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.

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.

It’s easy while sitting at your computer to allow the lure of social networks, email, and even Words with Friends on your phone to distract you from working. This means that often each individual project takes longer and is done … I’ll just say, less well.

Last week my mom sent me a poem called “Slow Dance.” Two sections caught my attention:

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask, How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say, “Hi”
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
Do you run through each day
On the fly?

I decided it was time to step back and remember how to focus.

How to Slow Down and Take One Thing at a Time

Here are my three tips for slowing down and tackling one thing at a time.

1. I check email as a reward for completing a task.

I turn off my desktop alerts so that I can concentrate on what I’m doing rather than feel compelled to hop into my email every time a new message comes in. Yes, email is instant and can be addictive, but the truth is it can usually wait an hour. If something needs to be done this very second, someone can call me or instant message me through Skype.

2. I only allow myself two checks of social networks a day.

Yes, really. I check in first thing in the morning and last thing at night. This has been SUCH a boon to my productivity.

3. I turn off my phone and move out of my office.

Every day I try to allocate twenty minutes to myself for exercise or time on my own for a break. I move out of my office and leave my phone behind. Taking a break from my phone and office also applies to family time, homework time, and my children’s bath time. I think it’s particularly important to turn off my “work brain” during these times so I can give my complete attention to my family.

These small steps have helped me work a bit more productively, and focus on the things that really matter in life.

How do you compartmentalize your time and help your family stay organized?

Joanne Lang is a mom of 4 boys, a wife, and the founder and CEO of 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.

Photo courtesy of Google Images

We, as parents, are so busy keeping our kids busy that we may not really know our children. We talk about our day in passing from one activity to the next but often do not take the time to discuss our children’s lives. Some kids are great at hiding emotions, grades, or problems. So, let’s slow down, spend quality time together, and get to know our kids!

I am as guilty as the next when it comes to being an on-the-go mom. I feel like keeping my kids involved in activities will help them understand the importance of team work, giving 110 percent, and responsibility.

I have come to realize that making time for the family is important. The kids are involved in one activity each, which still keeps us very busy. We find ways to spend quality time together that interest everyone. We watch football and baseball, play volleyball in the front yard, play card games or dominoes, go bowling, or just sit around a bond fire together and talk. I love to take the kids to school every morning — it is our special time to talk. It is amazing what you can learn about your child on the way to school!

Spending family time together is very important for your children. While the extra sports and activities are great for the kids, they need to have a relationship with mom and dad. It is important for parents to know their kids — know them well enough to see when they are happy and even when they are sad or have a problem. Take advantage of free time with your kids and get them talking!

How do you keep your family? What is your favorite part of the day with your kids?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Robin Greene is a mother of two teenagers, a wife and a Kindergarten teacher. Robin enjoys spending as much time with her family as possible. She also enjoys teaching, participating in church activities and freelance writing for mybabyclothes.com.  Your little one will be the talk of the town in their unique baby clothes, cute baby hat or beautiful tutu.

Looking for a fun holiday special of mammoth proportions? Our favorite movie friends from the “Ice Age” series are back in a bigger than life holiday DVD release that’s sure to get your whole family laughing this holiday season.  ICE AGE: A MAMMOTH CHRISTMAS landed on Blu-ray and DVD. Click here for more info.

Every dog has his day…wedding day, that is! It’s puppy love at first sight when Anchor Bay Entertainment unleashes A Christmas Wedding Tail on DVD!  This doggone good tail is a fun new holiday tradition, especially for blended families. Click here for more info.

Want to help your little Dora fan celebrate this holiday and fiesta season? You’ll want to be sure to check out the new three-DVD box set, Dora the Explorer: Celebrate with Dora. Click here for more info.

Happiness is…Peanuts™: Snow Days celebrates everyone’s favorite thing about a long chilly winter: snow days! This DVD is comprised of one newly remastered classic Peanuts television special, Click here for more info.

Give the gift of friendship this holiday season with Barney™: A Very Merry Christmas – The Movie, now on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand. Click here for more information.

Come ho-ho-home to the Island of Sodor and join Thomas and his engine friends for the holidays in Thomas & Friends™: Merry Christmas, Thomas! now on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand. Click here for more information.

