Home / Plans by age / Ages 10–12
Things to do with a 10- to 12-year-old
Tweens want more say and more trust. These plans hand them the planning, the budget or the stove, with you close by.
Good to know at this age
- CDC says children and teens 6 to 17 need at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. CDC, Child Activity: An Overview Checked Oct 15, 2026
- CDC recommends 9 to 12 hours of sleep a night for school-age children, 6 to 12. CDC, About Sleep Checked Oct 15, 2026
Quick: 30 minutes or less 40
- Tie a square knot and a bowline30 min · $0 · Ages 5+ · Indoor & Rainy Day
- Find north with a stick and the sun30 min · $0 · Ages 5+ · Outdoors
- Show your kid what you do at work30 min · $0 · Ages 5–12 · Work & Home
- Sort, fold, put away: the laundry crew30 min · $0 · Ages 4–10 · Chores
- A chore chart you'll actually keep30 min · $0 · Ages 5–14 · Chores
- Chapter-book nights: 20 minutes, voices, cliffhangers30 min · $0 · Ages 6–11 · Reading
- A two-person book club with your teen30 min · $0 · Ages 12+ · Reading
- The screen-free swap box30 min · $0 · Ages 3–10 · Screens
- The car-ride talk: hard topics, side by side20 min · $0 · Ages 10+ · Emotions & Hard Conversations
- Talking with your kid about scary news20 min · $0 · Ages 6–14 · Emotions & Hard Conversations
- Repair after you lose your temper10 min · $0 · Ages 3+ · Discipline
- The after-dinner family walk30 min · $0 · Ages Any · Dad Health
- A 20-minute family workout in the living room20 min · $0 · Ages 4–14 · Dad Health
- Water-safety rules before summer swimming30 min · $0 · Ages 3–12 · Outdoors
- Park the phones outside the bedrooms30 min to set up · $0–$25 · Ages 8–17 · Screens
- Catch them being good: a week of specific praise10 min a day · $0 · Ages 2–10 · Discipline
- Consequences that fit: logical, not harsh20 min · $0 · Ages 3–12 · Discipline
- The school-morning launch pad30 min · $0–$10 · Ages 5–12 · Chores
- The first-week-of-school check-in15 min · $0 · Ages 5–14 · Emotions & Hard Conversations
- A summer reading streak20 min a day · $0 · Ages 4–12 · Reading
- Tie a clove hitch and two half hitches30 min · $0 · Ages 6+ · Classic Field Skills
- Join two ropes with a sheet bend30 min · $0 · Ages 7+ · Classic Field Skills
- Send secret words with the wig-wag code30 min · $0 · Ages 7+ · Classic Field Skills
- Make a family whistle and hand-signal code25 min · $0 to $5 · Ages 5+ · Classic Field Skills
- Play Kim's game: remember the tray20 min · $0 · Ages 5+ · Classic Field Skills
- Find the North Star with the Big Dipper30 min · $0 · Ages 5+ · Classic Field Skills
- Find south with an analog watch20 min · $0 · Ages 7+ · Classic Field Skills
- First aid: press, cover, call30 min · About $10 · Ages 6+ · Classic Field Skills
- Play Quicksight and Farsight: two eye games30 min · $0 · Ages 5–12 · Classic Field Skills
- Find Orion, the winter hunter30 min · $0 · Ages 5+ · Classic Field Skills
- Whip a rope end and tie a timber hitch30 min · $0 · Ages 7+ · Classic Field Skills
- The nightly question journal10 min a night · About $5 · Ages 4–14 · Emotions & Hard Conversations
- They're having a hard time, not giving you one10 min · $0 · Ages 2–10 · Discipline
- Throw and catch: a hundred quick reps with Dad20 min · $0 · Ages 3–10 · Outdoors
- Telling your kid someone has died20 min · $0 · Ages 3+ · Emotions & Hard Conversations
