50 Quick and Easy Ways to Connect with Your Kids

Written by Colleen Kessler of Raising Lifelong Learners

You’ve been running since early in the morning. Meals, lessons, chores, clean up, calls, and more meals…

You’ve spent the entire day with your kiddos, but as you take some much-deserved time to relax on the couch while the littles are tucked into their beds (finally!) for the night, you realize that you haven’t actually spent time with any of them over the course of the busy day.

Sure… you were in the same room as your kids.

But the connection and relationship-building you know is so important to their healthy development has been put on the back burner again.

You’re not alone.

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily life-ness that happens all around you as you homeschool and parent your kiddos. It’s also easy to give in and let the guilt take over.

Us homeschool mamas are really great at proving to ourselves how terrible we really are at this whole thing, right?

Connecting with your kids in little ways throughout the day doesn’t have to be time-consuming though, and it’s a great way to build their resilience and foster strong emotional intelligence. Instead of overwhelming yourself with the idea that you need to do something big to connect throughout each day, try slipping small connections in the spaces of each day.

These are little, intentional acts that remind your kiddos you love them and they’re super important to you.

Here are fifty ideas to get you started (you can grab a cute printable of this list here):

1. Talk about their favorite food
2. Ask about their favorite movie
3. Smile
4. Play cards
5. Laugh
6. Hug for the longest time ever
7. Make up your own secret handshake
8. Snuggle on the couch
9. Wrestle
10. Play a board game
11. Dance
12. Make up your own game
13. Sing a song
14. Make up a song
15. Sing along with some music
16. Be quiet together
17. Color together
18. Read a book
19. Tell a true story
20. Make up a story
21. Tell them a story of when they were little
22. Tell about something that happened when you were little
23. Look at family pictures or baby pictures
24. Write in a journal together
25. Try a new craft
26. Bake cookies
27. Cook dinner together
28. Tell a joke
29. Be silly with each other
30. Get down to their level
31. Look them in the eye
32. Share a snack
33. Ask questions
34. Write a note
35. Talk less; listen more
36. Make paper airplanes
37. Find cloud pictures
38. Play Tic Tac Toe
39. Play Tag
40. Play Sardines
41. Give back rubs
42. Paint each other’s nails
43. Brush each other’s hair
44. Take a walk
45. Do an exercise video together
46. Make a fort
47. Catch lightning bugs
48. Be curious
49. Ask them to play with you
50. Tell them you’re grateful they’re yours

This isn’t an exhaustive list, by any means, but rather a place for you to start. If you grab the printable (HERE) you’ll have these starter ideas at your fingertips and can add to them as you discover more little acts that bring you and your kiddos closer together.

Researchers tell us that it takes five to seven positive interactions to offset one negative one, and if you’re anything like me, you get frustrated and scold your kiddos or meltdown over their math from time to time.

Building in little connections throughout the day can serve as a kind of a positivity bank to shore up your relationships with your children, and build their emotional intelligence so that you’re never running at a deficit. Use this list to get you going, and come up with ideas of your own to add to it.

I hope you’ll use these as inspiration to connect with your kiddos in little ways all throughout the day, and to spark your own ideas custom to the needs of your sweet ones.

What are some of your simple connection ideas?