Family Time: Simple Family Fun Activity Ideas

by Cecily Kellogg on April 9th, 2019 | No Comments »

With three quarters of my family suffering from “glued to an electronic device” syndrome, we've had to work hard to create regular family traditions that force us to put down the laptops and actually look each other in the eye.

Simple Family Fun Activity Ideas

Family Game Night

Trust me when I tell you this is NOT easy. I often work through dinner or right after we eat; working for a start-up—as amazing and inspiring as it is—means a lot of schedule juggling (God BLESS the fact that the company focuses on online organizing; meaning I’ve become an organized machine). But I know that all my hard work means nothing if my daughter doesn’t get to look in my eyes and talk to me on a regular basis. So once a week, after dinner, we play games. Simple, technology free games like Go Fish and, a serious family favorite, Jenga. Which my daughter ALWAYS wins; it’s like she’s an innate engineer.

If you're searching for exciting things to do in Fort Worth, you can try axe throwing. This game is very popular amongst people because of the fact that it’s very easy to learn and is a lot of fun.

Farmer's Market Outings

We also go to the Farmer’s Market on Saturdays in nice weather. We have a small one in our little borough, and there’s a larger one near a popular park a few miles away. We buy fruit and veggies my daughter picks out because then there is a teeny possibility that she’ll actually eat them later. We enjoy the live music that is always there, and we enjoy seeing neighbors (my daughter often sees friends at the local farmer’s market, which is fun).

Interactive Car Games

There are smaller things we do, too. In the car whenever we’re driving somewhere, we all play “What Am I?” This is a game my daughter adores where you have to list attributes of the thing you “are” and the other players try to guess what it is. Or we play I-Spy, rather than let her turn on the car’s DVD player. This helps a lot.

Bedtime Routines

Then there’s my favorite thing: bedtime. I put my daughter to bed each night (My husband gets up with her—I know, I’m the luckiest woman in the world.), and we have a great time. We read a book, and recently we switched from me reading the books to her reading them to me. Then we talk for a while. My daughter calls this “getting all her talking out” so she can sleep. It’s my happiest moment of the day. Then I sing her lullabies (Her favorite: Amazing Grace. I KNOW.) and she goes off to sleep.

I realize there are much bigger ways to have family fun traditions: a yearly family vacation to the beach, for instance, or going to amusement parks, zoos, and museums. Don’t get me wrong, we do all those things, too. But I believe in my heart of hearts that it’s these small moments of routine that will stand out in my daughter’s mind more than anything else.

I know they’ll stand out in mine.

What are some of your simple family traditions?

Featured image courtesy of Flickr. Picture courtesy of Flickr.

Cecily Kellogg is the mom of nearly six year old daughter, a wife, and the social media strategist for AboutOne, an online family organizer that turns your phone into a remote control for your life, working with your existing calendar and contact tools so you can automatically organize, store, and share family memories and household paperwork. Through web and mobile apps, AboutOne guides you along the path to organization, rewarding you along the way for meeting your organizational goals.