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40 Tech-Free Family Activities For Home

Modern technology has taken over such a large part of our lives these days, from a very young age, which means a lot of family fun has been replaced with solo screen time. This is hardly fun for the whole family, so we wanted to put together some ideas for fun tech-free family activities for home … that don’t involve technology!!

Tech-free family fun

12 TECH-FREE FAMILY ACTIVITIES FOR HOME

Switching off your devices and spending quality time together is so important for a family… whether you are a family of 2 or a family of 12! Switching off is necessary!

When we are always connected, we struggle to truly relax and this is not a great combination for a happy household!

Instead focus on having quality family fun time each week to connect, relax and enjoy one another’s company!

1 – BACKYARD PICNIC

Mother father and daughter having a backyard picnic on a rug

Picnics are great fun and you don’t even have to go out to enjoy one! Pull out your picnic rug and set up a family picnic in your own backyard.

At least if you forget something, someone can run inside and grab it… a luxury you often don’t get at a picnic!

Is it raining outside? Bring your fun undercover and have an indoor picnic together instead, with your picnic rug on the living room floor.

2 – FLIP THROUGH OLD PHOTOS

Pulling out the dusty old photo albums or mum and dad’s wedding albums, there is great joy in reminiscing moments from the past with loved ones.

This is especially fun seeing how much kids have grown up… plus kids love seeing themselves as babies, usually! I am a project life scrapbooker so we have lots of albums and photo books from different years in our family’s life. Very special to browse with our girls.

3 – PLANT A GARDEN

Does someone in the family have a green thumb? Even if you don’t, there’s no better time than now to start.

Plant some veggie seeds or get some flower plants and make a bright corner in your backyard that you can watch grow together.

If you do decide to go for the fruit and veggies, it’s even more fun when the time comes to pick and eat your harvest! And if space is limited, do a planter box garden instead.

Family fun activities for kids at home

4 – HAVE A FAMILY GAME NIGHT

No, I don’t mean plug in the Xbox for a night of electronic gaming! I mean an old-fashioned family board game night! There are so many fun board games available these days and with a bit of healthy competition, the laughs are sure to follow!

Take turns to big fun board games or buy a brand new game for the occasion that you can play together.

5 – COOK TOGETHER

Okay, so this does use a form of technology… but kitchen appliances are fine, right?! Plan and cook a meal together. 3 courses or more and enjoy the feast together!

There’s plenty of fun to be had in the kitchen, plus you’re teaching the kids some useful skills for when they are old enough to take over.

If you do have older kids, this is a perfect way to teach them important life skills.

Family cooking together

6 – STARGAZING

Throw a picnic rug down on the grass, or if you’re lucky enough to have a trampoline that’s even better and everyone can get ready for some stargazing.

Take in turns trying to find shapes in the star formations or spotting constellations. It sure beats another night staring at the TV screen!

7 – THEME NIGHTS

Got a quiet weekend coming up? There’s no reason you can’t host your own Mexican soiree or PJ party at home! Plan your menu to suit your theme, dress up, play some appropriate music and have your own mini party at home.

So much family fun… or extend it to some friends to come and join in too!

8 – PUZZLES

Our 4.5-year-old is suddenly obsessed with puzzles and not small ones either. 500 & 1000 piece ones usually so she needs a little help sometimes from me.

If your kids enjoy puzzles, why not set one up as a family challenge and build it together. You can each work on different sections and enjoy seeing the finished product!

9 – WATER FUN

Depending on what time of year it is where you are, water activities can be good fun on a hot day! If you’re lucky enough to have a pool.. you’re sorted! If not you can set up a sprinkler to run through, or have a water pistol fight.

Trust me… you don’t need to be a kid to enjoy this! As teenagers, we would often have water bomb fights too. Great fun except for the clean-up afterwards so the water pistols are a cleaner option! And reusable of course.

Find loads of water play activities for preschoolers and older children.

10 – OUTDOOR GAMES DAY

Set up a relay or adventure course in your backyard and have fun in the sun. You could do sack races, egg and spoon races and plenty of other fun outdoor activities that get kids active, laughing and having memorable family time at home.

Fun activities for kids at home craft

11 – GET CREATIVE

Feeling a bit creative? Pull out some paints or pencils or any other crafty materials and have a family art day! You could make a canvas together to hang on the wall of the house! This is great for encouraging creative kids and you get to create a one-of-a-kind family heirloom!

Kids love getting messy of course!

Other fun creative activities for families include pipe cleaner creatures, making friendship bracelets, colouring, diamond painting, making a pom pom rug or mini clay figurines.

12 – LEARN A NEW SKILL

Always wanted to learn how to cross-stitch or make model cars, or maybe you want to master golf. Why not learn as a family?

Get everything you need and have a home learning session together. Youtube is always a great help to learn anything and everything of course… although it does break the tech-free rule so watch first then switch it off and put those new skills into practice!!

How much fun it will be to learn as a family!

13 – OBSTACLE COURSE

This one is bound to be a favourite with the kids for sure! But a great way to get the whole family active!

Making an indoor obstacle course in your house or an outdoor obstacle course in your backyard is super easy and a new challenge for everyone!

Get creative and use whatever you have to hand. Have the family climbing under tables, jump over buckets and loop around obstacles.

