Spending quality time with our kids can be challenging. Work, other kids, responsibilities, chores, and life gets in the way! But, one of the best things you can do to ensure that you are building a strong, loving relationship is to spend one-on-one time with your kids on a regular basis.
I have tried different ways to implement this over the years. Sometimes it has worked to take kids out of the house for dates and do more extravagant outings (such as going to the mall, going to a sporting event, the arcade, a movie, etc.) These days, my time is more limited so I have been brainstorming ways to still give the kids “dates” but I am trying to balance this out with the time and energy that I have to give.
What I have come up with is a system where the kids get to choose each week. They can either have 15 minutes of my undivided attention per day where we get to do whatever they want. (We play a game of Uno, build legos, read, play pretend, or do a quick art project.) Or, they get to “save up their time” and go out on a 45-60 minute date once per week.
Because I am offering smaller chunks of time, it felt important to come up with a list of ideas that were quick and do-able. Here is the list that we have so far:
30 Quick (under an hour) Quality Time with Kids Ideas
- Toss a football
- Have a dance party
- Play basketball
- Sing Karaoke together (find videos on YouTube)
- Play catch with a baseball
- Go out for donuts
- Spend time looking through baby pictures
- Check out the fish and small animals at a pet store
- Go for a walk
- Hang out at your local coffee shop
- Play on a playground
- Go to the Library
- Have a picnic
- Do an art project together (Have you checked out the Make Your Own Affirmations Kit yet? This is a fun craft project that also helps build coping skills! Check it out here.)
- Play Legos
- Do a Puzzle
- Fly a kite at the park
- Dollar store shopping spree
- Do a Scavenger Hunt (You can download an Around the House Scavenger Hunt in the Parenting Resource Library. Click here to access for free!)
- Play Uno
- Have a water balloon fight (have them help you fill the balloons)
- Go on a Bike Ride
- Kick a soccer ball together
- Build a fort together
- Plan and execute an act of kindness together
- Go out to ice cream or frozen yogurt
- Read a book together
- Paint rocks and then place them at your local park or around the neighborhood
- Make cookies together
- Deliver cookies to your local fire or police station