Girl Power!: Activities for Dads and Daughters

Use the list below for ideas of activities you and your daughter can do together. These activities are also available as cards in PDF format. Just cut them out with your daughter and use them when you need some ideas. You must have Adobe Acrobat to view the activities in the PDF card style. To download Adobe Acrobat 4.0 for FREE, please click here.

Create a work of art together. Create a sculpture out of things you find outdoors. You’ll be amazed at your daughter’s creativity!
Talk to your daughter about the Earth and about its natural resources. Together, see if you can describe your version of the perfect Earth or write down your wishes for the future of our planet.
Plant a small garden in a plot of land or a window box together. If you plant herbs, you can watch them grow. Then, when the herbs are fully grown, you can pick them and use them in a meal you cook together.
Make messages of kindness together. Write down messages or kind thoughts about different members of your family and hide them around the house for members of your family to find. You will be teaching your daughter the impact that unsolicited kind words and thoughts can have.
Help your daughter read and understand newspaper headlines. Ask her to pick a news story that is interesting to her. Talk to her about the article she chose. It could be a great opportunity to open her eyes to world affairs.
Design a family flag with your daughter. What will your flag look like? Will your flag show that you live in the city or the country? Will your flag include your ethnic background or your family name? How many people will you put on your flag?
Go on an adventure walk or hike with your daughter. Count how many animals or insects you see. Look for spider webs, bird nests, or anthills. See if you or your daughter can name the plants you see during your walk.
Create a collage of memories of your family. Gather old photos or birthday cards and other memorable items and paste them together on poster board. Ask your daughter if she remembers all of the events. Talk about your favorite times together.
Read a story aloud to each other. Change your voice to match each character in the story.
With your daughter’s guidance, you can learn that you are not too old for sidewalk chalk. Go outside and decorate your driveway or walkway. With sidewalk chalk, the sky is the limit. You can write a little story or draw a beautiful picture. You can also play games like tic-tac-toe or hangman. Your daughter might like your willingness to act like a kid again!
Take your daughter with you to work. Show her what you do from day to day. Introduce her to all of your friends and coworkers. Give her a job to do, like organizing one of your desk drawers or your desk area. Maybe she could alphabetize your list of clients or other work contacts. At the end of the day, ask her what she thought about her day at work. See how different her perspective of work is than yours.
Arrange a community sports event together. Whether your daughter’s favorite sport is basketball, teeball, kickball, or swimming, invite others (kids and grownups) from your neighborhood to join in the fun. Make sure to mix the teams up so that there are kids and grownups on each team!
Stargaze with your daughter. Look for the North Star, the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper. Tell your daughter about space travel. Imagine what it would be like to walk on the moon.
Listen to your daughter’s favorite music with her. Ask her why she likes the bands and artists she likes. Learn the words to the songs that she listens to and ask her what they mean to her. Talk about the music you listened to when you were her age. What was popular then compared to what is popular now?
Pretend that you have gone back in time. For one day, avoid using most of today’s modern conveniences. See if you can get around without driving the car by biking or walking everywhere you go. Try not to turn on the TV or the radio. Try cooking without using a microwave. See if you can eat dinner by candlelight. Maybe you can even make your own loaf of bread instead of buying one from the supermarket. When the day is over, reflect on the day and talk about how much we rely on modern technology. Talk about how many of these appliances you had when you were growing up.
Take your daughter with you to get the oil changed or ask her to help you out when you do it. Talk about the importance of car safety and maintenance. This might not sound like a fun thing to your daughter, but showing her this when she is young and reinforcing it through the years increases the chances that she will practice car safety and be more aware of car maintenance.
Take a trip to your hometown. Show her the house you grew up in. Tell her what it was like in the neighborhood, and describe a typical day in the life of a 10-year-old you. Ask her if she sees any similarities in what you did when you were her age.
Volunteer for an event together. Do a stream cleanup or tree planting project together. Check your local or community newspaper for listings of volunteer activities. This will teach your daughter the rewards of volunteering and the importance of community.
Help your daughter start a lemonade stand or a bake sale. Start from scratch— have her apply for a loan from you, buy the supplies, determine prices and a good location for her business, design the poster board to advertise her business, and create business cards. When the day is over and the “shop” is closed, after she has paid you back for the loan, see if she has made a profit. This can be an excellent (and penalty-free) exercise in money management and business.
Visit your local library together. Pick out books on topics that you and she are not quite sure you are interested in and explore them. The best thing about libraries is that the books and the knowledge are free! If she didn’t like the book or the topic, just return it! No questions asked. This is a great way to explore ideas and learn about topics without spending a ton of money.
Research your family history and create a family tree. You can dig up old family books, pictures, and other memorabilia to help you. Ask your daughter to interview her grandparents or other relatives so that she can be an authority on some of the branches of the tree. This is a great way to spend time together while learning all about your family.
Learn how to read a map together. Work on the basics of map reading and plan a biking, inline skating, or hiking trip together. Identify landmarks and pay attention to elevation levels. Show her how to determine which way you are going and how to calculate mileage.
Go horseback riding together. Girls’ love for horses seems almost innate. If your daughter has an insatiable desire, or even a slight interest, to trot or gallop off into the sunset, this is an excellent way to spend quality time with her.
When was the last time you saw a gorilla or a lion up close? Take a trip to the zoo together. There are lots of fun things to do at the zoo. You can talk about which animal you wish you could be and why, you can imitate some of the walks or noises the animals make, or you can simply have fun talking about the natural habitats of the animals and imagine what it would be like to be in their environment.