30 Easy Parent-Child Activities to Strengthen Your Bond
The time we have with our babies and children flies by so fast. We know how important it is to cherish the early years and enjoy quality time and activities with our kids. And when you add the daily juggle of other commitments to the mix, along comes a strong dose of parental guilt.
Finding time to do it all can be a challenge, but it is possible to have lots of little bonding moments together sprinkled throughout your day-to-day to strengthen your relationship.
The Importance of Strengthening Your Bond with Your Kids
Human connection is key for positive mental health and wellbeing, and bonding with your child triggers the release of the ‘love hormone’, oxytocin. Which in turn helps with relaxation and can reduce feelings of stress and anxiety in parents and children. The importance of bonding with your baby is well-documented, and maintaining that bond/relationship helps with your child’s development and mental wellbeing.
What Kind of Activities Help Child Development?
Anything that involves play is the best way to help your child develop and learn. As well as growing self-worth, play helps with improved concentration, social interactions, and emotional intelligence. Things like make-believe are perfect for developing their imagination and creativity, and you don’t have to spend hours playing mummies and daddies to fuel their brains.
The following are a combination of quick play-time ideas and other easy parent-child/family bonding activities. Just adding a few of these into your week will help your child on their way to being a happy, confident, and grounded individual, and create a solid bond for life.
30 Parent-Child Bonding Activities to Do with Your Toddler or Pre-schooler
1. Hairdressers
As touched on above, affection and caring for your little one can boost oxytocin, so playing with each other’s hair is a great bonding activity. Although if your child’s hair handling skills are not so gentle, perhaps skip to activity 3 instead.
2. Sensory Play
From playdough to sand and water fun, sensory play is a great way to relax together, allowing you both to focus your minds on the activity in hand.
3. Paint Each Other’s Nails (Yes dads – you too!)
Painting is therapeutic and giving each other a mini manicure adds touch and affection to your time together. Plus, kids love getting creative. Use children’s nail polish and you can discreetly peel it off after the event if the finish isn’t the best! (Or maybe just do their nails if you’ve already had yours done).
4. Storytime
Just 10 minutes of reading a story or two and having a cuddle can be enough to give your child the attention they crave. After this point they may be happy enough to play independently so you can get on with something else.
5. Song-Time and Nursery Rhymes
As Cat Bateman from Little Folk Nursery Rhymes says, “... [research shows] that singing stimulates endorphins ... [and] babies can develop many of their skills: language, social & numeracy.”
Cat says it’s also great for maternal mental health, too: “I see first-hand how it supports the gorgeous bond between babies and their parents ... in many cases, mothers have passed on to me how it really gave them a lift when they were struggling with PND.”
If you just want some background noise or need help with lyrics, YouTube and Netflix have plenty of popular and classic nursery rhymes.
6. Consistent Bedtime Routine
A regular warm bath, a cuddle and story routine at the same time each night can be a great way to reconnect with your little family after a gruelling day. For me, the bedtime routine always used to feel like a chore. After a tiring day, I longed for some quiet time, and I found myself rushing and becoming impatient. Until I switched my mindset to one of gratitude.
As a working mum the bedtime routine is my daily chance to connect with my children. I now see it as my opportunity to have quality time with them, while they still need me. It won't be long before that routine disappears.
7. Get Puzzling
Bring your problem-solving skills and work with your little one to solve a jigsaw puzzle for some fun parent-child bonding. Go for an easy 50-piece or spend 15 minutes a day together on a larger project.
8. Let’s Play Pretend
Help fuel their imagination and let them lead with some role-play. See where the land of make-believe takes you for a delightful way to see the world through their eyes.
9. Get Creative
Painting, colouring, sticky craft, and anything which encourages creativity provides an excellent way to be in the moment together. As well as enjoying each other’s company, crafting is a form of therapy and promotes mindfulness.
10. Little Helper
Encourage your little one to help with small chores if they want to. While it might not lighten much of the load, working as a team can be great for bonding. Some things they could get involved with include washing up, watering plants, sorting washing, or dead-heading flowers from the garden.