- The puberty talk, dad's version15 min · About $20 · Ages 8–14 · Emotions & Hard Conversations
- The online safety talk: photos, secrets and sextortion20 min · $0 · Ages 9–17 · Emotions & Hard Conversations
- Build a snack board for the family30 min · About $10 · Ages 3–10 · Cooking
- Balloon volleyball in the living room30 min · $0 · Ages 4–10 · Indoor & Rainy Day
- Trash-can basketball league30 min · $0 · Ages 3–10 · Indoor & Rainy Day
An hour or two 31
- Skip a stone five times45 min · $0 · Ages 5+ · Outdoors
- Build a backyard lean-to2 hrs · $0 · Ages 6+ · Outdoors
- A no-flashlight moon walk40 min · $0 · Ages 4+ · Outdoors
- Grocery price detective60 min · $0 · Ages 7–12 · Money
- Your kid plans a $20 family outing60 min to plan · $20 · Ages 10–14 · Money
- Pancake Saturday45 min · About $5 · Ages 4–10 · Cooking
- Make-your-own pizza night60 min · About $15 · Ages 3–12 · Cooking
- Library card day: their own card, their own books90 min · $0 · Ages 3–12 · Reading
- Cardboard marble run on the wall or a box90 min · About $10 · Ages 5–12 · Indoor & Rainy Day
- Make a family media plan together45 min · $0 · Ages 5–17 · Screens
- The first-phone talk and agreement45 min · $0 · Ages 11–16 · Screens
- Set a holiday gift budget with your kids45 min · $0 to plan · Ages 6–14 · Money
- Build a real-food dinner together60 min · About $15 · Ages 5–12 · Dad Health
- Play their video game with them45 min · $0 · Ages 6–14 · Screens
- Build a family emergency kit together60 min · $20–$40 · Ages 6–14 · Chores
- Spell your name in semaphore flags40 min · $0 · Ages 7+ · Classic Field Skills
- Measure a tree with its shadow45 min · $0 · Ages 8+ · Classic Field Skills
- Build and put out a small campfire90 min · About $5 · Ages 8+ · Classic Field Skills
- Read tracks in mud, sand or snow60 min · $0 · Ages 5+ · Classic Field Skills
- Extra jobs, a 24-hour wait and a dad bank45 min · $0 · Ages 10–13 · Money
- Lay a trail with 1911 trail signs45 min · $0 · Ages 5+ · Classic Field Skills
- Measure across a creek without crossing it45 min · $0 · Ages 8+ · Classic Field Skills
- The dice-roll rainy day1 hour · $0 · Ages 3–10 · Indoor & Rainy Day
- Co-op game night: think out loud45 min · $0 · Ages 5–12 · Screens
- A first fishing trip with your kid2 hrs · About $35 · Ages 4–12 · Outdoors
- Make a sundial and mark the hours1 hr, spread over a sunny day · $0 · Ages 6+ · Classic Field Skills
- Light a bulb: a kitchen-table battery circuit45 min · About $15 · Ages 7–12 · Indoor & Rainy Day
- Find five plants on a neighborhood walk45 min · $0 · Ages 4–12 · Outdoors
- Cookie decorating night90 min · About $15 · Ages 3–12 · Cooking
- Audiobook and coloring hour: a calm reset1 hour · $0 · Ages 4–10 · Reading
- Dad builds, kid launches: straw rockets45 min · $0 · Ages 4–10 · Indoor & Rainy Day
Half a day or more 4
- Living-room campoutOvernight · $0 · Ages 4–12 · Indoor & Rainy Day
- A Junior Ranger day with DadHalf a day · Park fee, if any · Ages 5–13 · Outdoors
- A first campout in the backyardOvernight · $0 · Ages 4–12 · Classic Field Skills
- Building-brick set night: they read, you run parts2 evenings, about 90 min each · About $20 · Ages 5–12 · Indoor & Rainy Day
Co-parenting? The plans for two homes are on the co-parenting hub. Plans for you, not the kids (health, money, marriage), are under Topics. Other ages: Under 1 · 1–2 · 3–5 · 6–9 · 10–12 · 13+.