10 actually achievable New Year's resolutions for the whole family

A platform that manages a number of different volunteering programmes covering education, environment, healthcare and more, with HandsOn Shanghai you and your teens can find roles ranging from a storyteller at a children’s hospital to a companion at elderly care homes.

Your little ones can feel good tackling the rubbish that pollutes Shanghai’s coastline with local NGO Rendu Ocean Center. The team holds regular clean-ups at Nanhui beach and other coastal areas near the city, while educating all ages on waste management.

Got little ones mad about animals? Long-running non-profit organisation Second Chance Animal Aid (SCAA) is always on the lookout for volunteer foster families to temporarily house rescued animals while they look for new forever homes.

On a clear winter’s day, skyrocket 118 floors up to see the city from new heights at the Shanghai Tower’s observation deck. Sitting 546 metres in the sky (the tower itself is 632 metres tall, the world’s second tallest building) it offers incredible, 360-degree views of the city below. As an extra bonus, the ground floor is also home to a small- but-cool exhibition that charts the tallest buildings all over the world.

When the weather forces you to stay inside, keep your young explorer’s mind active with a trip to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center. From photographs, dioramas and maps of Old Shanghai to real-time traffic camera feeds to predictions for the future, this massive museum is dedicated to showing Shanghai’s development over the years. But the reason you’re really here? To try and find your house and favourite city sights on the enormous scaled replica.

Had your fill of big buildings? If you’ve been in Shanghai for more than five minutes, you’ll know it’s a city that’s food-obsessed and there’s so much you can learn about its rich culture through the cuisine. Who better to show you the way than the experts at UnTour Food Tours? Early risers, eat your way around the lanes of Old Xuhui on the Street Eats Breakfast tour or if you’ve got keen cooks, take your turn in the kitchen with the Dumpling Delights tour.

Feel like a professional chef in CieCAS’ state-of-the-art kitchens. The cooking school offers something for the whole family, from one-off parent and kid classes to courses (including Young Chef and Homemaker) where you’ll learn the essentials of cooking while whipping up a selection of international and Chinese dishes under the watchful eye of chefs whose expertise spans cuisines from all over the world.

Move over, Mozart! Led by a team of passionate musicians, at MusicLAB playing instruments is all about having fun and exploring sounds. They offer early age introduction programmes for tots first discovering music (best for 1.5 to five year olds) and one-on-one or small group instrument learning for kids five years and up, including guitar, piano, drums, singing and bass.

Just because you live in a heaving metropolis, don’t let that stop you dreaming of shredding and catching waves. Set in a Shanghai mall, with balmy 26-degree water, a trip to IGOsurfing is a great way to introduce your little swimmers to the world of surfing. There’s the option for discovery sessions and longer-term courses for serious boarders.

When you and your kiddos need to blow off some steam, boutique fitness studio Z&B Fitness has classes for all ages – think Zumba, Bootcamp and aerial yoga sessions designed especially for kids. As for parents? There’s everything from yoga, Pilates and barre to cardio sessions like spinning and HIIT to Les Mills favourites BODYPUMP and BODYATTACK and much more.

The Swiss alps it ain’t, but indoor ski and snowboarding centre Snow51’s ‘dry snow' moving slopes are good for burgeoning cold weather sports enthusiasts of all ages. You and your kids can take lessons led by qualified ski and snowboard instructors, plus there are extra activities to try like snow tubing and sledging.

Don’t let the chilly weather cramp your kid’s style. A great way to get your heart pumping, disguised as playtime, roller skate bar RIINK is family-friendly during daytime hours. (Keep an eye out for regular Teenage Kicks skate parties for teens and tweens). If you’re more into skating on ice, Feiyang Skating Center has everything your kids need to learn, tune-up and show off their ice-skating skills in no time.

Question everything you see at the immersive Museum of Optical Illusions. Here nothing is quite as it seems: rooms go topsy-turvy, heads float on platters, your own face appears in kaleidoscopic patterns and lots more. There are also a load of fun puzzles to solve. Make sure your phone is fully charged – this one’s all about the photo opps.