Looking for a very, merry holiday gift for your favorite little engineer? A happy holiday season will be right on track when you present your little engineer with the Thomas & Friends™: Holiday Favorites 3-DVD Gift Set, a new collection of adventurous, holiday- themed DVDs featuring Thomas and his engine friends, chugging into stores on DVD October 18, 2011 from Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment. Click here for more info.

The Grinch, the Cat in the Hat and many other legendary literary characters come to life on  Dr. Seuss’s Holidays on the Loose!,This set features the holiday classic  Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! as well as The Grinch Grinches The Cat in the Hat and Halloween is Grinch Night. Click here for more information.

Give the gift of dance and good cheer this holiday season with Angelina Ballerina™: Holiday 3-DVD Gift Set, a collection of delightful DVDs waltzing into stores. With games and karaoke, it’s the perfect present for little ballerinas everywhere! Click here for info.

Have a holly jolly holiday this year with everyone’s favorite purple T-rex as he and his friends ring in the joy of the season in Barney™: Holiday Favorites 3-DVD Gift Set, unwrapping in stores. Click here for more info.

This year you can now celebrate Christmas, Halloween and Valentine’s Day, Bikini Bottom-style with SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy and the rest of the crew in SpongeBob SquarePants: Holidays with SpongeBob.  Click here for my review.

If your holiday season isn’t complete without a viewing of this long time classic, you’ll want to be sure to check out the new remastered deluxe edition of Frosty the Snowman  and the Twas the Night Before Christmas” on DVD and Blu-ray. You can see my reviews here and here.

What are your family’s favorite holiday movies?

Kim R. is a working mom of 2 and aunt to a whole posse more who covers family friendly deals, activties, entertainment and events www.twokidsandacoupon.com. Watch her site for regular reviews of movies, DVDs, and TV. She lives in rural Iowa, with her husband, son and daughter. You can also find her on Twitter @2kidsandacoupon.

There are always two very important parts of the family. Dad being the head of the home does not make him more important, he just has a different job; however, Mom’s job is the most important for she is the glue that keeps everyone coming back home. No matter where life takes the kids and the Grandkids, if Mom has done her job well, they all come back home.

With so many memories so dear to me around her kitchen or dining room table, it is hard to imagine, but in that same room, we said our last good-byes to her as she was carried away just before the holiday season. Unfortunately, the spindle and glue were gone and we all kind of went our own way. We still see each other, but really only once a year and even then, things are not the same. Everyone has their own way of coping and finds new relationships to fill their days.

A familiar song to me about Grandma says, “Now that Grandma’s gone, we all spend our Christmases at home. All the Aunts and Uncles have Grandkids of their own. Lord let our homes be filled with love and joy like Grandma knew and may she have a Merry Christmas celebrating there with You.”

Now we’re the Moms. We’re the center and the glue of our home. Hold the torch high, fill the home with lots of love, so when the kids go off into the world, even if they roam far, they’ll always come back home.

Alicia Ivey wants to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and hopes that everyone gets to spend time with family and friends.  Alicia is a wonderful wife and mother.  She enjoys traveling, singing and freelance writing for mybabyclothes.com.  No matter what the occasion this holiday season make sure your little one looks their very best in the most fashionable baby clothes or the perfect tutu with a matching baby headband.

Gardner Historic Village is an old mill converted into eclectic shops and antique stores with grassy areas and streams throughout. It may not be Salem, Massachusetts, but it is the perfect place for an awesome month-long Halloween celebration fit for the entire family.

I didn’t wait for October to arrive this year before heading over for the festivities. I met my mom, sister, and cousin there the other day for lunch. OK! I won’t lie. I was really after the pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies from the Naborhood Bakery (I bought eight!). Don’t worry! I shared.

