150+ Family Bonding Activities That Promote Connection Over Consumerism

Many parents involved in the sustainable community think about family bonding activities. How can we connect with our kids while living according to our earth-friendly values, like teaching low consumerism, care of the earth, or healthy habits?
Okay, but here's the disclaimer: While we may think it's important to instill eco-consciousness in our children, it's even more important to wholeheartedly support our children's interests, facilitating for them, and getting involved in their lives.
Because NOTHING is more sustainable than strong family connections, having fun with one another, and making choices together that make the whole family feel good. And when that happens instilling values comes naturally. Your kids are more likely to listen to you share those values if you've been spending ample time listening to what matters most to them.
Sometimes we might feel disconnected from one another, or stuck in a rut. Maybe your family bonding activities don't feel all that bonding, or aren't even enjoyed by the whole family. Maybe they are too expensive or put too much focus on "stuff" versus connection.
That's why we created this list with our son of fun, inexpensive, and even eco-friendly family bonding activities that we wanted to share with you. (Not all of it is exactly eco-friendly, mind you. Our first priority is strong relationships. Value-instilling comes after that.)
Use it as inspiration, to try new things, or get yourself thinking outside the box, to find what your family might love to do.
Our Favorite Family Bonding Activities
One of the coolest parts of most of these family bonding activities are all the conversations that can come from them. We've discussed politics, religion, civil rights, social activism, environmentalism, human nature...you name it, just from creating open spaces in our day to play and connect. TIP: Do NOT try to create or force these conversations. Just allow them to come up and go with the flow!
- Declare it a "Playing Hookie" day from anything school- or work-related
- Hike your nearby national and state parks or trails
- Read together
- Storytell while you drive
- Start round robin storytelling - take turns adding to the story!
- Learn to juggle! - This is a family favorite!
- Fish for your dinner
- Hula hoop - you can make your own hoops from scrap tubing
- Make a timeline up the stairs of your favorite years
- Backyard bird watch - find a used birding book on www.freecycle.com
- Play video games together
- Search out a local hot or cold spring to explore
- Get cooperative board games - find them for free or cheap at yard sales or Craigslist
- Invite them to help you make your own board game!
- Play card games - we love Uno!
- Instill the family dinner each night!
- Make dinner together
- Turn the radio off, so you can talk while you drive
- Start movie marathons - We like to play critic afterwards
- Compare movies to their books and find the differences
- Search Groupon for local activities
- Bike ride
- Watch funny videos together on YouTube
- Create recipes together
- Tag, hide-and-go-seek or Sardines, especially fun in large groups!
- Build and fly a kite
- Take cookies to a nursing home
- Organize a neighborhood cleanup
- Make a sincere offer to help them with chores or tasks
- Walk the dog (or cat!) together or go to the dog park
- Make meals for the homeless
- Play charades
- Build a solar oven from a box and aluminum foil
- Plant sunflower seeds and chart their growth
- Build an indoor fort
- Make a compost pile and look for worms
- Build a tree house
- Build a bike ramp
- Go to a pick-your-own farm
- Visit animals at the shelter
- Volunteer time at a nearby organic farm
- Prank call easy-going friends and family
- Make a tree swing
- Make bow and arrows from found objects
- Play 20 Questions
- Play I Spy
- Paint fun things on the walls in washable paints
- Play catch
- Throw a frisbee
- Start a lemonade stand
- Plant a veggie garden
- Go caroling together
- Check out the activity calendar at your local community center
- Show interest in and ask genuine questions of their interests
- Take a short road trip to nearby sights
- Organize a car wash
- Learn an instrument together
- Go indoor rock climbing
- Go to a game tournament together
- Make homemade toys together
- Plop down with snacks and hang out with them in front of the TV
- Make natural bird feeders from nutbutters, seeds and pinecones
- Play blindfold Pictionary games
- Find local concerts or movies in the park
- Build a snowman
- Build a snow fort
- Go ice skating
- Help them to drive down a dirt road or in an empty parking lot
