50 fun family activities to do when you’ve only got 15 minutes
Carving out time to play with our kids can sometimes be difficult. Between work, school, errands, housework, homework, and activities, carving out time to get active with our kids can be a challenge!
But even just 15 minutes of shared time can be meaningful—and counts toward the daily physical activity that both we and our kids need. Choose an option from our list of fun family activities below and your kids will enjoy every minute spent together.
Indoor family activities
1. Go Fish
This fun and easy card game is a great go-to for the whole family. Review the rules below, deal up the cards, and get fishing!
2. Paper planes
Make planes and see whose can fly the furthest. Or choose an object to throw your plane at and see who can get their plane the closest to it. For creating your plane, use a simple design, like the one in the video below, or go as elaborate as you like!
3. Board games
There are lots of great, active board games that don’t take long to play! Try Happy Salmon or Twister.
4. “Snowball” fight
Use crumpled-up pieces of paper or balled-up socks to keep your floors dry from the real deal! (Smooth out the paper afterwards and use it for drawing or painting.)
5. Look through family albums
Sharing family photos gives kids a sense of belonging, and it’s a great opportunity for telling family stories.
6. Waddle drop
Place small stuffed animals between your legs and shuffle like a penguin from one spot to another to drop the stuffie. Make this a race between family members!
7. Book balance races
Place lightweight books on top of everyone’s head and have them walk from one spot to another. Whoever gets there fastest, without the book tumbling off, wins!
8. “Potato sack” race
Use pillow cases (or actual potato sacks if you have them!) and jump from one end of a room or hall to the other.
9. Keep a balloon up while…
Come up with different challenges to do between hitting a balloon into the air and hitting it again before it hits the ground. Can you hit the balloon up while you run around a chair? Can you keep it in the air while you do three jumping jacks? Call out each challenge before your child launches their balloon.
10. Balloon tennis
Use a coffee table as a net or or use painter’s tape to hang a string in a wide doorway. Use ping-pong rackets, your hands, or fly swatters to hit the balloon back and forth.
11. Monster chase
Kids love being chased by a pretend monster. Roar, growl, and chase your child around your space at a speed that will juuuust let them outrun you. But if you do happen to catch them, throw in a tickle or hug!
12. Charades
Come up with ideas on the spot or use a charades word generator.
13. Alphabet scavenger hunt
Can you find an item starting with every letter of the alphabet? “Q” might seem like a challenge but hopefully you have a quarter, some quinoa, a Q-tip, or a queen playing card around!
14. Playdough
Sit with your child and roll, cut, build, squish, and create together.
15. Yoga
You and your child can use yoga cards to choose poses to develop your strength, flexibility, and balance while building your mental focus and releasing stress.
15. Hand-clapping games
Pat-A-Cake, Miss Mary Mack, or the ABC Clapping Game are always fun!
17. Read together
Find a cozy spot to cuddle with your child and enjoy picture books or a chapter or two of their current book. Here are some great options for kids of all ages—from toddlers to teens.
18. Concentration 64
This is a hilarious, fast-paced rhythmic game. Hesitate too long, repeat a word already said, or use a word that doesn’t fit the category and you’re out.
19. Collab art
This is a great game to play if you’ve got multiple children. Give each participant a piece of paper and a set of pencil crayons or markers. Set a timer for 30 seconds and have each person draw whatever they’d like. When 30 seconds is over, pass the paper to the person to the right, who then continues the drawing. Keep the paper going back and forth as many times as you’d like and see how the art has changed.
20. Blocks
How high can you build a tower together with wooden blocks or Lego?
21. Dance party
Put on your child’s favourite song and get all your sillies out with some good old dance moves. Dance freestyle or take turns doing funny moves that everyone must copy.
22. The mirror game
Stand face to face with your child and decide who will be the first leader in the game. The leader must do an action that the mirror (the other player) must imitate. Actions can include waving arms slowly, hopping on one foot, or making a silly face. This activity develops balance and coordination.
23. Build a fort
Drape blankets and sheets over chairs and place pillows on the floor to make a cozy spot to snuggle together or to hide out.
24. Puppet show
Use stuffies to put on a show based on a book your kids have read or make up a story as you go along!
25. Chopstick race
This is a fun coordination and dexterity game. Give each player two bowls and one set of chopsticks. One of the bowls will be empty and one filled with items such as cotton balls or marshmallows. Place the two bowls far apart from each other. The goal is to move all the items from the full bowl to the empty one using only the chopsticks. No fingers allowed! The first person to move all of their items to the second bowl wins.
Outdoor family activities
These activities will be easiest to fit into 15 minutes if you’ve got a driveway, a yard, or a sidewalk right in front of your house!