Though we’re always down for a trip to institutions like the Natural History Museum, Shanghai is home to a lot of lesser-known gems that are well worth a visit, like the Shanghai Animation and Comics Museum. Hidden in Pudong, it’s great for parents and kids to geek out in with exhibitions that range from cave paintings (the OG animations) to modern-day video games, and Disney classics to Chinese animations.

Whether you’re looking to boost your kiddo’s Chinese skills or your own, The Hutong School has courses for all ages. For young learners, after-school lessons cover the basics, but there are also extra activities like calligraphy classes for further immersion.

Get your kids psyched on all things France at international cultural organisation Alliance Française. Taught by native French speakers, here the language classes start for tots from one year old and go all the way up to adult lessons.

Add to your young polyglot’s language repertoire with Spanish lessons at CuCuGua. Finding creative ways to get kids learning and excited about new cultures, the Shanghai-based school currently offers private tutoring sessions at home or online classes via Zoom for children aged three and up.

Have a budding eco-warrior on your hands? Help them find ways to lessen their footprint with Zero Waste Shanghai’s V.I.D.A (Very Important Daily Actions) e-learning sessions for kids aged six to 12 that delve into topics like food waste, plastic pollution, DIY urban composting and more.

Take your old clothes and toys and see them passed onto their next owner, pick up new secondhand goodies and find zero waste wares at Eco Design Fair – a kid-friendly community market that encourages a lifestyle of reusing and recycling. Take a break from browsing to check out the creative stations that offer all kinds of DIY activities using recycled materials.

Support Shanghai’s local designers doing their bit for the planet. Boomi creates toothbrushes, reusable facewipes and travel kits made using materials like bamboo and organic cotton, largely sourced from Zhejiang. And swap out single-use wrapping paper and plastics with Baluchon’s furoshiki gift wrapping cloth and beeswax food wraps.

It’s all about the youngest family members at the Kerry Hotel, Pudong. Kids can hit slides and ball pits at Kerry’s 700sqm Adventure Zone, set off on a scavenger hunt across the hotel, or splash in the pool before snuggling into their own tent to sleep in a Family Fun Room decorated with Kerry Kangaroo.

A great getaway for nature lovers big and small, escape the urban jungle and take your tots on a tour of Chongming Island’s greatest hits. Only a couple of hours from downtown Shanghai, it’s home to Dongping Forest Park, Mahota Farm and more. As for accommodation? Go for a night of luxury at the pet-friendly Hyatt Regency Chongming.

A luxe brunch with the X-factor for your whole gang, The Stage at The Westin Bund Center ticks all the boxes for a Sunday treat. Set to rotating themes (past editions range from Turkish and Spanish to Bollywood and comic book characters), you and your minis can get stuck into a massive buffet spread. Plus, parents can let loose over a couple of drinks at the DIY cocktail station while entertainers keep your pint-size crew happy.

North-South rivalry aside, Beijing has all kinds of exciting sights that should be on any China bucket list (especially for wannabe historians), from heavy hitters like The Great Wall, The Summer Palace and The Forbidden City (as well as Jingshan Park that overlooks it) to lesser-known gems hidden down old hutongs.

Sanya isn’t the only place to get your island beach fix in China. Located off the southeast coast of Fujian, the island city of Xiamen is a great mini-break destination for jaded city- dwellers in need of a reboot. Whatever you do, don’t miss Gulangyu – a tiny pedestrian- only islet just off the coast of Xiamen offering chilled-out coastal town vibes.

Start ticking off destinations on your China bucket list by seeing the Terracotta Warriors and slurping on giant bowls of biang biang mian (thick belt noodles) in Xi’an, Shaanxi and paying a visit to the pandas in Sichuan’s capital Chengdu. Looking for breathtaking scenery? Point the compass south and take in the awesome beauty of Yunnan province at Yuanyang County’s famous rice paddies.