Unplugged Family Time: 10 Screen-Free Activities to Try
The most important thing you can do is spend time with your family. While screens can be nice for some collaborative activities, they often distract from the moment. Here are some ideas for the next time you want to spend time with your family screen free.
Screen Free Activities for Family Time
Indulge in Art
Does your household have more fun painting on canvases or would they rather make up songs? Perhaps they enjoy writing stories or taking pictures. Participating in artistic activities can build a child’s self-esteem, which is crucial to their growth and well-being. Always encourage your family when they show you their creative endeavors. You never know just how important it could be to them or what it might encourage them to pursue in the future.
Dance Together
If you want to learn a choreographed dance, you’ll need a screen for a tutorial. However, a dance party doesn’t have to be formal. You can bust out whatever moves you can think of and move to your family’s favorite songs. If you don’t know what kind of music to play, just search for an upbeat playlist your kids will enjoy. You’ll get in an excellent workout while having fun together.
Complete a Puzzle
This activity can teach your kids about patience and delayed gratification, and how both can be worthwhile. Jigsaw puzzles can guide you through problem-solving skills and hone your hand-eye coordination, making them a well-rounded activity that can benefit everyone in your family in small and large ways.
Try a Scavenger Hunt
Let your kids discover the world around them and make fun scientific discoveries in the backyard. If they’re young enough, try implementing some educational opportunities in this activity. For example, when they find a cocoon, you can explain the butterfly’s life cycle. It can be a fun experience where they store up new knowledge about their environment. Be sure to print this free nature scavenger hunt to use!
Set a Challenge
One fun game — if you see it as one — might be to see who can go the longest without checking their phone. About 76% of people check their email on vacation, unable to enjoy the moment fully. You can encourage your family to refrain from checking their devices for a while by rewarding the person who goes the longest without touching one. Make sure you’re working on a fun activity together!
Do Chores Together
Find a few tasks everyone can do independently or one large one you can work on together. From there, you can make the activity fun — add music to the background or encourage your family members to race to see who does the best job in the least amount of time. Even cleaning can be a fun time full of jokes when you’re together. You can print these free printable chore charts to help.
Work on an Album Together
Have your kids ever looked through old photo albums with you? While it’s great to have a digital backup in case you lose the hard copies, nothing can compare to flipping through an album.
Try to build a new album that represents your family with any photos lying around, whether from a vacation, a school year or overall. Just ensure you’re still living in the moment, as taking pictures can distract from the memory-making process. Snapping just enough images to fill up an album ensures you have plenty of time to form memories.
Read a Book Aloud
Select a few books for your family to choose from and read through them each night. It can be a bedtime story or you might read together in the evenings after dinner. While it’s not your entire family directly reading the book, it ensures you all get to know the story and you can challenge your kids to think critically by asking them about it. Check out this list of classic books for some ideas.
Play Board Games
Bring everyone in your household together by picking out a game they can enjoy. One study noted playing board games might lead to a 15% lessened risk of developing dementia. If your family can’t agree on just one game, you can schedule game nights to rotate through all the board and card games you own. You can see some of our favorites for family game night right here.
Build a Fort
Forts are temporary, but the memories you make while in them can last a lifetime. Use every cushion, pillow and blanket you can to make your family fort luxurious. Then, you can sit inside and read books, tell stories or talk. Transforming your living room for a day can delight your kids and encourage you to spend time problem-solving instead of watching a screen.
Screen-Free Time Doesn’t Have to Be Boring
Some people think committing to designated time without screens can be boring. However, as long as you bring creativity to it, your family may have much more fun. Try one of these activities to feel closer to your family without a screen.
About the Author
Cora Gold is a parenting blogger and the editor of women’s lifestyle magazine, Revivalist. Connect with Cora on LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter.
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