1. Ball duck
Take turns bouncing a playground ball as high as you can and running under it before it comes down and hits you!
2. Paint the fence
If you’ve got a backyard, head outside with a bucket of water and a couple paint brushes. Work together to “paint” designs on your fence or a wall. You could make it a speed challenge: Who can paint the most beautiful flower (or animal or tree) in 10 or 15 minutes?
3. Hopscotch
Use sidewalk chalk to make a grid and go over the rules if you need a refresher.
4. What’s under that rock?
Slip on some gardening gloves to avoid scratches and turn over rocks in your yard. Can you find worms? Slugs? Beetles? Moss?
5. Hula hoop tummy run
Place a hula hoop between two people with the hoop on their stomachs and no hands touching it. Run from one designated spot to another keeping close enough to each other to keep the hoop from falling down.
6. Cloud watch
Lie on a blanket together on the ground and see what shapes you can find in the clouds. Does one cloud look like a dinosaur? Does one look like a tree or a duck?
7. Target kicks
Use sidewalk chalk or painter’s tape to create a target on a wall or fence. Take turns kicking a soccer or playground ball and try to hit the target as many times as you can.
8. Frisbee
Throw a frisbee between you and your child or use one frisbee each and try to hit a target such as a hula hoop hanging from a tree or a cone set up on the grass or on a table.
9. Nature rubbings
Using pieces of nature from your yard, such as leaves or bark, put the pieces under a thin piece of white paper and use a crayon to rub over the top of them.
10. Bubble blowing
Can you and your child fill your whole yard with a bubble storm?
11. I Spy
Take turns guessing what the “spier” is spying! Use clues such as, “I spy something red,” or “I spy something that begins with the letter D.” Between natural items, lawn furniture, cars, street signs, and more, you’ll find plenty of things to spy!
12. Water the plants
Fill a watering can or a glass and together you can give your plants a drink. Show your child which plants need water based on dry soil or droopy leaves.
13. Captain’s Coming
This fun nautical game will have your kids running and performing multiple actions while being members of a ship’s crew!
14. Beach ball volley
Volley a beach ball back and forth.
15. Sidewalk chalk
There are so many activities to do with sidewalk chalk. If you have 15 minutes, make a maze to walk through or draw a fantastic piece of art.
16. Rock, paper, scissors race
Review the rules of the game and have two players begin at one starting spot. As one player wins a round, they get to take a step toward the finish line. The first player to get to the finish line wins.
17. Spray bottle clean-up
Line up your favourite toy cars or your favourite (water-safe) toys and use a spray bottle to give them a refreshing shower.
18. Down, Down, Down
This Australian game will have everyone laughing. Toss a tennis ball between two people. If someone drops the ball, they have to go down to one knee to try to catch the ball. Drop it again? Go down to two knees. After? Down to one elbow, then two elbows. If you then drop it, you’re on your tummy, then you’re out!
19. Bucket target
Place a bucket at a short distance from a starting point. Throw a beanbag or ball into the bucket. Once you’ve managed to get it into the bucket, move the bucket further out from your starting point and try again. Mix in some trick shots to make it even more fun. Try to throw with your non-dominant hand or see if you can throw the ball in the bucket while standing backwards.
20. Sensory nature scavenger hunt
Send your kids out into the yard or onto the street to look for items with different textures: textured objects like pinecones or tree bark, smooth items like leaves or pebbles, or rough or sharp items like rocks or thistle. Can they feel the sun warming their skin or the snow cooling it? Can they hear birds or crickets? Here’s a printable that can accompany their nature scavenger hunt.
21. Snake in the Grass
Have one or two people hold a long jump rope on the ground and wiggle it like a slithery snake. One player then tries to jump over the “snake” without it touching them.
22. Parachute popcorn
Use a small parachute for two players or a larger one for more. Place some light balls or stuffies in the middle of the parachute, have each player hold the parachute with two hands and try to “pop” the items in the middle up and down, or even off the surface!
23. Sticky wall nature art
Use painter’s tape to stick a large piece of contact paper to a fence or wall. Contact paper is clear and sticky on the outside and smooth on the inside, so it won’t cause damage to your wall or fence. Once the paper is up, find items close at hand such as leaves, petals, or twigs that can be stuck to the paper for instant nature art!
24. Badminton
Pull out rackets and shuttlecocks and play a leisurely (or competitive) game of badminton. No need for a net. Simply rally with the shuttlecock to see how long you can keep it in the air.
25. Tag
It’s a classic for a reason. There are so many versions of tag to play with your kids. If there are two people playing, shadow tag is a great choice. Have one player be it. Their mission is to tag the shadow of the other player.
