Family Game Night

Despite what the title sounds like, this does not have to take hours and hours to do.  Family game night can include dinner and multiple games or just one game.  Despite what specialists say YOU know what works for YOUR family, and if you're killing yourself trying to live up to these grand ideas of what family time should be like you will stress about it and probably grow to hate it.  So family game night should be fun and stress free.  So how do we get there?

1. Let everyone know when it is.  Once a month, once a week, it doesn't matter if you tell your family members the morning of "Oh Jake, you can't go out to the movies tonight.  Tonight is family game night, and we're going to have fun."  No, it doesn't work like that.
2. Make rules for family game night:  Are the neighborhood kids or adopted kids allowed or is it just for family members?  Do your teens need to ask for the night off from work, or will work be the exception to the rule for attendance?  How long will it last, will it be for hours and hours of fun, meaning game after game (or one game of Monopoly)?
3. If dinner is included I'd suggest a simple dinner, with a simple clean up.  Pizza and paper plates are about as simple as they come, even when you're making the pizza from scratch.  Have some snacks on hand regardless, because winning builds up an appetite and do you want everyone grumbling about hunger instead of laughing?
4. Let's go back to Monopoly for a second.  Are there any games that one person in your family loves, but has the rest of the crew high-tailing it for the road?  Perhaps allow each person to choose a game for family game night, or allow one person to plan the night on a rotating schedule.  Yes this means that someone will get stuck playing a game they dislike, but they will eventually get a game they like.
5. Family game night does not have to be about spending money.  I'll repeat myself.  FAMILY GAME NIGHT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ABOUT SPENDING MONEY.  There are plenty of games that are free, but it will take a few minutes of internet research and patience.  Let's see:
1. Pictionary (grab a few of the kids favorite books and or movies and write out cards in advance or allow the kids to pick these things and write down the answer before drawing.  Extra good parenting points if you can link it to what they are learning in school)
2. Charades, see above
3. Freeze (grab the radio and dance away til someone turns the volume off)
4. Simon Says
5. Card games, okay so you have to buy a pack of cards from the dollar store.  $1.00 and some internet research and you'll have more then twenty different games.
6. Hide and Seek
7. Hot Potato (use a sock, ewwwww)
8. Balloon Volley Ball
9. Memory Game (put several things on the table, give everyone ten seconds to look at it, when they close their eyes remove something, and see who gets it right)
10. I Spy
11. Tic Tac Toe or other pen and paper games
6. Do you have some old games that are missing pieces?  Make a new game out of it.  Why not have your best friend do the same thing and invite everyone over to share the new old games?
7. In fact if you're inviting your best friend, why not invite the neighborhood once in a blue moon?

Neighborhood Game Night

By now I know you've seen the family game night post.  So why not open your yard to your neighbors and have a neighborhood game night?  Same rules:

1. Tell your neighbors in advance the day and time.
2. Realize not everyone will be there for the entire thing.
3. Will there be food?  Ask everyone to bring a covered dish, assign a few houses to veggie duty, deserts, main dishes, paper plates..
4. Everyone has to bring a game to share, whether it is a board game or a game they invented.
5. Nothing is funnier than projecting just dance on the garage door and watching the neighbors try it out.  Just be safe about it, have someone near the projector to keep it safe from bumps, secure cords so no one trips, and put it away when you are done.
6. Warn all your neighbors about the outdoor family game night, some people may not appreciate a lot of noise and decide to go out to dinner that night.

The Zoo Again????

I don't know about y'all, but I prefer to have memberships to places like the children's museum, zoo, etc.  You pay one time and have unlimited access for the rest of the year. Pack a lunch and you're gold for the rest of the day. Or not....  Let's face it, we can only go to these places so many times before our kids can predict what is coming around the next bend.  As much as we'd like to see new and improved updates, we don't want to see our membership dues go up, so it is up to us to make the trip interesting and exciting.  So how do we do that?

Make a scavenger hunt!  It can be as simple or complex as your kids and you want it.  Here are a few themes:

• Color's:  each child is assigned a color
• ABC:  find something that begins with an A (apple tree), then a B (book), then a C (cone)
• List: Make a list of specific things they have to find
• Question:  Write specific questions that they have to find the answers to (hint look at the plaques)
• Flowers/Trees/Plants
• Animals
• The list is endless depending on where you are going, your kids ages, and how much effort you want to put into it.  HINT:  Decide how the kids will keep track of their findings, if it's on paper they will need something to write with, paper, and possible something to write on; if it's electronically bring extra batteries.  Also for younger kids I would post a picture of what they are looking for as well as the written word.

The above scavenger hunt ideas will work in your neighborhood, a mall, some car trips, and more.  But if a scavenger hunt is not your thing, try these ideas:

For younger kids decide to write a family story about your day.  Pass out cameras to your kids and make them responsible for taking pictures of their favorite things.  Print the pictures and let the kids write about the pictures (or have them dictate to you and you write the story), bind them into a book and your kids have a special keepsake that they can review whenever they want.

Start a family blog that has limited access to family and friends only.  Post all of the interesting things you see on these trips, silliness the kids make and do, and more.  More often people are moving away from home and really miss seeing these things, so it's a great way to keep family in touch for free.  DISCLAIMER:  If you are allowing your child to make this family blog independently have a strong conversation about internet safety and what is or is not allowed.

Walk through and make a verbal story with your kids.  You can start it, and as you all see different things the kids can add on to it.  These stories can be recorded to listen to and laugh over at a later time as well.

Give younger kids some paper, crayons, and a clipboard.  Have them draw pictures of some of the things they see.  The pictures won't be picture perfect, but they will be astounding.