Fun Things to Do with YOUR Dad: 5 Ideas for Great Father Son Activities

Fun Things to Do with Your Dad - Ideas for Great Father Son Activities

Being a Dad is such great fun! I sure do have a fantastic time reliving some of my own childhood memories, when I do fun stuff with my son Benni. I’ll bet you rekindle your fondest memories when you do fun activities with your children too.

But have you ever thought about how your own Dad used to enjoy spending time with you when you were small? A great way to renew those old bonds, and have some fun along the way, is to revive this partnership. This is achievable by doing new activities together, or some of those you enjoyed doing as a kid, fishing for example.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at lots more fun things to do with your Dad that will give you some ideas for great father-son activities. 

Seeing The World Through Your Dad’s Eyes

Fun Things to Do with Your Dad - Seeing The World Through Your Dads EyesIt can be interesting to look at the world from a different perspective, through your Dad’s eyes. To do this try talking with him and see if he has any unfulfilled ambitions that you might be able to crack together. Or something he’d love to do but for some reason feels he no longer can. As we age having friends to do things with can become difficult, people move away, and friendships are lost. Why not give your Dad a new opportunity for some fun and to make new memories with you?

Ideas for Great Activities With YOUR Dad

I’ve compiled a list of ideas to get you started, and to make things easier I thought I’d categorize them. Let’s start with a topic that most Dad’s will enjoy in one form or another – sport!

Idea #1 – Sports

It’s more than likely your Dad will have his favorite sports teams, those he likes to watch on TV for instance. There are various options open to you here, you could:

  • Buy season tickets to see games together or get extra special tickets to see a game played at one of the iconic sports grounds.
  • Arrange a regular “boys’ night” when you go and watch his teams play on TV either at home or perhaps in a sports bar.
  • Visit a sport “Hall of Fame” the main ones are for Football, located in Canton, Ohio. Baseball, in Cooperstown, New York, and Basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Idea #2 – Adrenalin

For any Dad who’s a bit of a petrol head or adrenalin junky, there are some fun options, guaranteed to bring excitement and create amazing memories. You can try:

  • Track Days, where you become a racing driver! Here are some useful links to information about tracks and schools.
  • If your Dad likes the idea of taking to the air, then there are several options; you could try a taster lesson flying a light aircraft or helicopter, a microlite flight, gliding lessons, or hot air ballooning. Information on all of these activities can be found on the internet or by visiting facilitators local to you.

    Fun Things to Do with Your Dad - Try Flying Helicopter Together
    If your dad is a person who always enjoyed flying but never got a license, see if you can sponsor him a flight or maybe even go for a license together!
  • Of course, the ultimate adrenalin junkie would be up for a bit of parachuting… or for the slightly less ambitious skydiving in a wind tunnel might be a safer option! Look for centers near you online, or in the phone book.

Whenever you’re doing things outdoors, remember about sun safety. It’s not just for kids!

Idea #3 – Building Projects

Getting creative with your Dad is a wonderful way to bond, not only will you end up with an end product to remind you of what you achieved together, but chances are you’ll learn a lot from him along the way too. Some ideas for projects that might be fun and useful are:

  • Man Cave! Let’s be honest, this is pretty much any guy’s dream (it’s most definitely mine!). Having a space to chill and do man things is such a luxury, but with a little help from Dad, it’s entirely achievable.
  • If your Dad likes a drop of wine, then how about building a wine rack? Or if he is a keen DIY hobbyist a useful tool carrier or workshop tool tidy?

    Fun Things to Do with Your Dad - How about building a wine rack
    How about building a DIY-wine-rack together with your dad?
  • Many of the jobs you take for granted when you’re young can become more challenging as you get older, gardening is just such a job. You could help your Dad create a better low maintenance garden by building simple tool storage, flower boxes, or raised planters. If you’re feeling really ambitious, you could even try a geodesic dome greenhouse.

To find brilliant ideas for all of the above projects, look at Pinterest.com it’s chock a block full of inspiration!

Idea #4 – Day’s Out

Visiting places of interest together can be entertaining and educational. You’ll never run out of places to visit with your Dad if you put some real thought into it, but to give you a few ideas, what about trying some of these?

  • No matter what your Dad enjoys most in life, there is bound to be a museum dedicated to it! Search it out and arrange a surprise visit.
  • If he is partial to a particular tipple how about a winery or distillery visit?
  • Now you may find this hard to believe, but it’s quite possible that your Dad’s favorite band is still going strong, and not just going strong but still actually touring! To give you just a few examples Fleetwood Mac, The Beach Boys, The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Chicago and Steve Miller (of the Steve Miller Band), to name only a few are regularly seen strutting their stuff on stage. So why not give your Dad a trip back to his youth and go to a concert together? You might be surprised by how much you enjoy his music too! Search online to find out if your Dad’s favorite band are touring and maybe coming to a town near you.

    Fun Things to Do with Your Dad - Visit a concert together
    Is your dad’s favorite rock band still touring? If so, make sure to visit a concert together!

