Are you and your family struggling to spend some quality time together? If so, you are not alone. It is only natural to get swept up with work, studies, and tight deadlines; so much so that it becomes difficult to manage your most important relationships.
After all, having a strong familial bond and sustaining a meaningful relationship with your family are great ways to gain a reliable and trustworthy support system. In fact, a Harvard study suggests that healthy relationships, such as those with family members, help to build better emotional, physical, and mental health.
So if you have managed to free up your schedule for the weekend and are contemplating ways to spend a good, fun-filled, and exciting weekend together, look no further! We have rounded up some exciting ideas to help you get in some much-needed family time.
Puzzle Your Way Through The Day
Photo by Fabian Kühne on Unsplash
Solving a puzzle is an age-old family activity to spend a good, joyful time together. Fun jigsaw puzzles for adults or younger people are a great way to bond and chat while indulging in an activity that has you feeling accomplished and fulfilled in the end.
Jigsaw puzzles are not only a great way to have a good time, but help improve overall cognition and spatial reasoning, increase concentration, and boost productivity. So if you or your family members have had a tough, exhausting week, our suggestion would be to huddle around your dining table or living room coffee table and start putting the pieces together.
If you want a little bit of a challenge, get a couple of jigsaw puzzles, divide your family into two groups, and have a friendly competition. The loser gets to wash the dishes after dinner!
Get Creative
A great way to showcase creativity and de-stress simultaneously is by dabbling in art. Even if you and your family aren’t that great at it, it’s alright. The whole idea is to stir up conversation, express yourself, and do something that you wouldn’t otherwise have done on your own.
This is an opportunity to make wholesome memories, take pictures, make videos, or even discover hidden talents. Maybe you or your family members end up creating something truly magical and hang it up as a piece of wall art in your home.
Have A Healthy Sports Competition
Photo by Richard R. Schünemann on Unsplash
Nothing says a good family time like playing some sports. From frisbee on the beach to basketball in the local courtyard, to baseball, soccer or cricket in your backyard, playing sports is an excellent way to exercise both the mind and body, and truly connect with your family.
Some family members may get competitive but that’s part of the fun and excitement. Just keep your first aid kit handy in case someone needs a quick band-aid.
Plan A Game Night
If you and your family plan to spend your weekend indoors, ask everyone to get their favorite board game and have a game night marathon.
From board games such as scrabble, sequence, and monopoly to card games such as crazy eight, poker, or Uno, playing games will help you and your family spend a good, chill time together.
Scrabble is a great game to help you exercise your brain, as it requires strategizing and uses word knowledge. Each person takes seven letter tiles and then tries to form the highest-scoring words on the scrabble board before their turn ends. If you are stuck and don’t know what next word to form, https://scrabble–word–finder.com/ is a great tool that can help you out with various words and their scores. With this tool, you can enter your tiles and get all possible answers for the best score possible in moments!
You can also play Charades, Pictionary, or app-based games such as Heads Up! Our advice would be to put on good music and prepare some snacks for a great family game night weekend.
Connect With Nature
Photo by Toomas Tartes on Unsplash
You can also take your weekend outdoors and engage with nature. If you have a yard that needs maintenance, consider gardening with your family. Gardening has loads of health benefits and is a sustainable and eco-friendly way to spend quality family time.
Other suggestions include going on a one-day hiking or camping trip. This is a fantastic opportunity to explore different places and even get some exercise. While camping, you can set up a fire, roast some marshmallows, and exchange scary stories for a quintessential camping experience.
Take A Trip
A weekend means that you won’t have time for an extended vacation, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go exploring nearby cities on a family road trip.
We suggest waking up early in the morning, packing some food and drinks for the road, and heading out to your destination. You don’t even have to go very far; what matters is that you and your family visit a place that none of you have been to before, and explore the quirky joints, the famous eating places, or even the local museum.
You can also take a trip to a beach or book a day at an inexpensive resort that caters to family activities. This will allow you to get out of your usual routine and help you unwind, connect, and appreciate the importance of familial bonds.
Make A Time Capsule
For an intimate yet exciting activity, we suggest creating a time capsule. It could be any sturdy container that will have objects of sentimental value. Ask each family member to contribute something to the time capsule, and bury it in a secret spot that only you and your family know about. You can even write letters to your future self and preserve it in the time capsule.
After a few years, gather all your family members and take a trip down memory lane by opening up the time capsule. You will be surprised by the flood of nostalgia and emotions when you recall and reminisce about the day you made it.
Learn Something New
Photo by Nadya Spetnitskaya on Unsplash
A weekend is a great time to learn something new and exciting. Consider booking a pasta or bread making workshop for the whole family. If you and your family have a sweet tooth, purchase an ice cream making machine and experiment with different flavors.
You can also watch YouTube tutorials to learn how to make origami or do a DIY project to fix something around the house. Depending on personal preferences, the possibilities are endless.
Parting Thoughts
We hope you are now pumped up to plan a weekend holiday for you and your family. Our suggestion would be to go with the flow and allow for positive, healthy conversations in order to connect and bond with your family.
Last but not least, remember to take lots of pictures and make small videos so that you can always remember the good times spent together. You may even want to take a polaroid picture and carry it in your pocket as a reminder of a great family weekend.
