Free tool · Family time
The family activity jar
Choose ages, indoors or outdoors and how much time you have. Pull an idea from the jar, or print the slips and make a real jar for the kitchen.
Cut-out activity slips
- Build a blanket fort and read inside it
- Family dance party: everyone picks a song
- Bake a simple batch of cookies
- Indoor treasure hunt with picture clues
- Paper plane contest: whose flies furthest?
- Make a puppet show from socks
- Play a card game together
- Draw a family portrait, everyone draws everyone
- Have an indoor picnic on the floor
- Build the tallest tower you can from cups or blocks
- Make homemade pizza for dinner
- Movie night with homemade tickets and popcorn
- Write and post a letter to a relative
- Do a jigsaw puzzle as a team
- Family talent show
- Learn a magic trick and perform it
- Make playdough from flour, salt and water
- Hopscotch with painter’s tape on the floor
- Nature walk: collect five different leaves
- Bike or scooter ride around the neighborhood
- Visit a playground you have never been to
- Picnic in the park
- Library trip: everyone picks a book for someone else
- Chalk drawings on the pavement
- Puddle walk in wellies and raincoats
- Cloud spotting on a blanket
- Backyard obstacle course
- Plant seeds in a pot or the garden
- Fly a kite or make one
- Day trip to a museum or farm
- Swimming at the local pool
- Star gazing after dark with a flashlight
- Bird watching: count how many kinds you see
- Walk to get a treat from a local bakery
- Family board game tournament
- Build a cardboard box city
The Family Blueprint · Family activity jar
How to make a family activity jar that actually gets used.
Guide + printables · 50% off right now
Raising Capable Kids
Chores, money and life skills by age, from 3 to 18: a four-step way to teach any skill without nagging, five age stages with checklists, the 60-skill launch list, and printable charts, ledgers and jar labels.
- 41page guide
- 5age stages
- 16fillable printables
Not ready yet? Start with the free chores by age chart ↗
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