What mum and daughter activities do you enjoy?

[disneydatknee]

My daughter is 7 and we share a lot of common interests. We love to bake together, do crafts/draw and paint. Looking for some other ideas of age appropriate things we can enjoy together that don't cost the earth. Anything girly or creative. She has quite a short attention span so anything we can do for 30 min intervals.

Not the same age range but would probably still work - I take my 3yr old to the cafe down the road, she chooses a few books to take with us and we share a hot chocolate (she eats the cream and sprinkles and I drink it) while reading stories. We do this about once every few weeks, costs £3, passes an hour and is honestly my favourite thing in the whole world.

I love that idea. My daughter likes to read so books and a fancy hot chocolate sounds devine. 😋

It may not be the sort of thing you're looking for but I started running with my daughter when she was 6. We did couch 2 5k together and then started to go to parkrun. 6 years later and I love our Saturday mornings at parkrun. We chat on the walk there and back and a lovely way to bond while keeping fit!

@Roserunner junior parkrun could be good? I've taken my DD (6) a few times but it's 40 mins away by car and she's not a fan of getting up early at weekends!

We like to do fimo modelling, aqua beads, Hama beads. Colouring. Painting.

My asthma and bad knees are pushing back against the whole running idea lol but walks and talks sound good. We do enjoy yoga and work outs together. During the summer hols we did a 30 min workout every day on my lunch break.

Why does it have to be “girly and creative”?

we enjoyed trampoline parks, climbing walls, gymnastics class (I watched while she ran round like a loon), library, science experiments, baking- but stuff like cinder toffee as well
as cakes and biscuits. Library, dance classes, local farms/zoos to learn about animals.

what does she enjoy?

DDs 8 now, she loves cafe and cake trips, swimming at the local fun pool with waves and little slides, she walks where we chat.

I have noticed that she is much more likely to open up and really talk about what's happening at school, anything that's been bothering her, and questions she has been keeping to herself etc when we are in a side by side situation like sitting in the car or walking together.

Dog walks are a good opportunity for relaxed chats and bonding (if you don't have a dog volunteer to walk for the RSPCA) and swimming for when the weather isn't so good. Fresh air and gentle exercise are good for your asthma and easy on your knees.

It is in the OP, she enjoys things which are 'girly and creative'.

Slightly early but some victorian paper Christmas ornaments, lots of folding but some are quite simple and effective.

Agree cafe and walks.

Now it is dark early an occasional trip outside to look at the stars if there is countryside and dark sky.

Longer term crochet is increasigly popular, she might be a little young - might be frustrating now, but there are lots of toys etc she can make.

If you have a sewing machine then carefully supervised bag making.

It is in the OP, she enjoys things which are 'girly and creative'

no it isn’t, the o/p just says she is looking for “anything girly and creative”, not that that’s what she enjoys. She says baking and craft, but is that really all the child is interested in?

my point is that by gender stereotyping activities and ruling out anything not deemed “girly” you could be missing out on a lot of activities both would enjoy, as well as reinforcing gender stereotypes.

they already do a lot of baking and crafting, why not try something different? Kite flying, physical activity, trips to the park followed by hot choc in a cafe. Swimming is always good, going and playing builds water confidence. Bike riding- there’s lots of stuff that isn’t “girly” they could both enjoy.

We are making Christmas cards at the moment. Really lovely.

Weve been enjoying Lego Dots recently.
Film nights are popular too.

I'm secretly starting to enjoy rugby practice, as its 25mins drive each way and we have completely random conversations.

Well my son is very into theatre, baking, crafts but he’s a boy so not sure you’d want my many ideas…

I love going to an art gallery with DD2. Just a quick visit to a free one. DD1 has no interest whatsoever in that so with her it tends to be a cinema trip or quick outing for hot chocolate.

I could do with a few ideas too. My dd is 6 and prefers to do things alone nowadays. I’d like to introduce more shared activities but need some ideas. She’s often reluctant to do anything new or that requires her effort (baking, crafting, painting, exercise etc). Her confidence is low so whenever I’ve introduced Lego, science experiments etc she becomes upset that she needs my help and gives up. She likes going to the park, riding her bike (I don’t ride a bike), watching tv 🙄, and soft play.

She likes going to the park, riding her bike (I don’t ride a bike)

can you learn? It might be good for her to see you try something new- even if she sees you fail she’ll learn you can’t do everything, and it could be a confidence booster for her that she’s good at something.

we cycle, usually a short trip to a local cafe, then back.

My dd is 21y/o now and I miss the mother/daughter things we used to do together. Things like going for afternoon tea at a pretty little cake shop, making lavender bags, beading (making jewellery), a day trip by bus or train somewhere to do some window shopping and a bit of lunch, cooking and preparing a carpet picnic buffet for tea, bringing down the duvet and pillows from my bed and snuggling up together with a pizza and a movie (when there's no school the next day) and having a late night. I'm now sitting here reminiscing!

I can ride a bike but 2 serious incidents which almost got me killed means I can’t get on a bike without feeling the trauma and fear coming straight back. I think I’ve done well so far to not pass any of that on to my kids. I also don’t own one and can not afford one now either.

Christ I came on here to say theatre followed bottomless brunch is something my mam and i enjoy doing together, then I saw that its for you and your DD not you and your mam 😬

DS and I do loads of drawing and crafts together. We are currently doing cards of things to look out for on a winter walk and making firework paintings. We'll then go into Christmas cards probably.

Outside of that, what about music? Learning an instrument or learning choreography to songs she likes? You can find basic ones on YouTube. Then you dress up and perform for DH/DM/DC or friends or someone.

Ah my ds would hate those activities, that's why we do more creative things. He is stretched enough at school and when out with his friends. At home spending time with me he is happier doing things he really enjoys - curling up with a book, doing some craft, going to a museum, going out for coffee. He can swim and reluctantly learnt how to ride a bike but hasn't touched it since cycling proficiency. He could go out cycling with dh but doesn't choose to (before you suggest it, after a number of back injuries my days of cycling are over). As long as the OP's daughter enjoys those activities I would go with them in her leisure time without trying to engineer her to do things she would rather not. If your kids love that sort of thing though then go for it.

Ah my ds would hate those activities, that's why we do more creative things. As long as the OP's daughter enjoys those activities I would go with them in her leisure time without trying to engineer her to do things she would rather not. If your kids love that sort of thing though then go for it

I’m not saying force the child to do anything they hate. Just that by restricting activities to “girly” they could be missing out on discovering new things they both enjoy.

Same as if you only looked for “boy” activities your son would miss out on the creative stuff he loves.