1 Put on some lively music and dance together. Just what you need to put you in the festive mood for Christmas. Have fun and at the same time burn off a few calories to feel fitter and re-energised. Go ahead, dancing ALWAYS makes you feel better.

2 Have a wrestling match. Children love a good scrap. A really fun way to build eye-body reflex co-ordination and tactile confidence. This is a great bonding exercise for dads and children and takes absolutely no planning or preparation . . . so you have no e. excuse. The only rule in a wrestling match between dads and children is the child is always the winner.

3 Plant a tree in the garden together and dedicate it to your child. Let your child choose a tree from a garden centre and be actively involved in the planting process. A beautiful and enduring reminder of the interplay between life and time. This creates in children a sense of stewardship, responsibility and value for their natural environment and is a reminder for us to protect our children's environmental heritage. The future belongs to our children and planting a tree symbolises our belief in that future.

4 Put messages on helium balloons with your address, send up into the sky and await a response. Children will love this activity. Help your children compose messages and watch their faces light up with excitement at the countdown to the launch. As they release the balloons, watch them go up into the heavens and beyond into the depths of your children's imagination. They could soon be corresponding with new pen pals in some far away places.

5 Write and/or sing songs together. Get words to favourite songs; record yourselves on tape or video. Come on, get your performing hats on. Children grow up so fast; record these precious times together for future cherished memories of the fun times you had with your child in these fleeting and elusive years.

6 Recollect and write a list of your happiest moments together; keep the list; add to it annually. What happy times do you remember from the year gone by? Find out what your child remembers as the happy moments you shared together.

7 Show your child how to read a map. Let her or him choose a destination and then drive there, allowing her or him to act as navigator. Give your child the opportunity to make `big-people-type' decisions and direct a car and driver to a destination via the route of his or her choice. A good exercise in planning, orientation awareness and map reading. Delegate all the decision-making to your child. Relax, enjoy the drive.

8 Place a letter, memorabilia etc in a time capsule; date it; bury it; agree a date to dig it up; draw a map so it can be found. Use a waterproof, corrosion-resistant or non-biodegradable container. Place items of a personal nature: lock of hair, a nail clipping, photograph, current newspaper story/heading, a toy, item of clothing, video or audio recording, drawing etc. Include a letter about your hopes and dreams from both of you to yourselves in the future. Leave it buried for a number of years until an agreed specified date (maybe your child's 18th or 21st birthday).

9 Take a day trip by boat or train and introduce your child to the staff. Bring a camera or video recorder. Take the time to spend a whole day away together. Use the opportunity as passengers to make an extra effort to be more observant of your surroundings, ie, look for and discuss historical buildings; interesting skies and weather/cloud formations; observe people's behaviour and look for interesting natural or geological phenomena. Encourage your child to ask lots of questions. Let her or him take the photographs and bring home mementos of your trip (seashells, rocks etc).

10 Go for a walk deep into a forest. Get in touch with nature and share this journey with your child. Experience an escape from the stresses of modern living and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of this beautiful world we live in. Such extended opportunities often allow children to open up and discuss their most profound thoughts. You'll both come home with a hearty appetite and you will sleep well after all the fresh air and exercise.

Sam Carroll is the author of Things for Dads to do with Kids, a pocket-size book identifying 178 activities (plus photographs and cartoons), each rated for levels of interactivity, time required and cost, which help promote a good relationship between fathers and their children. The book is published by Parental Equality Publishing, 54 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1, (phone: 01- 872 5222) price £5.50, and available at book stores and amazon.co.uk.