5 Fun Family Activities

by Mom It Forward on February 8th, 2019 | No Comments »

Creating memories together as a family is one of those things we do intentionally, and not so intentionally. What I mean is, we don’t always know what our children will carry with them into adulthood as treasured memories. I remember speaking to a mom who has an older daughter. When she had a conversation with her about what things she remembered most about her childhood, many of her answers surprised my friend. What we can do as parents is provide positive experiences and family activities that bring together the family and help create happy memories.

5 Activities You Can Do With Your Family

Make a Time Capsule

This is a fun activity to do as a whole family and everyone can get in on the fun and include some of their favorite items. For example, include some artwork, notes you write to your future self, and talk about things that interest you today. If you add any toys, make sure to take out the batteries so they don’t corrode and damage any of the other items. You could also include your latest movie stub and write the date on it. I did that with my daughter’s first movie we saw together at the tender age of 3 1/2 years of age and keep it as a keepsake. Paul Stephen, a cofounder of the Atlanta-based International Time Capsule Society (yes, there is actually a society!) says to not bury the time capsule as so many think they should as this will make for a soggy mess. Instead, store it in a dry area such as the garage or up in your closet, and add a silica-gel pack to absorb the moisture. Set a date to determine when you will all open it together.

Plant a Tree Together

Consult with your local nursery expert and let them know what area of the yard you plan to plant the tree and ask for recommendations on what would do best in that area. Take note of how much sun that area gets so they can best advise you. We brought our palm trees that were in large pots on our apartment patio to our new home. After we purchased our first home, I planted the palms tress along the backyard fence and they have grown to over 25 feet high since we planted them over ten years ago. It is nice to look out into the yard and know we carried some memories with us from our previous life. This is a great activity to do together. And once you know what the best tree choices are, you can choose one together and watch it grow over the years—along with the kids!

Make a Meal Together

This could be a really fun activity to do with your kids and teach them how to make some of your favorites family recipes that have been in the family for years. This past holiday season I taught my daughter how to make my mother’s homemade fudge. In truth, my husband did most of the stirring (there is a lot of stirring done in making fudge), but it was great to teach her this recipe as I had so many fond childhood memories of cooking and eating the fudge we made together. And any recipe you can make with dough that the kids can help knead will surely be a hit. Go through your family recipes and see what you want to pass down to your kids and enjoy creating some new memories together.

Create Self-Portraits

Did you know that you can upload an image and transfer it onto postage stamps through PictureItPostage? This might be fun to do for the holidays. You can also upload and transfer images to tote bags, water bottles, calendars, and loads more with Shutterfly. This would be a fun activity to do for the upcoming holidays to give personalized gifts. My daughter and I had a blast making a personalized Welcome to My Carnival Party Banner that was displayed near the front entrance to her party. We were laughing at all the pictures we had to choose from as most had her making a silly face.

Help a Cause

One of the things I really like about my daughter being a part of Girl Scouts is the emphasis placed on helping others. As a family, we find opportunities to help when we are able and always involve her. One year we gathered funds from her classmates who wanted to participate, stuffed animals donated by blablakids, handmade blankets by the local sewing group, my children’s book and had my daughter's preschool class help stuff the Project Night Night tote bags that we had purchased with the funds raised. The tote bags were stuffed with a blanket, children’s book, and a stuffed animal that were given to homeless children in shelters through the Project Night Night program. It was a great way to get my family involved with other families working towards helping others. As a family you can look at what organizations you want to support and work together on a project. It is a great way to spend some quality time doing good work!

What activities do you like to do with your family?

Melissa Northway, M.S., is a children’s author and founder of Dandelion Moms. Her daughter was the inspiration to write Penelope the Purple Pirate storybook app and book. Penelope demonstrates to children to use their imagination as well as to be kind to others. Melissa created Dandelion Moms, an online lifestyle site to inspire women to share in their journey and to go after their dreams—whatever they might be. You can reach Melissa at Dandelion Moms and MelissaNorthway.com and on Twitter @melissanorthway and @dandelionmoms, as well as Facebook.