What's your favorite activity to do with your children?

Question

I'm looking for new ideas for family time. When giving your answer, please give the ages of your kids. THANKS!

Answer 1

I can't speak to my favorite activity to do with my kids as I don't have any yet, but I can tell you what my favorite activites were with my parents when I was growing up.

The zoo was a perennial favorite for me and my siblings, throughout our entire lives (we currently range in age from 16 to 26). I loved going on hikes with my mom in our local parks and forest reserves, as we took bird and flower books and learned to identifiy the different species. One of the reserves we went to also had an interactive area where we could hold snakes, lizards, turtles, watch bees in their colony, etc. I grew up with a deep respect for nature and a knowledge of all things natural that few of my peers have. Along those same lines, we loved going to the Natural History Museum and seeing the stuffed animals and skeletons. We also took this love of the outdoors and nature to our annual vactations, where we visited almost every state within driving distance and went camping - not RV camping, but tent camping. We camped at the headwaters of the Missouri river in Minnesota, in the badlands of South Dakota, in the forests of Arkansas....camping is still a favorite activity as an adult, and it teaches a lot of life lessons too - I'm proud that I'm not a "girly" girl and can sustain myself by building a fire, knowing what is okay to eat in the wild, building a shelter, etc. I can tie knots, set up a tent in minutes, chop firewood, etc.

We also went on many picnics, where we'd pick up KFC and take a kite and a frisbee and toss it around while enjoying the sun and outdoor family time.

Building something together was always memorable, whether it was a simple birdhouse or a more elaborate fort outside.

My mother and father were both artistic, so we had many craft times. We painted and glued our own ornaments when it was Christmas time, made paper turkeys at Thanksgiving, etc.

As we got old, family game night became the highlight of the week. It started with a few games geared toward the youngest of the kids, like Chutes and Ladders or Hi Ho Cherry-O, then when they went to bed it would continue with more advanced games like Clue, Scrabble, Sequence, Scattergories and Pictionary, and card games like Poker and UNO and May I. Right now our favorite games are Settlers of Cataan and Apples to Apples. It's a tradition I hope to continue with my children when the time comes.

When we were very small, like three and four, I remember our dad making us into pizza and we'd always clamor for him to do it again. He'd lay us out in his lap, spread us out (pretending that he was rolling out the dough), toss us in the air, then spread sauce on us, put pepporonis (or whatever kind of pizza we decided to be) on us, then sprinkle us with cheese (light tickling). Then into the "oven" where we'd cook for a few seconds and out we'd come, where we'd be gobbled up. It sounds cheesy but younger kids absolutely delight in it.

Answer 2

Well my favorite activity to do with my mom (I'm fifteen) is anything really. We have such a good time. I love to go to the park and walk around the woods maybe head down to the creek near there and if it's warm enough we'll put our feet in the creek. I love playing old classic boardgames with her such as Sorry or Monopoly or Life and we'll usually laugh our heads off because I usually end up going bankrupt. Also when it's really warm outside my will spend most of her afternoon working on the back and frontyard. Gardening, mowing the lawn, just making it look pretty. So I'll get my flute or piccolo or fife and I'll get some music (preferably Celtic or Irish music I think it goes perfectly on a sunny day outside!) and I'll just play along. Sometimes our next door neighbor will stop and listen also. Swimming. My mom and I love to go swimming together. Though she usually just lays in the sun complaining that the water is "too cold". And I usually swim around and do flips off the diving board. Go to the gym. Yup my mom and I love to go to the gym, together. She is a person who doesn't push me past my limit. She thinks that it doesn't matter how many laps you do on the treadmill or whatever counts it's more of the quality over quantity thing. We also like to have cookouts I try to help her cook even though I am awful at it. I can make corn on the cob though, so that has to count for something. Shop! My mom and I are such girly girls. We love to shop and it doesn't have to be a clothing store or anything. It can be a music store, bookstore, it can be Wal - mart, the grocery store. It's just so much fun. See I'm fifteen years old and I STILL love to spend time with my mom. We have such a great time together and I just love spending time with her. :)

