Activity Ideas

1. Surprise your Little by celebrating his/her half birthday.
2. Make a thin layer of Jell-O and carve it into letters, numbers, figures, etc.
3. Together, write a family newspaper for friends and relatives.
4. Take a walk together with a memento bag and collect interesting leaves, rocks or junk.
5. Go to the bank and open a savings account for him or her.
6. Design a Christmas card together.
7. Make a bug cage and catch bugs together.
8. Eat lunch with him/her at school.
9. Teach him/her to weave a ring out of grass.
10. Paint graffiti on the walls of a room a few days before it is repainted.
11. Buy 10 shares of stock in an inexpensive company that he/she will recognize and watch it make or lose money.
12. Look up new words in a dictionary.
13. Use a globe to locate friends, travel destinations and discuss current events together.
14. Go on a sound scavenger hunt with a tape recorder.
15. Go shopping at a secondhand store for dress-up clothes.
16. Work together to make a collage of his/her life with pictures cut from magazines.
17. Make giant soap bubbles.
18. Plan a vacation together -- imaginary or real.
19. Roast marshmallows with toothpicks over the flame of a candle.
20. Learn a simple magic trick to amaze him/her and their friends.
21. Show him/her your picture from your high school yearbook.
22. Paint an original T-shirt for a special occasion.
23. Go for a walk through a hardware store and explain the function of various tools.
24. Compliment your Little's character and skill three times for every one compliment on his/her appearance.
25. On a one-foot square of grass, find all the living things that are visible in that space.
26. On his/her birthday, ask your Little to lie on butcher paper and trace around him/her. Repeat the process each year to show how much he/she has grown.
27. Learn to count to 10 in a foreign language.
28. Take your Little to a volleyball or basketball game at the high school he/she will attend.
29. Write a letter to your Little on your anniversary telling them what you've noticed about him/her in the last year.
30. Have an art show of his/her masterpieces. Invite your friends and relatives to come and buy original, signed art work. Set low prices so everything will sell.
31. Practice filling out applications for everything.
32. Help your Little make homemade potpourri with dried flower petals.
33. Help your Little make a list of all the people who love him/her.
34. Look through a clothing catalog and ask what he/she likes and doesn't like. Explain what is becoming of a young lady/gentleman and what is not.
35. Wash the car together.
36. Explore the attic together.
37. Paint a special message for his/her mother on a wooden cutting board.
38. Make a calendar of the big events of his/her year.
39. Make snow angels.
40. Write a poem about him/her and read it on a special occasion.
41. Feed the birds.
42. Look through a book of house plans and help him/her pick out a dream home.
43. Help him or her write a letter to the author of a book she really likes.
44. Buy him or her a rubber stamp or stickers with his/her name and address on them.
45. Start a coin or stamp collection.
46. Get a book of animal tracks and explore a pond or trail together to see what animals live in the area.
47. Put colored water in a two-liter bottle. Connect another to it like an hourglass and turn it over. Give it a swirl and you will create a tornado in a bottle.
48. Go on a camera scavenger hunt together. Make a list of things you want pictures of before the hunt. Let him/her take the pictures.
49. Teach him/her a big word.
50. Tape record messages to send to grandparents or other loved ones who do not live nearby.
51. Help him/her stencil a border patter around the top of a wall.
52. Go on a newspaper scavenger hunt. Give him/her a list of 10 to 20 items to find in a newspaper.
53. Read biographies of people who did great things and let your Little know they were no different from him/her.
54. Make a weather board. Put a few hooks on a small board. Prepare tags with numbers and a few key words. Show him/her how track temperature and weather conditions each morning before school.
55. Learn to program a computer in BASIC language.
56. Finger paint with chocolate, lemon or strawberry pudding.
57. Make mini-pizzas using English muffins topped with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni.
58. Make maracas by covering light bulbs with layers of paper-mache'. When they dry, gently break the glass and paint them.
