Need some ideas for fun things to do at home with your son? Let’s face it we can’t take our sons out all of the time. The majority of the time spent with our sons is at home. Our awesome list of things to do at home will be sure to keep your sons having fun no matter their age!
1. Treasure Hunt
This is one of my son’s favorite things to do with me at home. He has a blast with it and is always begging me afterwards to build one again. The great thing about treasure hunts is that you can put them together in no time at all, or you can go all out and make custom treasure maps that he has to follow and really gets his imaginations going.
For a quick and easy treasure hunt simply write down clues on pieces of paper. At the end of the treasure hunt you can have a surprise for him that could be as simple as a treat, or buried treasure with chocolate gold coins in it.
For the more advanced treasure hunt you could draw as map of your house and make the clues relate to the map. If you want to take it a step further you could name each room something different such as the ‘enchanted forest’ or ‘smugglers cove’ use your imagine and just have fun. Your son will have a blast and be able to use his imagination as he goes through the treasure hunt.
2. Hide and Seek
Do not give up on the classics! Boys love to play hide and seek. My son could play hide and seek for hours. If you want to put a twist on hide and seek you could play hide and seek tag.
3. Build A Fort
What boy doesn’t think a blanket fort is awesome? They are exciting to build and once you have their hideaway built you can have all sorts of adventures together. It can be anything from a secret hideaway to an elaborate pirate ship.
They can be as simple as a blanket draped over a couch and chair or as grand as blankets and bedsheets tied together and hung over the whole room. Clothes pins or large binder clips work great to hold the blankets together.
Once you have the fort built have fun with it. Get your lantern out that you use for camping. Turn all the other lights out and tell ghost stories like you’re around the campfire. You could play card games, board games, or watch a movie. The possibilities are endless, but one thing is for sure a fort is a sure way to have a good time especially on a rainy day.
4. Shoot Some Hoops
Shooting hoops is a pastime that most boys love, whether they’re big into sports or not. It doesn’t have to be super competitive it could just be a good time for you and your son to talk and have a little fun. If you want to play a game and take it up a notch from just shooting you could play all sorts of games with just two people.
If you don’t have a hoop in the driveway then another fun way to shoot hoops is to play basketball inside with an indoor hoop like this one found on Amazon. These are a ton of fun and not only can you play around the world or HORSE but you could also have a family dunk contest.
5. Science Experiment
Science experiments can be mind blowing. They are a great way to spend a fun afternoon with your son. As an added bonus they’ll be learning something new while they’re having fun.
Electricity has always intrigued me. When I was young, a science experiment that really stuck with me was building an electric motor. Below is a video on how to build a simple electric motor. This is a fun experiment that your son will love.
6. Paper Airplanes
Loops, barrel rolls, and collisions there are all sorts of fun things you can do with Paper Airplanes. My son loves to make paper airplanes and have contests to see who’s can fly the farthest.
Another fun thing you can do is make a bunch of the same type of plane then stack them together and fly them all at once. My son loves watching what all the different planes will do when they all launch at the same time.
7. Tie Knots
Tying knots may not sound like a blast, but it is actually a lot of fun, and boys really like it. As a scout master I taught scouts how to tie knots and that was always one of their favorite activities. It’s amazing all the different things you can build tying or lashing them together. You could teach your son how to tie knots one weekend, and then the next weekend you could build an epic fort with all the new knots that you learned.
8. Obstacle Course
Bring the inner ninja out of your son by building them an epic obstacle course. Look around your house and get creative designing the best obstacle course. You could use couch cushions, hula hoops, boxes, chairs, jump ropes, and other items that you can find around your house.
9. Grill
What says father son more than grilling up some delicious steaks or burgers together! Teach him your secret to perfectly cooking steak with diamond patterned seer marks, or teach him how to grill a juicy hamburger. Whatever you cook the grill is a great way to bond with your son.
10. Video Games
As a father I spend a lot of time trying to get my kids away from screens and onto activities where they use their imaginations. However, I believe that it is important to spend time doing things that your son really likes to do.
If your son is in to video games then let him teach you how to play his favorite game. It will make your son feel really good that he is teaching his dad something. You will show him that you care about his interests and that you just love spending time with him. Doing this will also get your son to try more things that you want to do with him.
11. Magic Tricks
All my life I have been amazed by magic. Watching a great magician is incredible and makes you question everything about life. They can truly make you feel that all things are possible. For boys a simple magic trick can blow their minds.
Just the other day I did a simple card trick for my little nephew where I made him think he was the one with the magic. It was so fun to see his eyes light up when the trick was done and to hear him shout “I did magic!”.
There are tons of very simple card tricks that require no sleight of hand that you can teach you son. Before long your son will be showing everyone his new magic tricks and it could turn into a real hobby for him. Below are some of my sons favorite magic tricks.
12. Clay
Modeling clay is a fun, inexpensive, and creative way to spend an afternoon. Let your son make whatever comes to his mind and in the end you can bake the clay in the oven so he can put it up on the shelf or play with it later. If you want to get real creative you could shoot a claymation video.
13. Paint
Go to your local craft or hobby store and buy a couple canvas frames and a paint set. You could paint whatever comes to your mind or try and copy a picture.
Recently my son and I painted a picture of my grandpa’s farm for my mom. It was a great way for of us to bond. My son loved mixing the paint together to create different shades of color. One of his favorite parts was seeing my mom’s reaction when we gave it to her for Mothers Day.
14. Play Cards
An hour can seem like a minute when you’re having fun playing a card game. There’s a lot of two player card games you can play with a standard deck of cards. We like playing rummy, go fish, old maid, slap jack, war, and BS.
