Developing healthy family bonds has tons of benefits: it modifies behavioral problems, reduces the odds of violence in children and cuts down on emotional distress. It can be tough to come up with new activities, though, especially when you’re dealing with busy schedules at work and school. If you find yourself stumped, consider these options:

Prepare a Meal Together

Family dinners are fantastic ways to bond — you can all talk about your day, share stories, relax — but it’s also smart to make the meal preparation part of the experience. There’s something fun about having all hands on deck in the kitchen, even (or especially) when minor mishaps occur. Plus, you get the bonus of teaching your kids how to cook, so they learn a helpful life skill while you spend time with them.

Tourists in Your Own City

Your hometown has something worth seeing. It’s practically guaranteed. The problem is that almost nobody ever thinks to see these sights, since they’re considered “tourist” destinations. But a great way to get out and spend time with your family is to spend a day or a weekend being tourists in your own city. Historical sites, local attractions, specialty museums, even ballparks or shopping centers: There is something awesome in your city that you haven’t done.

Work Out as a Family

The added benefit here (besides bonding) is obvious: Everybody stays in shape. Working out as a family, from runs and hikes to strength training and sports, is a great way to stay healthy while offering wellness support to the people who matter most in your life. You can track performance, cheer each other on and rely on the family for support.

Go Camping

Classic and reliable. You don’t have to be the outdoorsy type to pull this off, either. A few modest supplies and a family-friendly park make it easy to spend the night out in nature. The big draw, though, is that spending time at a campsite means everybody can put away the smartphones and tablets that drive their lives (this goes for the parents, too). Take hikes, sing some songs, cook over an open fire and forget about Twitter for a night. You’ll be amazed.

Start a Garden

This is another way to mix bonding with health and wellness. Starting a garden in your yard lets you grow fruits and vegetables for your meals and gives you a shared project that benefits everyone in the family. Talk to the staff at your local nursery to learn more about what plants work best in your region, then see what your kids would like to grow. Growing actual living things is a great way to learn about the environment and the pleasures of seeing your work rewarded.

Read to Each Other

If you’ve got younger children — from below reading age into elementary school — family reading can be a great way to grow closer. For younger kids, it’s a time to learn how to read and spend time with stories they’ll remember for years, while for older kids, it can be a good opportunity to introduce them to books you loved when you were a kid. Public libraries are a great way to expand this, too. They often have storytime for younger kids, and you can also talk to the librarian to find out great titles for different age levels.

Have Regular Game Nights

Almost every family winds up with a legendary (or maybe just infamous) story about a family game night. Maybe it’s the round of Monopoly that wouldn’t end, or the time somebody tried to play a word in Scrabble that was clearly fake. Families have these stories because, believe it or not, simple things like game nights are wonderful ways to build strong bonds. Games teach sportsmanship, rules and the importance of give and take, and like family dinners, they unite people around a table and encourage talking, laughing and participation. Planning a regular family game night — Friday nights, Sunday afternoons, whatever — ensures that, no matter what else is going on, your family has a time and place to come together. It’s that consistency and commitment that forms the basis of real bonds.

Living a healthy lifestyle can sometimes feel like a luxury. Workout classes like CrossFit aren’t cheap, and eating healthy foods can often be more expensive than unhealthy options. So what can you do if you want to live well on a budget? One way to start: classic, result-oriented exercises you can do at home with little or no equipment. These exercises can be a great way to start on your health journey or keep yourself motivated, and you don’t have to worry about the cost. Here are a few to get you started:

Squats

There are so many varieties of squats that it makes sense to think of them as one broad group of exercises. They let you focus on your lower body as you build strength and tone muscle, and the best part is you don’t need any special gear, just room to move around. (e.g., You can do overhead squats by holding a broomstick up as you squat down.) You can also choose to work one leg or both.

Lunges

Keep the broomstick from the squats and use it to perform some effective overhead lunges. Proper lunges can really work your hip flexors, which can tighten up after too many hours of sitting or inactivity (in other words, a day of standard office work). Start with your feet together and step forward with one leg, making sure to step forward far enough so that your extended leg’s knee stays behind the toe.

Glute leg lift

This one might look simple, but the burn is all too real. It’s a great way to focus on your gluteus medius, a muscle on the side the pelvis. You start by lying on your side, legs stretched out, with your head resting on your arm. Roll a little until your body is at an angle to the ground, hold there, raise your top leg a couple feet, and point your toes toward the floor. Then lower your leg to touch the floor behind the heel of the other leg. Raise your leg back up to complete the rep.