- Learn to ski or snowboard together
- Plan Random Acts fo Kindness together
- Organize a neighborhood snowball fight
- Hold an ethnic food sampling night
- Hold an ethnic candy sampling night
- Schedule an at-home Spa Night
- Ask them what they'd love to do together, then do it
- Play dress-up complete with crazy makeup
- Face paint each other's faces
- Try to guess the stories of people you see
- Play Rock, Paper, Scissor or Thumb Wars
- Teach them to play poker with nuts, popcorn and other snacks
- Head to the roller rink
- Ask them to teach you something they are good at, then stick to learning it from them
- Create paper airplanes then see which one flies the best
- Create a time capsule together
- Check your local museums or galleries for family free days
- Plan a camping trip
- Make it a habit to always ask how their day way or what was their favorite part
- Start a vacation fund and brainstorm fundraising ideas
- Make sock puppets and put on a puppet show
- Leave gifts at your neighbor's doorstep and hide to watch their response
- Get involved in local marches and political campaigns
- Drive out to the country and look for constellations
- Plan to catch the next meteor shower
- Find a local foraging book and forage for wild food
- Leave your work at work
- Make funny home videos or stop motion videos to share
- Build a website together
- Make Christmas tree ornaments and talk about traditions
- Plan breakfast in bed for the whole family to share
- Geocache or treasure map together!
- Learn magic tricks
- Invite them to jump on the trampoline
- Have a picnic in the park or even in the living room
- Start a pillow fight
- Build sand castles
- Build fairy or gnome houses out of wood, leaves acorns, etc
- Create a scavenger hunt
- Make mazes on paper or out of rocks outside
- Create a meditation spiral together
- Setup a puzzle on the table
- Google and play Zahada together
- Go to the zoo
- Make a trip to the library and talk about borrowing versus buying
- Scavenge a thrift store or antique store together
- Start a scrapbook of your family bonding activities!
- Fingerpaint with soap paints on the windows
- Make homemade play dough
- Write letters or postcards
- Find a fun science experiment book to try
- Create a "Story of My Life" scrapbook
- Go tide pooling or snorkeling
- Create an obstacle course
- Roast marshmallows (over a beeswax candle!)
- Have a Dance-Off and record it
- Surprise them with a water balloon fight
- Write your own list of your favorite family bonding activities!
- Start a foam dart gun fight
- Dress up and visit your local Ren Faire
- Organize a fancy tea party
- Read comic books then watch the movies
- Make your own comic books
- Make soap bubbles, then find different objects to use as bubble wands
- Have an epic Harry Potter wand fight
- Tell ghost stories in the dark
- Build LEGO together
- Start a water gun fight
- Build a rocket, or a water rocket
- Mix Mentos and diet soda (don't tell them what's gonna happen!)
- Send a message in a bottle
- Share your family bonding activities with friends for group fun
- Collect beach glass and make a mosaic
- Whittle utensils, toys etc from found wood
- Make and decorate gingerbread houses
- Carve pumpkins together
- Hit up the grocery store together and chat about why you choose organic foods
- "Adopt" a wild animal through your favorite wildlife foundation
- Count the satellites that pass in the night sky and talk about space
- Bake and decorate a cake
- Raise backyard chickens or goats as pets
- Start an ant farm
- Invest in a rock tumbler
- Hatch and release butterflies or praying mantis
- Start a new sustainable hobby, like organic soap- or candle-making
- Make holiday and birthday gifts for one another and other friends and family
- Share your favorite music
- Play with the family pet, or teach them new tricks together
- Race and dodge the waves on the beach
- Go sledding
- Bob for apples
- Check out Earth Day Crafts and Earth Day Activities
- Start a Nature journal for sketches, flower pressing, etc
- Discover the endless opportunities of sidewalk chalk
- Take your kids on an official date, get dressed up, and enjoy their company!

Obviously this is just to get you started!
And again, the most important aspect of all family bonding activities is that it's not forced and it's something everyone is interested in trying.
If you're kids don't seem interested, that's okay! Just hang out with them doing what they love, whether it's TV (try muting during the commercials and discusing the show) or video games (learn how to play) or their favorite game or toy (follow their lead in how to play).