Idea #5 – History

If your Dad is a little more sedentary, then perhaps some nostalgia of a different kind would be more enjoyable. You could try:

  • Tracing your families history by researching your family tree together. There are many websites where you can get help with this, or you could go old school and try finding family records for yourselves. You never know what you might find out about your heritage.
  • Creating a family photo album is another great way to reminisce. As we age looking back at our past becomes more important. Try looking through the attic or in the basement for old photos and ask other family members if they have any they may like to contribute. You’ll be amazed at how much information you learn about your family.

Conclusion

So there we have it, some fun things to do with your Dad!

I hope there are a few ideas here that are of interest and I’m sure that by speaking with your Dad you’ll soon come up with a whole bunch more. And when you do, please do not forget to share them with us in the comments below, so that I can add them to my list as well! What is your favorite activity you do with your dad and why? How do you make it happen? Do you meet regularly or do you like to surprise your dad every now and then? Please let us know below, I’m always happy to learn 🙂

And as a final thought: There’s also no reason why three generations can’t enjoy doing things together, so why not get the kids involved too? It will no doubt help strengthen their relationships with their Grandpa and you.

Enjoy making new memories together!

chris

P.S.: If you REALLY want to level up your parenting skills and get rid of all the power struggles that can stand between our kids and us as moms or dads, then make sure to read my FULL REVIEW of “Positive Parenting Solutions” HERE.

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10 Comments

  1. What a great post! Really inspiring and great tips – I never really thought to look at the world through my dad’s eyes and I guess it’s a missed opportunity. Going fishing or playing snooker would’ve been top of his list. 

    The great list could also work for dads and their kids too. Thanks for sharing.

  2. I loved this! As I have grown older I realized how important it is to create memories with your parents. Its amazing because all of these things you mentioned can be expanded to include so much, just like for sports you could have a day out playing catch or golfing if that is your preference. What an awesome website, I will definitely be bookmarking this to read more of your future articles. Thanks!

  3. Hi Chris,

    Unfortunately my Dad lives far away from us now. My family have migrated and they still live in our hometown.

    Definitely we have beautiful memories of our dads.  My dad actually is a homebody, no sports  or any outside activities that he gets involved with. He just loves to watch TV and enjoy a game of any sports, but mostly basketball.

    Three years ago when we visited my parents back home, we celebrated my dad’s 85th birthday and my son’s 10th. I even made a photobook of that occasion. I’d like to believe that it touched his heart. He took care of my son when he was still a baby and because we migrated when my son was 3, it took 7 years to see them again. After that initial visit, we try to visit every year again.

    Thanks for this inspiring article.

    Marita

  4. This is really interesting.  The unfortunate part is my father is no longer with us.  However I now do things with my grandson and many times it is to honor my father.  The list really stands out and I’m anxious to take part in a few of the above mentioned.  I’m a big sports person so I absolutely think we are going to engage in morecsports.  Either way it is a great article just because it made me think of my father.  Thank you.

  5. Let me just say I love my father. I would do anything for that man. There are so many things to do with your dads. My dad loves puzzles so we sit with him for hours end trying to finish a puzzle. We sit and watch a sport game and just sit there and relax. Those are the best times! Thanks again for reminding us this! 

  6. Thanks for the awesome list. These are really cool ideas and to be honest I would like to do all the stuff with my Dad. When I was young my father and I used to watch football matches together in the stadium in our city and both of us miss those days because of a busy life. I would definitely start doing it again. I have a 6 years old son now. So I think we 3 can have too much fun there. Thanks, Chris.

  7. I miss my Dad. I wish he was here with me. I was working far away from home. There were times I play soccer with my Dad and have good memories with it. Got fully sweating and burn out all my energy together with him in the match. I will catch up with him soon.

  8. There are some great ideas on here about how to include your dad in stuff.  I have a 6 year old and my Dad loves nothing more than spending the day out with us.

    I take my dad to Silverstone every year for the grand prix, it is a great day where it is just the lads, a day where we can catch up.

    But there are plenty of things on your list that we could consider too, thanks for the suggestions.  Will definitely be checking back – you have some great ideas for me to do with my son.

    Thanks

  9. One of the best articles I have read in a while. It is one of the very rare topics people discuss about – father son relationship. I am very close to my father and these are some activities I want to do with him. Often a times we play sports which include badminton, table tennis, cricket etc with a team which include mine as well as his friends in the evening, apart from this I really want to go on a long drive with him and if he agrees I want to do some water sports with him as I am very fond of it.
    Thanks a lot for this lovely post. Blessings

  10. Hey Chris:

    What a heartful post. Thank you!

    I agree. Making memories with your dad is a grand thing to do.

    I especially liked your suggestions for adrenaline-junkie dads. They made me smile.

    If my dad were still alive, the one about exploring history together would probably be more real.

    Even though my dad is gone now, there are a couple of surrogate dads I have who I can round up and go make memories with. Your post has me thinking about what we could do together.

    Hmmm…now I’ve gotta go talk ’em into doing it!

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