Answer 3

My daughter is 10 months old. Ever since she started crawling, when the weather is nice, I take her to a park as often as I can to do some "exploring". We will walk around the park and I'll put her down in the grass and let her just do what she wants to do! I follow her around as she explores the different leaves and pinecones and other things out there and we talk about the things she points to or picks up. Sometimes we'll bring a ball and she'll chase that around, too. It's fun for both of us! I also love reading to her, she loooves to turn the pages and point at everything and say "da" and I'll make up little stories to tell her. She's a lot of fun!

Answer 4

I watch my niece (7) and nephew(4) a lot. I take them and their bikes to the park a lot and watch them ride. We also go on nature hikes and collect feathers, rocks, flowers, etc. (remember when you were little and wooded areas seemed like an enchanted forest!). For christmas we made dough ornaments and decorated them...we've also down this with sugar cookies. I have a bunch of cookie cutters that they choose from. Oh, and they love to make pizza (I usually buy pre-made crust). We play tag, card games and dominoes(you would be surprised at how quickly they learn games), We toss the ball around outside, play soccer, also there is an indoor place for kids that has huge blow up jumping things(like moon walks) that I take them to occasionally. I try to play outside more than inside, since children now are becoming overweight couch potatoes with no imagination. Mainly just have fun!

Answer 5

At home, we play board games (Scrabble is a current favorite, as is Monopoly) or Playstation (look for games with two player options, like racing games) or we go to the park and play baseball or football.
For going out, I've taken my kids to museums (they fuss at first, but get into it when we are there), amusement parks, the beach and sporting events (hockey and baseball).
My kids are 11 and 9, by the way. Most of this stuff I've been doing with them for several years. I try to do a variety of things with them whenever possible.

Answer 6

My daughter, Brooke, is 2. We like to have tea parties, color, sing. Sometimes we play dress-up. I put eyeliner on her posing as whiskers and she walks around the house saying "meow". You could try "circle time" where eveyone sits in a circle on the floor and talks about their day. Simon says. You could try making and decorating sugar cookies. It's very easy with very little mess. You could get some big pieces of paper and make paper cutouts of each other. Brooke is an only child so we made a cuteout and colored "Lil Brooke". We then taped her to the extra chair at her table. She loves it.

You could also try asking your kids what suggestions they come up with. They are very creative. Enjoy!!!

Answer 7

Finger Painting in the kitchen. My kids and I love to finger paint! We get unbelievably messy and since we do it in the kitchen, clean up is a cinch and they don't have to worry about where the paint goes. I buy giant poster boards and set out several colors of finger paints in pie tins.We also love to make hand and foot prints out of Plaster cast molds. You just buy a bucket of plaster and follow the directions of how to mix, I use shallow paper plates to pour the plaster in and when the plaster has gotten slightly dry I have the kids stick their hands and feet in. (the plaster gets very hot when it dries, so make sure they remove hands and feet as soon as they leave their imprint) Then leave the molds out in the sun to dry and when they are dry remove the paper plate and paint. It's a good keep sake. ^.~ I have a three year old and a one year old, both girls.

Answer 8

Game night is always a hit but can be hard if you have 2 very different aged children. .Mine are 10 and 3. Baking and or playdough time is always great fun for both ages. Also both genders.

Answer 9

Taking a walk, we get exercise, nothing to distract us (tv, phone, radio) so we get to talk about our day with each other. We also play redlight, greenlight when we're walking sometimes, to keep the kids interested. Kyleigh-6, Alex-3.

Answer 10

I love to do anything that makes him laugh that really hard belly laughter. Rather it is hanging him upside down or making funny faces or chasing him all through the house. Just anything to hear that big ol laugh coming out of such a little person is the best!