If you have more than two people playing the card game then there are some games by Grandpa Beck that my kids absolutely love. The first one is called Cover Your Assets you can find it on Amazon here. The great thing about Cover Your Assets is that kindergarten age kids to adults can play this game and truly have a blast doing it.
A lot of games for younger children are let’s face it really boring for adults. With Cover Your Assets that isn’t the case. The crazy part about this game is that I try to use strategy and still my kindergartner will beat all of us regularly. It’s great that all of the everyone at the table no matter the age truly has a chance to win.
The other Grandpa Beck game that my kids love is Skull King. It can be found on Amazon here. Skull King will be a little harder for real young kids to play, but I have a 7 year old that dominates Skull King. If you’ve ever played hearts, spades, or rook then Skull King will feel really familiar to you.
In Skull King each player predicts how many tricks they are going to win in the round. If you get win the number of tricks that you predicted then you get points. If you don’t get the number of tricks you predicted or you go over then you subtract points.
There are also fun wild cards in the game such as pirates, jolly rogers, and the skull king. In the expansion pack there are even more cards such as mermaids and the dreaded Kraken. Each wild card can do different things that makes the game just a lot of fun. The best part of the whole game is whoever loses has to do the dishes. I highly recommend both of those Grandpa Beck games. My family has spent hours laughing playing them.
15. Tie A Tie
Why not spend an evening after getting home from the office teaching your son the famous Windsor Knot. They’ll have fun getting to try on dads tie and tie it just like him. If you have an older son then you can teach him an elaborate knot such as the Eldredge Knot.
16. Read A Book
Reading is a great way to spend time with your son. It will help him with his reading as well as his imagination. Theres all sorts of adventures that you can have with you son when you read a book. If you don’t believe me then go watch The Princess Bride.
So go grab a book today and get reading with your son. If you want to read one of my favorite adventure books then check out Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. Another great one is Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. Gary Paulsen has a lot of great adventure books that your son will love if he likes the outdoors. Get reading!
17. Frisbee
Get outside and toss the frisbee back and forth. There is something mesmerizing about watching a frisbee float through the air. Just simply throwing a frisbee back and forth is a ton of fun.
Frisbee golf or disc golf is also a really fun sport to play. Disc golf is a lot like actual golf where each hole has a number of throws you can take in order to get par. One of the great things about disc golf is that most of the courses are free to play at and the discs are relatively inexpensive as well. Here is a good starter disc set on Amazon. You can also get your own disc golf target for your yard to practice with your son. You can find a great disc target basket on Amazon here.
18. Chess
What better way to spend the weekend than teaching your son how to play the most popular game in the world. Chess could turn into a hobby that you and your son share for the rest of your life.
Growing up my dad would’t normally play games with the family. The one game that he would play was chess. I can still remember the first time that I beat him in chess and how good that felt. There is so much going on in chess and the great thing is with so many possible moves you never play the same game twice.
19. Ride Bikes
Riding bikes is a great way to spend some time with your son. You could go for a stroll around the neighborhood. This would be a perfect opportunity to have a good conversation about your son. You could teach him some tricks on his bike like riding with no hands or popping a wheelie.
20. Legos
If your son is into legos why not get on the ground and build with him. Legos are a great way to get your son to use his imagination. One of my son’s favorite things to do, when I play legos with him, is to build something by using every last lego he has. So go ahead and bring out the inner engineer in your son and start building.
21. Bowling
Bowling is a great game for you to play with your son. You don’t necessarily have to go to a bowling ally. You don’t even have to buy a bowling set. Why not just make your own? You could save up bottles from your bottled water or anything you have. Then just grab one of your son’s toy balls and now you have your very own bowling set.
This is an inexpensive and fun way to bowl with your kids. You could even jazz it up by letting your kids color the pins/bottles and you could put masking tape down on the floor to make it look like an actually bowling lane.
22. Star Gazing
You could spend the evening telling your son about your favorite constellations and the stories behind them. Don’t worry if you don’t know any constellations there are tons of free star gazing apps that are a lot of fun. You can simply put your phone up to the sky and it will show you where the constellations are at.
23. Puzzle
Putting puzzles together will really get you and your son’s brain working. The other great thing about puzzling is that you can take that time to really talk and get to know your son better. You can find out how they’re doing at school, what their favorite subject in school is, what they want to be when they grow up, or what their favorite thing to do is. Seriously, this could be the activity to get your son to open up and talk to you.
24. Fire
What boy is not fascinated by fire! There is something hypnotic about staring into a campfire. If you feel your son is old enough and you have the space in your yard then you could teach them how to start a fire. You could show them how to start one with different methods such as matches, flint and steel, magnifying glass, bow and spindle, or battery with steel wool.
The memory of doing this is sure to stick with your son for the rest of his life. It is something that could also save his life in a survival situation. Be sure to teach them fire safety prior to the activity and the importance of having you around if they’re going to be lighting a fire. As long as you’re safe this activity will be one of for the record books.
25. Camping
Camping is a ton of fun and you don’t have to be in the mountains to enjoy it. Why not set up a tent in the backyard or you could even set up a camp in your house. If you have a big enough yard you could set up a campfire and let your son start it with one of the fire methods that you taught him.
If you can’t do a campfire then no worries, you can still have s’mores, just roast them over your grill, or you could even put them all together and bake them in the oven. The ideas are endless with a night of camping at home. You could even build a little shelter instead of setting up a tent. You could let your son use some of the knots that you taught him to turn a simple tarp into a dry shelter. Happy Camping!