15 Minutes of Family Fun in November

November can be a funny in-between month.

There are still a few beautiful fall days to enjoy, but the evenings are getting darker and colder. The holiday season is starting to peek around the corner, and calendars have a habit of filling up awfully quickly.

That makes it a great month to look for little pockets of time to have some fun together.

You don’t need to plan an elaborate family outing or clear an entire afternoon. These ideas for 15 minutes of family fun in November are simple, inexpensive, and easy to fit into an ordinary day.

Pick one when everyone needs a break, let family members take turns choosing, or keep the list handy for those rare moments when someone says, “What should we do?”

And if you missed them, you can find even more ideas in our 15 Minutes of Family Fun in October.

15 Minutes of Family Fun in November

Start a family read-aloud.

Choose a book and read a chapter — or whatever you can fit into about 15 minutes — each evening.

If you have a little more time one night, build a blanket fort and have story time inside. As the weather gets colder, a winter or holiday story can be especially fun.

And don’t assume read-alouds are only for little kids. Older kids and teens can get surprisingly invested in a good story too.

Have a hot cocoa break.

Make everyone a mug of hot cocoa and actually sit down together to drink it.

No activity required.

It’s a lovely excuse to warm up after a chilly day and spend a few minutes talking before everyone heads off in different directions again.

Bake cookies together.

You don’t have to start from scratch.

Use your favourite homemade recipe, refrigerated cookie dough, or a mix. The point is to get into the kitchen together — and, of course, eat something delicious when you’re finished.

If the cookies take longer than 15 minutes to bake, your family-fun portion can officially end when the tray goes into the oven.

Go bowling in the hallway.

Set up empty plastic bottles as bowling pins and use a soft ball to knock them down.

Give everyone five rounds and keep score, or skip the scoring entirely and see who can come up with the most ridiculous bowling technique.

Just move anything breakable first. Ask me how I know that’s a good general rule for indoor family activities.

Write a letter to someone.

Choose a grandparent, cousin, family friend, or someone else who would enjoy finding a real letter in their mailbox.

Younger children can dictate their message and add a drawing. Older kids can write their own note.

You could even make this a regular family habit and choose someone different each month. Writing letters and thank-you notes is also one of the ideas in our family meeting guide, along with plenty of other ways to connect and communicate as a family.

Bundle up and head outside.

November doesn’t mean outdoor family time has to end.

Play tag, kick a soccer ball around, toss a ball back and forth, take a quick walk around the block, or simply see how much the neighbourhood has changed since October.

Fifteen minutes of fresh air can feel pretty good after a day spent indoors.

Make leaf people.

If there are still some colourful autumn leaves hanging around, gather a few and turn them into silly leaf people.

Add paper, googly eyes, markers, yarn, pipe cleaners, or whatever you have in your craft supplies.

You can make a whole leaf family or see who can create the strangest character.

Start a jigsaw puzzle.

Choose a puzzle you can leave somewhere without it being in the way and work on it for 15 minutes at a time.

Nobody says you have to finish a puzzle in one sitting.

In fact, watching it slowly come together over several days can be part of the fun.

Need more ideas for a day when everyone is stuck indoors? Our Rainy Day Toolkit is packed with easy ways to have fun at home.

Paint without paintbrushes.

Pull out some paint and then leave the paintbrushes in the cupboard.

Try painting with sponges, cotton swabs, feathers, forks, craft sticks, pieces of cardboard, or other interesting objects you have around the house.

Everyone can make their own picture, or you can work together on one big piece of art.

Another idea: paint a roll of plain kraft paper and save it to use as handmade wrapping paper during the holidays.

Make a gratitude tree.

Cut a simple tree trunk and branches from construction paper or draw one on a large piece of paper.

Then make a pile of paper leaves.

Each day, have everyone write or draw something they’re grateful for on a leaf and add it to the tree. By the end of the month, you’ll have a colourful collection of little things your family appreciated along the way.

You’ll find our thankful tree along with more ideas in Thanksgiving Family Fun.

Make funny-face sandwiches.

Turn snack time or dinner into an art project.

Start with bread, a bagel, pita, English muffin, or another base and add your favourite spread. Then use whatever sandwich toppings you have to create faces.

Try sliced fruit or vegetables, cheese, olives, seeds, raisins, pickles, or anything else that makes sense with your sandwich.

Make people. Make animals. Make monsters.

Or challenge everyone to make a portrait of another family member and see how that goes.

Have a silent dinner.

Here’s one that could get interesting.

Challenge everyone to make it through dinner without speaking.

You can gesture. You can make faces. You can attempt increasingly elaborate games of charades.

But no talking.

Too easy?

Change the rule: you aren’t allowed to speak, but you ARE allowed to sing.

Every request for someone to pass the potatoes must now be performed musically.

You’re welcome.

Fifteen Minutes Is Enough

You don’t have to work your way through this entire list before December arrives.

Choose the ideas that sound fun to your family and ignore the ones that don’t.

Some days you might have time for an outing or an entire afternoon together. Other days, 15 minutes over hot cocoa or one very strange dinner might be what fits.

Both count.

The goal of this series has always been to notice those little openings in an ordinary day and do something with them.

So pick an idea, set aside 15 minutes, and see what happens.

And if you try the singing-only dinner, I would genuinely love to know how long your family makes it.

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