Fun Things To Do With Your Little
  • Surprise your Little by celebrating his/her half birthday.
  • Together, write a family newspaper for friends and relatives.
  • Take a walk together with a memento bag and collect interesting leaves, rocks or junk.
  • Go to the bank and open a savings account for him or her.
  • Design a Christmas card together.
  • Make a bug cage and catch bugs together.
  • Eat lunch with him/her at school.
  • Teach him/her to weave a ring out of grass.
  • Paint graffiti on the walls of a room a few days before it is repainted.
  • Buy 10 shares of stock in an inexpensive company that he/she will recognize and watch it make or lose money.
  • Look up new words in a dictionary.
  • Use a globe to locate friends, travel destinations and current events together.
  • Go on a sound scavenger hunt with a tape recorder.
  • Go shopping at a secondhand store for dress-up clothes.
  • Work together to make a collage of his/her life with pictures cut from magazines.
  • Make giant soap bubbles.
  • Roast marshmallows with toothpicks over the flame of a candle.
  • Learn a simple magic trick to amaze him/her and their friends.
  • Show him/her your picture from your high school yearbook.
  • Paint an original T-shirt for a special occasion.
  • Go for a walk through a hardware store and explain the function of carious tools.
  • Compliment your Little's character and skill three times for every one compliment on his/her appearance.
  • 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.
  • Learn to count to 10 in a foreign language.
  • Take your Little to a volleyball or basketball game at the high school he/she will attend.
  • Write a letter to your Little on your anniversary telling what you've noticed about him/her in the last year.
  • 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.
  • Practice filling out applications for everything.
  • 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.
  • Wash the car together.
  • Explore the attic together.
  • Paint a special message for his/her mother on a wooden cutting board.
  • Make a calendar of the big events of his/her year.
  • Write a poem about him/her and read it on a special occasion.
  • Feed the birds.
  • Look through a book of house plans and help him/her pick out a dream home.
  • Help her write a letter to the author of a book she really likes.
  • Buy her a rubber stamp or stickers with his/her name and address on them.
  • Start a coin or stamp collection.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Teach him/her a big word.
  • Go on a newspaper scavenger hunt.  Give him/her a list of 10 to 20 items to find in a newspaper.
  • Read biographies of people who did great things and let your Little know they were no different from him/her.
  • Learn to program a computer in BASIC language.
  • Finger paint with chocolate, lemon, or strawberry pudding.
  • Make mini-pizzas using English muffins topped with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni.
  • Make maracas by covering light bulbs with layers of papier-mâché.  When they dry, gently break the glass and paint them.
  • Help compose a letter to your Little's Congressional representative regarding an issue of important to your Little.
  • Train together and participate in a one-K fun run.
  • Role play meeting new people so he/she will have more confidence in what can be an unfamiliar situation.
  • Invite someone who has lived in a foreign country over for dinner to talk about life in that country.
  • Use a book of names to find the meaning of his/her names and those of family members and friends.
  • Build a log cabin together with Popsicle sticks and glue.
  • Clip coupons together.  Give him/her a percentage of what you save.
  • Teach him/her to use a fire extinguisher.
  • Squeeze fresh orange juice.
  • Tape record him/her reading a favorite story.
  • Tour the state capitol.
  • Show him/her photographs or movies of you as a child.
  • Roast pumpkin seeds in the oven.
  • Take him/her with you when you vote and explain why you select the candidates you did.
  • Volunteer together to ring a bell for charity at Christmas time.
  • Ask him/her to share an opinion on things that are important to you.
  • Get some lumber, hammer and nails, and encourage your Little to be creative.
  • Tell him/her stories about you when you were his/her age.
  • Teach him/her how to make a football spiral.
  • Have a sock war - give minutes and 20 pairs of socks.
  • Open the hood of a car and point out various parts of the engine.
  • Walk through an unfinished house.
  • Give him/her your old billfold or purse.  "Accidentally" leave a dollar or two hidden inside.
  • Speak highly of the men and women in their life.  Help him/her to value their character and skill.