Now, I need to plan a time to go back with my kids to take advantage of one of these Witchfest activities:

• Breakfast With a Witch—Take your kiddos to a magical breakfast with witches and warlords. (Check here for available tickets.)
• Ride to a Witch—Behind the village, you can take your kids on a hay ride, a pony ride, and buy a pumpkin. (Check out the dates/times before you go!)
• Witchapalooza—Enjoy a fun dinner theater with witches dancing and singing as your entertainment. (Tickets are on sale for shows Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays all month long.)
• Bewitching Scavenger Hunt—Take your kids around the grounds and identify all the locations of the witches on display. You can print the scavenger hunt before going!
• Witch’s Night Out—All you girls and women can dress up as witches and gather for fun (October 14 and 15, 2011).
• Whimsical Witch Displays—Check out the handmade witches on display like “Witchey Poo” here below!

Whether it’s ghosting someone, trunk or treating, creating a magic garden, or a local celebration with witches like this one at Gardner Historic Village, family traditions make holidays more fun.

What local, fun activities and events do you have planned for the Halloween season this year? What is your favorite part about the Halloween season?

I recently reviewed a new book called OMG Pancakes. The book was written by Jim Belosic and is filled with fun and creative ways to make pancakes. I was immediately drawn to the giraffe on the front of the book and thought, “There is no way that is a pancake.”

The characters that Jim creates with his pancakes are unbelieveable and will forever etch in your mind that breakfast can be fun and exciting. Sheep, spiderwebs, flamingos, dinosaurs, bluebirds, and monkeys are just a few of the 70 different creations you can make. OMG Pancakes is a page turner and you will marvel at the things you can make with pancake batter.

Jim shares how making pancakes with his daughter is a way they can spend time together. He gives his recipes, tricks, and tools of the trade to make breakfast more creative. I followed his easy instructions on to how to create pancakes with different colors, shapes, and designs. Our family tried a few of the recipes and found that it sparked a few new ideas of our own. Who knew that making breakfast together could be so much fun?

OMG pancakes is filled with new and exciting ways to make pancakes. It has me rethinking breakfast, and for my kids it has them wanting to spend time together making crazy looking pancakes. Take time to think about the traditions that are important to you and start to create them today.

What is your favorite family tradition? What are you doing to create memories with your kids?

“I will never say that to my kid.”

“I will never do THAT as a mom.”

And my favorite judgment-filled declaration, “I will never do what THAT PARENT did!”

After being the mom of three boys for a few years, my Department of Sweeping Statements has not only permanently CLOSED, but issued formal apologies for all previous actions.

Fig. A:

When I was pregnant with my first baby 10 years ago, I read every parenting book ever written.  I am very thorough.  I don’t remember exactly which one it was, but I think it was in the “Baby Whisperer.” The quote is lost on me, but it said something to the point that you need to START as you plan to PROCEED.

The technique was really successful. I used this technique for everything:  naps, bedtime, sitting at mealtime, snacks only in the kitchen, etc. I found when I started something the way I wanted it to go, the kids were too young in the beginning to argue and then I theorized that when they reach debating age, it has always been done that way so it doesn’t occur to them it could be another way.

I was a very smart parent.

Things were going really well.

I should write a parenting book.

And then my kids got older.

As the kids got older, they got smarter.

Then I noticed they were using their newly acquired intelligence AGAINST me.

This masterful manipulation surfaced first at breakfast.

Breakfast.

It started out innocent enough. Breakfast seemed to be the time that I had the most time. Breakfast seemed to be the time I could break a few rules. Breakfast became the time the kids could choose what they wanted to eat.

Breakfast started spiraling out of control.

Breakfast is now a crazy train and I want off.

Let’s examine closely Fig. A:
Our subject is a 2 y/o who woke mommy up at 6 am. saying, “EAT!”. His patient mother held off that demand for 30 minutes because it is SATURDAY. At 6:31 am the subject ate 1 1/2 bowls of instant oatmeal and 1/2 cup of soymilk. He then yelled, “DONE!”

Approximately 23 minutes later he returns to the kitchen, pulls the Quaker oat box out of the pantry and demands “OATMEAL”. His patient and attractive mother quietly explains how he already had oatmeal. “THIS OATMEAL!” he screams. His patient, attractive and loving mother thinks to herself, “well at least he is screaming for something healthy…I guess I can’t turn that down”.

7 minutes later the oatmeal is made. The oatmeal is portioned and set in front of subject. Subject screams, “FRIDGE! HOT!” His patient, attractive, loving and helpful mother delivers the child size oatmeal portion to the freezer to cool down.

