Ideas for engaging with your family

This month we celebrate the important role families play in keeping children safe. Children feel safe when they have a strong sense of belonging and connection to family.

  • Set up dominoes to make a domino run! One false move and boom! It all falls down.
  • Dots with Feelings
  • Play word games and make up jokes and riddles together. You can start with jokes like 'Knock knock' or 'Why did the chicken, frog, cow (whatever makes you laugh) cross the road? Then get your child to make up their own.
  • Card games - any family favourites
  • Most creative play dough
  • Most creative biscuit/cake
  • Building the tallest paper tower -  using only paper and tape.
  • Write a poem on Family - what is Family or what does Family mean to you.
  • Dots with feelings - make a funny story using the dots.

Indoor Activities for Kids

If the weather isn't right for outdoor activities, try these ideas for creative indoor options.

  • Bake brownies or cupcakes together.
  • Bake brownies or cupcakes together.
  • Build animal families out of homemade play dough.
  • Build Legos together.
  • Conduct kitchen science experiments.
  • Create a special place in your home for displaying your child's artwork.
  • Create memory boxes for your child's favourite pictures, artwork, and mementos.
  • Do a puzzle.
  • Draw caricatures of each other.
  • Eat breakfast together.
  • Exercise together.
  • Go to a free event for kids' sponsored by your local library or a book, craft, or hardware store.
  • Have a spa night with oatmeal-honey facials.
  • Have a tea party.
  • Have something unusual for dinner like air-popped popcorn and fresh fruit.
  • Help kids clean their rooms.
  • Help fix a broken item or toy.
  • Help your child send an email to a grandparent, aunt, or uncle.
  • Let your child choose what to display in your home art gallery
  • Let your child style your hair.
  • Let your child teach you about something they know or do well.
  • Listen to an audio CD together.
  • Look through old photo albums together.
  • Make a care package to send to a relative who lives far away.
  • Make a family tree.
  • Make a meal for someone else.
  • Make a slide show of your favourite digital photographs.
  • Make a special breakfast.
  • Make a fort out of sheets and couch cushions.
  • Make bookmarks.
  • Make ice cream floats for dessert.
  • Make milkshakes or smoothies.
  • Make necklaces out of coloured pasta shapes and dental floss.
  • Make pancakes in the shape of your child's initials.
  • Make up a silly song together.
  • Make your own memory game out of family photographs.
  • Make your own treasure map.
  • Paint your nails together.
  • Play 20 Questions.
  • Play a board game.
  • Play a video game together.
  • Play school or office.
  • Play store, restaurant, or ice cream stand together.
  • Play with dolls together.
  • Pull out a box of toys they haven't played with for a while.
  • Race Matchbox cars.
  • Read your favourite childhood picture book together.
  • Rearrange their bedroom furniture.
  • Record a new voicemail message together.
  • Role-play how to handle a tough situation, like making friends, or saying no to peer pressure.
  • Scrapbook together.
  • Share a memory about how you handled conflict or stood up to a bully when you were a kid.
  • Style your child's hair.
  • Take turns reading to each other.
  • Teach your child how to cook.
  • Teach your child how to play solitaire or chess.
  • Teach one another some new dance moves.
  • Teach your child a song you sang as a kid.
  • Teach your dog tricks.
  • Tell your child three things you really like about them.
  • Visit a local music store and sample each other's favourite artists.
  • Visit a nursing home.
  • Visit the library.
  • Volunteer together.
  • Watch your child's favourite tv show or movie together.
  • Write a story together.
  • Write encouraging letters to each other and then wait a few weeks or months to mail them.
  • Visit a museum.
  • Write messages on the mirror for one another with soap