11. Get Building
Crack open the Lego or Duplo and construct a little house, or a garage, or whatever creation your imagination can come up with together.
12. Have a Dance Party
Close the curtains, turn off the lights and get out the disco ball if you have one. Pop on some favourite tunes and have a little dance around the living room together to release some mood-boosting endorphins.
13. Go Stargazing
On a clear night, sit out with some blankets and a warm drink and see how many stars you can spot together.
14. Pack up a Picnic
The simple things are life’s little pleasures. Throw some food in a bag, grab a blanket, and go out for lunch in your local park. Raining? Try a car boot picnic, you’ll all love it.
15. Camp Out
Camping in a tent is a fun and adventurous activity. If you can’t stretch to a camping trip, consider putting up a little tent in the garden. No garden? Have a camp out in the living room at the weekend with marshmallows and a movie!
Want something a little more luxury? Contact a sleepover company to come and do the setting up and taking down for you — the perfect treat for a birthday or special occasion.
16. Bedtime Cuddles
Back to that happy hormone again, cuddles release oxytocin and make you feel good. Spend just a few minutes more at bedtime having a good hug before saying goodnight.
17. Acts of Kindness
Something as simple as making a card or writing a letter for a grandparent, aunt or neighbour can be a great way to reconnect and do something to make someone smile. Other ideas might include baking a cake or sending a care package. Any act of kindness can help reduce stress and boost optimism, so it’s a win-win.
18. Park Fun
Take them to the park, spin them on the roundabout, and release your own inner child with a stint on the swings.
19. Surprise Treats
Bring a small toy or a little treat for a nice surprise when you pick them up from nursery or the childminders.
20. Visit the Library
Libraries are an excellent way to encourage your little one’s love of books and reading. With so many books to choose from, you can spend 10 minutes browsing and reading one together before taking your selection home to enjoy together.
21. Go On an Adventure
Try walking somewhere different; across a field you’ve not walked over before or visit some nearby woods and discover some new places together. Wiki Places For Kids is a great resource for finding somewhere new to go; it’s packed full of recommendations and reviews by parents all over the country.
22. Hide and Seek
Play a 10-minute game of hide-and-seek for some childish giggles and fun.
23. Have a Movie Night
Close the curtains, turn off the lights and snuggle under the blanket with some popcorn for a classic movie night together. Make it memorable by creating a big sign for the door together, plus home-made tickets for family entry to the cinema room.
24. Kick a Ball About
Combine fun with exercise and release some more of those happy hormones when you engage in active play together.
25. Play Catch
Give their hand-eye coordination a boost with a fun game of catch and throw.
26. Build a Fort
What’s more fun than building an indoor den? Just grab some sheets, some pegs, and something to hang it from, then throw down some cushions and blankets for you to enjoy some cuddles and stories or songs together.
27. Look at Old Photos
Looking at your memories together is a great bonding exercise, remembering the fun times you’ve already had as well as stimulating ideas for more.
28. Have Pancakes for Dinner!
Throw convention out the window and have pancakes for dinner with fruit and honey for an added boost of nutrition. Blueberries, bananas, strawberries, and raspberries all go down well.
29. Carpet Picnic with Teddies
Go rogue for lunch and get down on the living room floor with a plateful of sandwiches, cucumber, and mini rolls. Invite the teddies for a proper party.
30. Go Nature-Spotting
Being in nature is good for positive mental health and wellbeing. Make it fun by taking a list of birds, insects, and plants to look out for together.
The Parent-Child Bonding Feel-Good Factor
These parent-child bonding activities are easy enough to slot into your day-to-day lives and spending precious quality time together will make you feel good. Connecting with your child is a really great way to be present in the moment, and can improve your mental wellbeing, too. For additional ideas on ways to relax with your little one, check out our post Wind Down Together: Calming Activities for Parents and Toddlers.
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