making dinner, laundry. These are the things that must be done in order for the family to function. BUT, it is also essential to have some fun together!
Why, you might ask?
Spending time working hard as a family is wonderful and can teach both kids and adults important life skills. But, want to know a secret? So does playing together!
As adults, we tend to see play as a “break” or as if we are “putting off work”. But guess what? Kids actually learn best through play.
The famous child psychologist Jean Piaget said, “Play is children’s work”.
So instead of interrupting our kids’ pretend play to get them to work all the time, try getting down on their level and engaging in play WITH them!
You might be surprised at how much you both end up learning together!
Better yet, YOU be the one who comes up with the fun ideas (you might even get them working in the house happily because it feels like a game to them).
Here are some eye-opening benefits of spending quality time together as a family:
1. Creates lasting strong relationships
2. Fosters a sense of togetherness
3. Gets you all out of your comfort zone
4. Lowers the risk of behavioral problems
5. Improves Mental Health
6. Boosts children’s self-confidence
7. Helps kids perform well academically
8. Teaches effective communication
9. Teaches conflict resolution skills
10. Reduces stress
11. Lengthens life expectancy
12. Promotes adaptability and resilience
Because we know you busy moms all too well, we have created a list of fun challenges for you!
That’s right! Look no further for some great family bonding time. These ideas will get you all laughing, competing, and simply having fun together!
Get ready for some great lasting memories!
Family Challenges
1. Who Knows Who
Do you really know each member in your entire family?
Ok. YOU, might know each of your children better than anyone. But do your kids know you? Do they know each other?
With this fun challenge, you will fill up a bucket of water (make it ice cold if you have teens). Then take turns asking each person questions about other family members. For each one they get wrong, dunk their head in the bucket of water.
Here are some example questions:
1. What is dad’s favorite color?
2. What is your sister’s favorite song?
3. What does your brother love to do after school?
4. What is mom’s favorite meal to cook? to eat?
This is a great way to get to know each other better than you did before!
2. Who Can Melt An Ice Cube The Fastest
Get creative with this one! Have materials out and ready to go (tell them they can’t use the microwave).
Materials might include:
-candle (if you have older children)
-a blow dryer
-washcloths to hold it
You could also skip all the materials and just go the good ol’ fashioned way… each person sucks on their ice cube, the first one to have an empty mouth wins!
3. Sticky Hand Challenge
A great idea for family game night!
FIrst, put a coin in the middle of the table. Order some sticky hands from amazon or pick them up at the dollar store.
Each person will use their sticky hand to try and move the coin off the table. See who will be the first to grab the coin with their “hand”.
If you have younger kids, try giving each person their own coin to get off. The first person to get their coin off the table wins!
4. Coffee And Cream Challenge
Fill clear plastic cups with coffee and write things on them (some good, some bad). The idea is that you can’t see what is written on the clear cups because of the dark coffee. Then, each person picks a cup to pour cream into to reveal what they get!
Possible Positives:
-go to bed 30 minutes later
-dessert before dinner
Possible Negatives:
-do a parent choice chore
-clean your room
5. Chore Pong Challenge
This is one of those challenges that might actually get kids excited to work.
Take 6 red solo cups and in permanent marker write some chores on the bottom. (Scrub toilets, take out trash, mop floor, etc).
On two of the cups write, “free pass! No chores”.
Then fill the cups with a tiny bit of water (this will keep the ping pong ball from bouncing out).
On one end of the kitchen table (or another flat surface), set the 6 cups up in a triangle.
Place 3 ping pong balls on the other end of the table.
Tell your kids, “it’s time for family chores!” wait for the moans and groans and then say, “so come to the kitchen for a game!”
They will be so confused!
Have fun laughing with each other as you take turns bouncing the ping pong balls across the table to see who gets what jobs. OR who gets a “free pass” for the day!
6. Guess The Flavor Challenge
Need something fun and easy to do? You can do this one with any candy that has multiple flavors.
Skittles, fruit snacks, starburst, etc.
Blindfold the person who is “it” and have them pick a candy from the bowl. They will then eat the candy and try to guess what flavor they got.
7. Clothespin Challenge
Have a bucket of clothespins sitting in the kitchen in a conspicuous place.
See how many clothespins you can all pin onto a family member before they notice.
Watch out though, once you teach your kids this game, they will probably do it to you too!
8. Alphabet Story Challenge
This is great for long road trips to new places! You are going to tell a story collectively as a family.
The first person will say a sentence of the story and it has to start with A.
The next person’s sentence will begin with letter B. And so on until you get to letter Z.
9. Peanut Butter Tic Tac Toe
Take 9 papers and “paint them” with some peanut butter.
Tape them up on the wall in a 3×3 square. This is your tic tac toe board.
Take turns throwing ping pong balls at the peanut butter papers to see who can be the first one to get 3 in a row!
10. Blindfolded Red Light, Green Light
This is Red Light, Green Light with a twist!
The person who is “it” will be blindfolded and have a water gun in hand. Each time the person says “green light”, the other players move closer to him.
Each time he says “red light”, he will turn around, stay blindfolded and try to spray someone with the water gun. Whoever is “hit” is out.
11. Flip Flop Fling Challenge
Need a quick and easy game to play while you wait at a restaurant outside? Or at a park and your big kids are bored?
This is the game for you!
Take turns flinging your flip flop off your foot to see who can get theirs to go the furthest.
12. Grab The Socks Challenge
Get into pairs and make sure each person has socks on. See which team can get each others socks off first by pulling both of them at the same time.
Careful! Kids might go flying backward!
13. Grab It! Challenge
This one is fun for those early years of childhood when kids LOVE playing Hide-n-seek.
Two different family members hide 5 of something on their body (stickers, hair clips, gift bows, etc).
Then, both people race to try to be the first to find and remove the 5 items from the other person’s body.
14. Food Challenge
Get into teams and get ready to become the next contestants on the Great British Bake-Off!
Decide on something to make (smoothie, brownies, cookies, etc).
Make sure someone will be the judge (a neighbor or extended family members work great).
Then it’s time to compete! Who can make the best food item based on the category decided!
15. Blindfold Makeover Challenge
The kids will get a kick out of this one! Have mom and dad be the participants while kids are blindfolded and give you both a makeover!
Tip: Make sure you buy some inexpensive makeup for this that is easy to clean up!
16. Baking Challenge
Similar to the food challenge, but this one is more like “chopped”.
Each person will get the same ingredients and you will see who can come up with the best final product!
If you have young children, make sure they are paired up with an adult or older sibling.
17. Strike A Pose Challenge
This one won’t take much time and is easy to do right before bed if you need a family “reset”.
One person picks a pose then everyone else has to hold that pose for at least 10 seconds. If you move, you’re out.
Add some music to make it more fun!
18. Silly Photo Challenge
Give each person a camera or device. Each person gets 3 minutes to snap as many silly photos as they can.
Take turns judging each other’s pictures and choose which one is the funniest from each family member.
Surprise your family by printing the favorites out and hanging them on the wall in some inexpensive picture frames! Your kids will get a good laugh out of that.
Whether you’re having a hard day and need some laughs, want to connect more with your kids, or just want to spend some quality time together as a family… these fun challenges are sure to give your family a new way to strengthen relationships and create memories that will last a lifetime!