By Leo Babauta
Yesterday I posted about Family Day, where we try to have fun together as a family, often for free or without spending much money. I thought it would be useful to list some ways to have fun with your kids without spending a lot of money:
- Have a reading marathon.
- Write stories together.
- Play soccer.
- Paint or draw together.
- Create a fort in your living room out of blankets or cardboard boxes.
- Go on a hike.
- Have a sunset picnic at a park or beach.
- Play board games.
- Play kickball.
- Get up early, pack breakfast, and have a sunrise breakfast.
- Go to a museum.
- Go to a playground.
- Play hide-and-seek.
- Have a pillow fight.
- Ride bikes.
- Build sandcastles.
- Rent a dvd and make popcorn.
- Tell stories.
- Have a scavenger hunt.
- Make mazes or puzzles for each other to solve.
- Play card games.
- Garden together.
- Bake cookies (let the kids help).
- Go to the zoo.
- Go to the library.
- Shop at a thrift shop.
- Create a blog together.
- Create a scrapbook.
- Make a movie using a camcorder and computer.
- Learn to play music.
- Fingerpaint.
- Make play dough from scratch.
- Make homemade mini pizzas.
- Buy popsicles.
- Make hand-painted T-shirts.
- Set up a hammock, make lemonade, relax.
- Go to a pool.
- Go to a public place, people watch, and make up imaginary stories about people.
- Visit family.
- Write letters to family.
- Paint or decorate the kids’ room.
- Make milkshakes.
- Play freeze tag.
- Create a treasure hunt for them (leaving clues around the house or yard).
- Decorate a pair of jeans.
- Do a science experiment.
- Play games online.
- Teach them to play chess.
- Learn magic tricks.
- Create a family book, with information and pictures about each family member.
- Fly kites.
- Go snorkeling.
- Barbecue.
- Volunteer.
- Donate stuff to charity.
- Compete in a three-legged or other race.
- Create an obstacle course.
- Pitch a tent and sleep outside with marshmallows.
- Roast marshmallows.
- Play loud music and dance crazy.
- Write and produce a play (to perform before other family members).
- Paint each other’s faces.
- Have a water balloon fight.
- Have a gun-fight with those foam dart guns.
- Explore your yard and look for insects.
- Go for a walk and explore the neighborhood.
- Go jogging.
- Take pictures of nature.
- Play a trivia game.
- Make up trivia questions about each other.
- Make hot cocoa.
- Play house.
- Decorate the house with decorations you make.
- Make popsicles.
- Play school.
- Do shadow puppets.
- Make a comic book.
- Play in the rain.
- Make mud pies.
- Blow bubbles.
- Take turns saying tongue twisters.
- Sing songs.
- Tell ghost stories in the dark with a flashlight.
- Build stuff with Legos.
- Give them a bubble bath.
- Play with squirt guns.
- Play video games together.
- Play wiffleball.
- Play nerf football.
- Build a rocket from a kit.
- Bake a cake and decorate it.
- Play dress-up.
- Thumb-wrestle, play mercy, or have a tickle fight.
- Make a gingerbread house, or decorate gingerbread men.
- Learn and tell each other jokes.
- Play basketball.
- Learn to juggle.
- Walk barefoot in the grass and pick flowers.
- Build paper airplanes and have a flying contest.
- Prank call their grandparents, using disguised, humorous voices.