59. Help compose a letter to your Little's Congressional representative regarding an issue of importance to your Little.
60. Invite him/her to sell old toys and clothes at your garage sale.
61. Check out a tree identification book from the library and discover which ones are in your neighborhood.
62. Using the letters from a long word, see how many smaller words you can create.
63. Train together and participate in a 1-K fun run.
64. Role play meeting new people so he/she will have more confidence in what can be an unfamiliar situations.
65. Invite someone who has lived in a foreign country over for dinner to talk about life in that country.
66. Use a book of names to find the meaning of his/her names and those of family members and friends.
67. Build a log cabin together with Popsicle sticks and glue.
68. Clip coupons together. Give him/her a percentage of what you save.
69. Watch a potter throwing on a wheel.
70. Use a magnifying glass together to examine all kinds of little things.
71. Make a tent using blankets stretched over chairs and tucked into drawers.
72. Teach him/her how to use a fire extinguisher.
73. Squeeze fresh orange juice.
74. Tape record him/her reading a favorite story.
75. Tour the state capitol.
76. Go to the airport for lunch and watch the planes take off and land.
77. Show him/her photographs or movies of you as a child.
78. Roast pumpkin seeds in the oven.
79. Take him/her with you when you vote and explain why you select the candidates you did.
80. Ask him/her to share an opinion on things that are important to you.
81. Get some lumber, hammer and nails, and encourage your Little to be creative.
82. Tell him/her stories about you when you were his/her age.
83. Volunteer together to ring a bell for charity at Christmas time.
84. Volunteer to visit his/her class to tell students about your profession.
85. Teach him/her how to make a football spiral.
86. Have a sock war -- five minutes and 20 pairs of socks.
87. Open the hood of a car and point out various parts of the engine.
88. Walk through an unfinished house.
89. Give him/her your old billfold or purse. "Accidentally" leave a dollar or two hidden inside.
90. Speak highly of the men and women in your life. Help him/her to value their character and skill.
91. Read books about famous inventors.
92. Enjoy a fresh coconut or pineapple together.
93. Watch the activity at a construction site.
94. Build and paint a birdhouse.
95. Teach your Little to tap out his/her name in Morse code or spell it using sign language.
96. Order sea monkeys or Chia pets and watch them grow.
97. Skip rocks on water.
98. Copy each others hands on a photocopy machine.
99. Buy a yo-yo and learn how to do tricks with it.
100. Help him/her make a video movie.
101. Have business cards printed with his/her name and a catchy slogan.
102. Take him/her to a photo darkroom and see how negatives and prints are made.
103. Visit a farm and milk a cow.
104. Look in phone books to find the name of someone with the same name as you and your Little.
105. Visit the state legislature when it is in session.
106. Set up a roadside lemonade stand or similar business.
107. Teach him/her the proper way to answer the phone.
108. Using play money, show him/her how you spend the money you earn.
109. Make a list of everything you will do with all the money you win from the $10 million sweepstakes.
110. Go to the video games arcade.
111. Get a chemistry set and perform your own experiments.
112. Encourage him/her to admire professional athletes who are worthy of his/her admiration on and off the field.
113. Write to the President and ask him for a photo. Your Little will receive a picture and a packet of information.
114. Have notepads imprinted with your Little's name.
115. Build a house of cards together.
116. Buy a short section of rain gutter and build a giant banana split in it together. Invite some friends to share the treat with you.