Plus, it’s a great way to get the family moving! Younger kids will think this is the ultimate fun!

14 – HOPSCOTCH

Use painter’s tape on tiles or chalk on your patio or driveway to create your own hopscotch course. This is a great way to get the family having a few laughs and for mum and dad to reminisce about their school days.

15 – WATER BOMB FIGHT

Boy hit with water balloon while playing a game

Fill up some water balloons and have a water bomb fight in the garden! This is such a fun activity for hot summer days. Be sure to have plenty of towels on hand for afterwards though!

If you want to avoid the mess, use reusable water balloons instead or get out the supersoakers!

16 – NERF WAR

This is another great activity for the backyard! Organise a family nerf war in the garden or around the house. This is bound to be a hit with kids (and adults) of all ages.

17 – BUILD A FORT

Get creative and build your own fort together using sheets, chairs, tables and any other furniture you can find! It’s the perfect activity for rainy days. Once you’ve built your fort, you can climb inside and read books by torchlight or tell spooky stories!

18 – MAKE A TIME CAPSULE

Get the entire family to gather items that are special to them or that represent their interests. It could be photos, tickets, letters, drawings, clothes – anything! Once you’ve gathered everything, put it all in a box and bury it in the garden (or hide it away somewhere in the house).

Make a plan for how long to wait until you open it together.

School break activity planner banner

19 – INDOOR TREASURE HUNT

A scavenger hunt is a great activity to do on a rainy day! Hide small treasures around the house and give the kids clues to help them find them. Or set up a complete scavenger hunt to lead them from one spot to the next.

You could even make it a competition to see who can find the most treasures! Being stuck at home doesn’t need to ruin your chance to enjoy time together.

20 – BACKYARD CAMPING

Pitch a tent in the backyard and spend the night camping out! You can make s’mores over the fire, tell stories and look at the stars. It’s a great way to bond as a family and create lasting memories.

Don’t want to pitch the tent? Try indoor camping instead, with everyone staying in the living room for the night.

21 – I SPY

While I Spy might be a fun road trip game, it can just as easily be played in your house with the family! Take turns being the “spy” and giving clues about an object in the room. The other players have to guess what object it is that you’re thinking of.

You can also check out some of these fun party games or balloon games to try together with your family members.

22 – HAVE A DANCE PARTY

Boy and girl dressed up for karaoke party

Take turns putting on your favourite songs that make you want to dance and have a family dance party in the living room! This is a great way to get everyone moving and feeling good!

23 – DO A SIMPLE SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

There are plenty of simple science experiments that you can do at home with the kids! It’s a great way to teach them about the world around them and have some fun at the same time.

Many simple experiments use items from your pantry such as baking soda and vinegar. Do your research and print off some ideas before your family activity time so you don’t have to jump back on the computer.

24 – MAKE HOMEMADE PIZZA

Get everyone involved in making homemade pizzas for dinner! Let everyone choose their own toppings and have fun making (and eating!) your pizzas together.

25 – MAKE A FAMILY PHOTO ALBUM & SCRAPBOOK

This is a great activity for getting everyone to reminisce about past family vacations, holidays and special occasions.

Go through old photos and put them into an album or create your own family scrapbook with cute embellishments and captions.

26 – CARD GAMES

Playing games together as a family is a great way to have some quality time and have a little friendly competition. There are endless possibilities when it comes to card games – Crazy 8s, snap, go fish, gin rummy, etc.

MORE SCREEN-FREE ACTIVITY IDEAS FOR FAMILIES

In case you want even more inspiration for fun screen-free activities to do at home with the family, here are a few more ideas for you:

  • Roast marshmallows over a firepit
  • Decorate T-shirts
  • Use sidewalk chalk to decorate your pavement
  • Have a home spa day
  • Hide and seek
  • Write letters to extended family and friends
  • Paint rocks
  • Play dress ups
  • Blow bubbles
  • Bake cookies
  • Play charades
  • kite flying
  • Make homemade ice cream
  • Play tic tac toe or hangman

Those are just a few ideas for tech-free family activities for home that you can have so that you don’t need to go anywhere or spend a lot to have great memories with your kids! Home is where the heart is and it can be the place of many adventures too!! And technology is not necessary… which is an important lesson for the kiddos!

What are your favourite screen free activities to do as a family?

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Toby

Friday 6th of July 2018

Great list - thanks for sharing #6 would probably be the next upcoming outing for the fam.

Sharon

Wednesday 21st of March 2018

Thanks for the 12 great ideas.

Even better when they are simplistic, and anyone can be part of the fun.

Great work.

Cheers Sharon...

Anne

Wednesday 13th of September 2017

Hello,

I love all your ideas. I have a teen who is never off her phone and I would like to spend some quality time withe her. Cooking with her seems a nice way to start and I will surely try solving puzzles with her and see how it goes.

Tanks a lot.

Rebecca

Sunday 30th of July 2017

Ask if it's ok to eat your lunch during the interview! I actually had someone do that, while I was interviewing them! They said they had an important meeting to get back to, so there was no time to squeeze in lunch!

Florence

Friday 28th of July 2017

Well I believe dining with cannibals must be very dangerous as they may be thinking how delicious you are lol

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