Fathering intentionally can be exhausting enough without having to come up with ideas for things to do with your children. So consider this your toolbox. Below are links to a variety of places with cool ideas for projects and activities parents can do with their kids. And if you hold your cursor over “DIY” in the menu above, you’ll find more activities, crowdsourced from our own readers and organized by the amount of time you’ve got. Even if you only have five minutes today, there are things you can do to start fathering more intentionally. In other words: NO EXCUSES.
Additional Resources
23 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do. Slightly harrowing ideas from the founder of The Art of Manliness.
Art of Manliness Project Archives. Nobody has spent more time curating manly activities than Brett McKay , from digging a Dakota fire hole to making your own wallet. But don’t be deceived; every one of these activities is something girls can enjoy, too.
Backyard Ballistics. Cool designs and ideas from inventor William Gurstelle. You’ll be surprised what you can launch and just how far using materials from your local hardware store.
Dangerous Book for Boys: Plenty of ideas, most of which probably won’t get you killed.
Daring Book for Girls: Because why should boys have all the fun?
DIY Backyard Games. Everything from life-size Angry Birds to Frisbee tic-tac-toe. An added benefit is that many of these your kids can help build.
Good Housekeeping Arts & Crafts. Not as dangerous as making a knife out of a lawnmower blade, but just the thing for a rainy day with kids that you don’t want to end in an E.R. trip.
Instructables Workshop. For dads who are handy with tools and/or who have older children, there’s a lot of great stuff here, from making a patterned cutting board to designing the perfect haunted house.
Last Child in the Woods. Child and nature advocate Richard Louv describes the widespread harm done to children who no longer play outdoors, and offers a “field manual” for parents and teachers who want to reverse this detrimental trend.
Microadventures. You don’t have to be able to reach a national forest to camp out; Alastair Humphreys gives inspiration and ideas to help you get outside and experience the wild wherever you live.
Science Snacks. A wealth of science projects from the San Francisco Exploratorium. Don’t let the name fool you; they’re mostly not about food.