Crunches

Crunches are great for your core, but doing them incorrectly could lead to back problems. To do them properly: lie with your back flat on the ground, elevate your feet to the point where your knees are at a 90-degree angle to your body, cross your hands over your chest, and sit up until your elbows reach your knees. It’s crucial to use your abdominal muscles, not your back or neck, to raise you up. As you sit up, exhale, then inhale as you lie back down. If you’re overweight, you might want to do hip rolls before graduating to crunches.

Push-ups

A great exercise that uses your own body, not any equipment, for resistance is the push-up. You can do them literally anywhere you have room to maneuver, which also makes them great for quick workouts. Keep your head straight, your shoulders and back stable, and stabilize your hips and torso.

Inchworm

The inchworm is a simple but effective way to build flexibility. It loosens up the hamstrings and also has core benefits as you transition downward into the push-up position. From a standing position, bend forward to touch the ground, then walk your hands forward until your body is pulled down to the push-up position. Then, keeping your hands planted, walk your feet forward until you’re back to the bent-over position. Repeat as needed.

Supermans

It doesn’t get much simpler or more cost-effective than an exercise that begins and ends with you lying on the ground. For this one, you start out lying on your stomach with your toes pointing behind you and your arms reaching forward. Exhale, then lift your arms and legs a few inches off the floor and hold. Then, gently lower your arms and legs back to the ground, making sure to stabilize your back and hips. Repeat.

Contralateral Limb Raises

The starting position for this one is the same as the one for the Superman stretch. Instead of raising both arms and both legs, though, these limb raises are designed to let you focus on one or two limbs at a time. You can raise one arm and then the other, or one leg and then the other. Another variation is to simultaneously raise one arm and the opposite leg, e.g., left arm and right leg, then hold them up briefly. Repeat as desired.

Front Plank

This is a demanding but great one for abs and back. Basically, it looks like a push-up, only instead of having your hands on the ground at your sides, you’ve got your lower arm, from hand to elbow. Start out by lying on your stomach with your arms close to your sides, then slowly lift your torso and legs off the ground. The goal is to keep your back straight. Hold for a few seconds, then go back down.

Standing Calf Raises

Standing calf raises are wonderful for legs and shins. Stand facing a wall, place your hands on the wall for support, and slowly lift yourself up onto your toes. Hold for a few seconds, then return. You can also raise on one leg at a time or turn your feet slightly to vary the exercise.

Walking and Running

Weather permitting, you can always go for a walk or a run, depending on your current skill level and available time. Remember, it’s not about winning out of the gate, but about building a healthy lifestyle. The key is to stay mobile and focus on wellness, and one of the best ways to do that is still to lace up your sneakers and hit the ground running.

Moms and dads who enjoy the game of chess are often anxious to teach it to their offspring. It is a wonderful bonding experience, and makes for fond memories and family traditions. A child will look back tenderly on his Sunday afternoon chess matches with Mom or Dad. Other parents are not chess players themselves, but have read about the multitude of benefits the game can offer to children. According to The Learning to Think Project, a Venezuelan study done from 1979-1984, chess instruction increased elementary school students’ IQ after less than one year of instruction. A German study published in 2010 by the Department of Neuroradiology at Tübingen University showed that chess exercises both sides of the brain, increasing innovation. Dr. Robert Ferguson of the US showed in 1982 that chess increases creative thinking and originality in children, while a study in New Brunswick, Canada in 1992 found that fifth grade students experienced gains in math scores proportionate to the amount of chess that was taught to them. With all of these benefits, it’s no wonder that parents want to teach this valuable game to their children.

Whatever your reason, teaching chess to your child is a sharp idea, however it’s also a complicated pastime. It is not easy to sit down with a little one and just play. There are a variety of game pieces to consider, and each one must abide by its own sets of rules when it comes to how it can move and take out its opponents on the board. For this reason, you have to teach chess slowly, step by step.

Teaching Your Child Chess in Nine Steps

If your child is not interested in chess and longs for you to release him to his trusty gaming console instead, be sure to speak chess in his language. Tell him each chess piece has special moves, and that the two teams are “battling” for the king. You can even purchase software and handheld console games that teach chess to children and help them develop their strategic thinking for the game in a manner that makes sense to them.

Remember, your child does not have to be Bobby Fischer in order to reap the many rewards that chess has to offer. Simply learning the game and spending time practicing it is enough to raise IQ, improve memory and enhance creativity. It’s also a special hobby that the two of you can share and enjoy together.