Subject continues to be a royal pain in the butt while the oatmeal is in the fridge. His patient, attractive, loving, helpful and opportunistic mother then grabs the camera to take the picture of this tyranny.

His patient, attractive, loving, helpful, opportunistic and harried mother takes the child size oatmeal portion out of the freezer and gives it back to the subject. The subject takes 5 bites and yells, “TOAST!”

Ya, the freaking crazy mother made the toast.

Fig. A is only the beginning.  There is more…much, much, much more. I have clearly demonstrated that any parenting book I might author would be entitled:

Do as I Say, Not as I Do.

Holly is very careful not to dole out parenting advice as a mommy blogger who writes June Cleaver Nirvana.  She does continue to give constant advice to her three boys who seem to have severe issues of personal space.

The first thing you need to decide is where you are going. Because your kids are not the ONLY kids out of school, you might want to avoid the major kid hot spots in town—the zoo, the children’s museum, and any indoor play grounds.

You have to be smarter than the other kids’ parents.

4 Ways to Outsmart Fellow Parents When Planning a Holiday Family Outing in Your Town

1. Go to the local Art Museum. I promise you they have things for kids, but the OTHER parents don’t know that.  In my town, the Dallas Museum of Art has audio tours specifically for children and a full schedule of family activities.  If you are not into art, check into the smaller, quirky museums that you town might offer.  You might not spend the entire day, but an hour or two of adventure may just be what your family needs right now.
   X
2. Drive a little further from town. Instead of going to the large and well-known Dallas and Fort Worth Zoos, we like to head North toward Oklahoma to a little town called Gainesville which has a delightful zoo.  I have never seen it crowded and because of its layout, the kids can run wild around the 1 mile trail.  The bonus of the Gainesville zoo is that there is a miniature rail road out front that can be ridden for a dollar.
   X
3. Go outside. Dress the family for the weather and plan an outdoor outing.  The Dallas Arboretum and the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens are popular places to visit with kids, but if the temperature drops below 60 degrees, my fellow Texans will leave them deserted.  They would be perfect locations for a winter picnic and play.
   X
4. Search out the unusual. We have a book that I love called Weird Texas.  It has all sorts of quirky activities and the stories behind them.  Check out the website for Weird US to see the weird in your town.  Because of Weird Texas, we have found a haunted bridge just a few miles from our house that has a bunch of hiking trails around it.

Regardless of what you decide to do, remember these things: Pick a place, take your camera, and enjoy your kids.

What is your idea of the perfect family day trip?

Not the light and painted kind, but the heavy-store-bought-is-for-sissies kind of blocks.

Family legend goes that I was given these for my first birthday.  My dad made them and put them in a wooden wagon that he also made.  Each block can be carefully fitted into the wagon.  The secret to this clean-up puzzle could be unlocked once you had put away the blocks a thousand times.

Or that is how it seemed.

There is NO excuse for the way the blocks look in the picture above because I promise I hit that goal before I entered Kindergarten.

Block building was a regular event in our house.  It occurred post-church-lunch-nap.

Block building was NOT for kids.

It was a serious building enterprise whose mission was to use every block in a creative and strategic way that allowed the last block placed to touch the ceiling.

If the wooden block architect was successful, he was able to celebrate by slipping a pivotal piece out of his creation which caused the entire structure to tumble to the floor in one long crash.

The original Jenga.

Super-sized.

I remember the terror of the falling building.  Blocks rapidly dropped from the sky accompanied by wooden thunder.  As the block tower neared completion each week, the kids would run from the room in expectation of the impending destruction.  We would huddle together just around the corner using the wall as a block bomb shield.

It was magnificent.

My dad made a set of wooden blocks for my boys and then another set for my brother’s kids.  The kids were thrilled, but the adults were even more excited because they know that building blocks is not child’s play…

Holly Homer is a mommy blogger.  She writes June Cleaver Nirvana.

She is a stay-at-home mom of three block-buildin‘ boys.  In her spare time *cough*, she watches a little TV and ends up making late night purchases like WOW Containers, Pajama Jeans, and even the Booty Pop!