Relationship Building Activities for Couples

Keeping a healthy relationship may seem like an impossible task, but it can be accomplished by simple relationship building activities. Relationship building activities helps a couple to connect with one another and it strengthens the bond between them as well. The four important factors needed to have a healthy relationship include trust, communication, commitment, and intimacy. The following activities will concentrate only on trust and communication, while commitment and intimacy will be discussed in Part Two of this article. The activities can be switched up to fit the personalities of you and your significant other, if needed.

Like most people say, "Without trust there can be no relationship;" this is a somewhat true statement. Some couples struggle with the trust in their relationship due to an infidelity on one or both parts and in some cases because of insecurities within one or the other. Having trust in a relationship means having complete patience and understanding of one another. If trust was lost in a relationship it will take some work and time to gain it back; so give each other a bit of time for this activity to completely work. A great trust building activity is known as the "Blindfold walk." To begin this activity you will need a blindfold, which can be made out of clothing or an eye mask. Choose which of you will go first; this can be done by placing your names in a bowl or flipping a coin. Whoever is first will begin by placing the blindfold over your significant others eyes and then begin walking her around the house for thirty minutes. While guiding her around the house you are only allowed to give verbal instructions; no touching is allowed. After you both have completed your walks, sit down with one another and describe how you both felt throughout the entire walk. Trusting your partner with guiding you to walk around while completely blindfolded is a great activity and start to building the trust in your relationship.

Communicating in a relationship includes more than just saying "Hi," "Bye," and "How was your day." To communicate in a relationship both partners need to listen to one another and speak in a respectful and understanding tone. Being unable to effectively communicate with one another creates so many barriers and is usually one of the biggest issues couples deal with; some don't even know that they have a communication issue. A good beginners communication activities is called the "Information gap." To begin this activity you will need two pencils and two sheets of paper. In this activity you and your partner will write notes to one another that is at least one paragraph long. After writing the notes, remove all of the verbs and adjectives and then switch notes with your partner. Both of you will fill in the blanks with verbs and adjectives of your own. For example, "To Jane, I ____ you because you ____ me ____; which can be filled in like similar to this, "To Jane, I love you because you make me happy." Afterward, read the notes to one another and share any thoughts that you may have, but remember to pay attention and listen to one another. This activity will help build the listening and speaking skills between you and your partner.