Raise family activities
Family in the Dark. Choose an evening when all the kids are home. Turn out of the lights. Light lots of candles. One of the parents reads a favorite epic story from the Bible, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, or The Chronicles of Narnia. Have the little ones draw or color as the story is being read.
Fruit Ninja. This one takes a little preparation. You'll need piles of round fruit and vegetables and a baseball bat. Parents pitch the fruit to the children. Whoever obliterates the most fruit wins!
Sync Up. Gather in your living room or somewhere with seats and have a lip sync battle with your family. Form two teams. The twist is that the teams select songs that the other has to perform. Of course there is no time to practice. For extra fun: battle at the park!
Oodles of Noodles. Prepare as much noodles as you can. Divide into teams of two. Each team member will face the other 5 feet apart. One team member will toss noodles onto the other for one minute. At the end of each 1 minute round measure the noodle count.
Not a Drop. Parents set boundaries in a determined area in your house or yard. Give kids pillows and parents cups of water. See how much water is left in your cups after 45-second rounds.
Marshmallows Away. This is a soft and gentle game. You'll need a bag of large marshmallows and a blindfold. Select a person to blindfold. That person is it. That person will also hold the bag of marshmallows. The rest of the family stays as quiet as possible. The person that is it will yell out "Marsh," and the rest responds, "Mallow!" The last person to be hit a marshmallow determines who gets to be "it" next.
Life-Sized Game. You're going to build a life-sized game at the park. Use the game "Shoots and Ladders" as basis. You need paper plates for game spaces. Feel free to make up your own rules and write them on the paper plates. Such as, "Shout, 'I eat my boogers' 10 times.' A big cardboard box makes a great giant dice.
Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting. You'll need a piñata and something to hang it from. You know how a piñata works. However, instead of hitting it with a stick or bat, have your family come up with their best Kung Fu kicks and punches. They can take turns whacking the piñata with their strong Kung Fu while Kung Fu music is blasting in the background.
Water Balloon Fight. Spend time with your kids by filling up two large containers with water balloon together. Split up into teams and have at it. For extra fun, add Tempura Paint. The best way to use Tempura Paint is to fill up 30-gal trash bins with water and add 8 cups of Tempura Paint. Whoever is the least covered with paint wins!
Nine Pieces of Eight. This requires preparation but kids LOVE treasure hunts! Create a treasure map with your spouse (soak the map in coffee and tear the edges off to make it look old). Purchase some cheap jewels and treasures and plant them where the "X" marks the spot.
Ready, Set, Action! On a rainy day, most families watch movies. Instead of watching something modern go old school. Let your kids watch one of these titles, Baby Take a Bow with Shirley Temple; Top Hat with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire; Young Tom Edison with Mickey Rooney; National Velvet with Elizabeth Taylor; or anything that stars Laurel and Hardy. Don't forget the Clown Salad (popcorn and M&M's mixed together!)
Bowl-Free Ice Cream Party. After dinner, place a plastic sheet over a table. Pile scoops of ice cream and toppings in front of each person. No plates or bowls allowed!
Fruit Ninja. This one takes a little preparation. You'll need piles of round fruit and vegetables and a baseball bat. Parents pitch the fruit to the children. Whoever obliterates the most fruit wins!
Sync Up. Gather in your living room or somewhere with seats and have a lip sync battle with your family. Form two teams. The twist is that the teams select songs that the other has to perform. Of course there is no time to practice. For extra fun: battle at the park!
Oodles of Noodles. Prepare as much noodles as you can. Divide into teams of two. Each team member will face the other 5 feet apart. One team member will toss noodles onto the other for one minute. At the end of each 1 minute round measure the noodle count.
Not a Drop. Parents set boundaries in a determined area in your house or yard. Give kids pillows and parents cups of water. See how much water is left in your cups after 45-second rounds.
Marshmallows Away. This is a soft and gentle game. You'll need a bag of large marshmallows and a blindfold. Select a person to blindfold. That person is it. That person will also hold the bag of marshmallows. The rest of the family stays as quiet as possible. The person that is it will yell out "Marsh," and the rest responds, "Mallow!" The last person to be hit a marshmallow determines who gets to be "it" next.
Life-Sized Game. You're going to build a life-sized game at the park. Use the game "Shoots and Ladders" as basis. You need paper plates for game spaces. Feel free to make up your own rules and write them on the paper plates. Such as, "Shout, 'I eat my boogers' 10 times.' A big cardboard box makes a great giant dice.
Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting. You'll need a piñata and something to hang it from. You know how a piñata works. However, instead of hitting it with a stick or bat, have your family come up with their best Kung Fu kicks and punches. They can take turns whacking the piñata with their strong Kung Fu while Kung Fu music is blasting in the background.
Water Balloon Fight. Spend time with your kids by filling up two large containers with water balloon together. Split up into teams and have at it. For extra fun, add Tempura Paint. The best way to use Tempura Paint is to fill up 30-gal trash bins with water and add 8 cups of Tempura Paint. Whoever is the least covered with paint wins!
Nine Pieces of Eight. This requires preparation but kids LOVE treasure hunts! Create a treasure map with your spouse (soak the map in coffee and tear the edges off to make it look old). Purchase some cheap jewels and treasures and plant them where the "X" marks the spot.
Ready, Set, Action! On a rainy day, most families watch movies. Instead of watching something modern go old school. Let your kids watch one of these titles, Baby Take a Bow with Shirley Temple; Top Hat with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire; Young Tom Edison with Mickey Rooney; National Velvet with Elizabeth Taylor; or anything that stars Laurel and Hardy. Don't forget the Clown Salad (popcorn and M&M's mixed together!)
Bowl-Free Ice Cream Party. After dinner, place a plastic sheet over a table. Pile scoops of ice cream and toppings in front of each person. No plates or bowls allowed!