117. Make your own code with numbers representing letters. Send each other coded messages.
118. Teach your pet a new trick.
119. Visit a music store and learn about different types of instruments.
120. Visit a college.
121. Make pancakes from scratch.
122. Learn to identify three constellations.
123. Learn CPR together.
124. Teach him/her how to operate a washing machine and to sort or fold clothing.
125. Paint an old piece of furniture.
126. Learn 10 new words in a foreign language.
127. Do something together for an elderly friend.
128. Rent a bicycle built for two and tour the arboretum.
129. Teach your Little a clean joke he can share with his/her friends and teachers.
130. Learn to use a real camera -- one in which nothing is automatic.
131. Shop until you drop.
132. Go ice fishing or ice skating. Then, stop somewhere for hot chocolate when you're through.
133. Explore the Madison Children's Museum.
134. Tour the Experimental Aircraft Association Museum in Oshkosh. Hike through the factory outlet mall afterwards.
135. Go tubing or sledding down hill. Make your little go first to "test it out."
136. Make dinner for your Little's mom and surprise her on her birthday.
137. Have a Monopoly tournament. Try and let your Little buy Park Place and Boardwalk.
138. Visit a hospital and look at the babies in the nursery or infant intensive care unit.
139. Shop for antiques in a rural community, like Mount Horeb or Stoughton.
140. Surf the Internet. Try and tap into a computer in a foreign country. Or look for web pages of companies he/she would recognize.
141. Learn how to fix your bikes.
142. Visit a second hand store and buy some old clothes that you can use to play "dress-up."
143. Go on a scavenger hunt through the Arboretum looking for as many signs of life or death as you can.
144. Visit a nursing home and read or sing to the residents. Or, ask them to describe what life was like when they were your Little's age.
145. Whack golf balls at the driving range.
146. Shop for hats bearing the insignia of your Little's favorite sports teams.
147. Walk around a boat show, sporting show or Star Trek convention.
148. Bake and frost cutout cookies.
149. Rent a canoe and explore the lagoons in the arboretum.
150. Assemble a model or bookcase.
151. Work on home improvement projects together -- painting, wallpapering or remodeling a spare room. It provides great talk time and quite a few laughs, too.
152. Make foods from around the world and learn how people live in that country.
153. Have a carpet picnic on the living room floor and watch a movie.
154. Check out Kids in the Crossroads on certain Saturdays at the Madison Civic Center.
155. Throw snowballs at phone poles from increasing distances.
156. Meditate together.
157. Take him/her to your church and introduce your Little to your pastor or priest.
158. Maintain a scrapbook of all the things you do together. Include ticket stubs, menus, pictures, brochures, programs and other mementoes.
159. Rearrange the furniture in your living room.
160. Visit a coffee shop to sip hot chocolate or soda while playing chess, checkers or backgammon.
161. Munch pizza and play games at Chucky Cheese Pizza.
162. Research an important event or issue at the library. Tour the big libraries at the university.
163. Sit at the mall, in a park or at the Union and watch people.
164. Sniff the flowers at Olbrich Botanical Gardens.
165. Go apartment hunting or tour the Parade of Homes.
166. Create s'mores with graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate chunks. Heat them in the oven, microwave, or over an open fire.
167. Learn how to dance.
168. Take turns styling each others' hair.
169. Learn to sew an outfit for your Little.
170. Do aerobics in the living room or visit a health center.
171. Decorate eggs -- not just at Easter.
172. Visit someone whose yard you raked during last year's Rake Relief.
173. Make a homemade pizza.
174. Plan a trip around the world or around the USA. It's a great way to sneak in a geography lesson.
175. Go snowshoeing in Cherokee Marsh.
176. Bike along Military Ridge Trail. Stop to make dandelion necklaces or to search for bird nests.
177. Tell each other stories. Start by giving the other a starting sentence, such as "I was walking to school the other day when I saw...."
178. Create a bead necklace or bracelet.
179. Visit the geology museum at the University of Wisconsin.
180. View the exhibits at Elvehjem Art Center.
181. Volunteer to build a house with Habitat for Humanity, help people at Special Olympics events or serve Meals on Wheels.
182. Make a fondue meal or a fruit-and-cake fondue for dessert.
183. Take an art class together.
184. Shoot a round of pool.
185. Learn to make homemade rootbeer or ice cream.
186. Feed the ducks at Memorial Union or any park.