Start out parent visitation day by introducing parents to the school campus. Parents may not know where the library is, where the cafeteria is, the computer lab and other important rooms on campus. A creative and engaging way to show parents around is to set up a scavenger hunt. Start the group of parents out in the classroom and tell them to look for an index card with a clue on it. The clue tells them where to go next, and can be written in a riddle, such as "People call me a book worm, because I like to spend my lunch hour here." The answer is the library, and parents follow the directions on the index cards to make their way to the library. Once at the library, they receive another card with more clues and directions that lead them around the campus. If you want to keep everyone in the classroom, you can create a scavenger hunt to showcase areas of your classroom and its components.
Parent visitation day is the optimal time to get parents and their kids working together on a project. Together, they can accomplish a goal and feel like a good team. One idea for a parent-child activity is to do a craft activity. If a holiday is upon you, set up an art project for kids and parents to decorate holiday picture frames. A non-holiday art activity is to draw portraits of one another. For younger children, you can make a parent and child handprint collage with their handprints next to each other on a canvas.
Host a trivia game where students compete against parents to see which group knows the most facts about a particular subject. For instance, if you just taught your class about American history, use that subject to spark trivia questions for this game. To play, ask the players a question, such as "Who was the tenth President?" and see which team raises a hand first to answer. Keep score to see who the winning team is at the end of the game.
You can give parents on parent visitation day a writing activity to do, quietly, on their own while you complete an in-class lesson with the students. Pass out paper and a pencil, and tell the parents to write a journal entry about a particular subject that you give them. You might give them a subject like "Things I'm looking forward to for my child's summer vacation" or "Ways that I can use my time more efficiently at home with my child."