  • Read books about famous inventors.
  • Watch the activity at a construction site.
  • Teach your Little to tap out him/her name in Morse code or spell it using sign language.
  • Order sea monkeys or Chia pets and watch them grow.
  • Copy each others hands on a photocopy machine.
  • Buy a yo-yo and learn how to do tricks with it.
  • Help him/her make a video movie.
  • Have business cards printed with his/her name and a catchy slogan.
  • Take him/her to a photo darkroom and see how negatives and prints are made.
  • Visit the state legislature when it is in session.
  • Teach him/her the proper way to answer the phone.
  • Using play money, show him/her how you spend the money you earn.
  • Make a list of everything you will do with all the money you win from the $10 million sweepstakes.
  • Get a chemistry set and perform your own experiments.
  • Encourage him/her to admire professional athletes who are worthy of his/her admiration on and off the field.
  • Write to the President and ask him for a photo.
  • Build a house of cards together.
  • 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.
  • Make your own code with numbers representing letters.  Send each other coded messages.
  • Teach your pet a new trick.
  • Visit a music store and learn about different types of instruments.
  • Visit a college.
  • Make pancakes from scratch.
  • Learn to identify three constellations.
  • Learn CPR together.
  • Teach him/her how to operate a washing machine and to sort or fold clothing.
  • Paint an old piece of furniture.
  • Learn 10 new words in a foreign language.
  • Do something together for an elderly friend.
  • Teach your Little a clean joke he can share with his/her friends and teachers.
  • Learn to use a real camera - one in which nothing is automatic.
  • Shop until you drop.
  • Go ice fishing or ice skating.  Then stop somewhere for hot chocolate when you're through.
  • Go tubing or sledding downhill.  Make your Little go first to "test it out".
  • Make dinner for your Little's mom and surprise her on her birthday.
  • Have a Monopoly tournament.  Try and let your Little buy Park Place and Boardwalk.
  • Visit a hospital and look at the babies in the nursery or infant intensive care unit.
  • Shop for antiques in a rural community.
  • Surf the Internet.  Try and tap into a computer in a foreign country.  Or look for web pages of companies he/she would recognize.
  • Learn how to fix your bikes.
  • 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.
  • Whack golf balls at the driving range.
  • Walk around a boat show, sporting show, or Star Trek convention.
  • Bake and frost cutout cookies.
  • Assemble a model or bookcase.
  • Work on home improvement projects together - painting, wallpapering or remodeling a spare room.  It provides great talk time and quite a few laughs, too.
  • Make foods from around the world and learn how people live in that country.
  • Have a carpet picnic on the living room floor and watch a movie.
  • Throw snowballs at phone poles from increasing distances.
  • Meditate together.
  • Take him/her to your church and introduce your Little to your pastor or priest.
  • Maintain a scrapbook of all the things you do together.  Include ticket stubs, menus, pictures, brochures, programs and other mementos.
  • Rearrange the furniture in your living room.
  • Munch pizza at your favorite pizza place.
  • Research an important event or issue at the library.  Tour the big libraries at the university.
  • Sit at the mall or in a park and watch people.
  • Create s'mores with graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate chunks.  Heat them in the oven, microwave, or over an open fire.
  • Learn how to dance.
  • Take turns styling each others' hair.
  • Learn to sew an outfit with your Little.
  • Do aerobics in the living room or visit a health center.
  • Decorate eggs - not just at Easter.
  • Make a homemade pizza.
  • Plan a trip around the world or around the USA.  It's a great way to sneak in a geography lesson.
  • Visit Knight's Action Park in Springfield.
  • 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..."
  • Create a bead necklace or bracelet.
  • Volunteer to build a house with Habitat for Humanity, help people at Special Olympics events or serve Meals on Wheels.
  • Make a fondue meal or a fruit-and-cake fondue for dessert.
  • Take an art class together.
  • Shoot a round of pool.
  • Learn to make homemade root beer or ice cream.
  • Feed the ducks