Five Favorite Family Time Ideas

With our busy work schedule, scouts and soccer family time sometimes slips through the cracks. When we can slow down, we make the most of it. Here is how we squeeze it in.

Take a Hike: My son loves nature and being out in it. Even a walk around our property can be a learning experience. You can learn about nature in your own back yard. Find interesting plants or bugs and photograph them with your camera or phone. When you go back inside, use a search engine to try to identify what you have found. Let your child guess what the plant or bug is and do an image search to see if they are right.

Happy Song Time: On long car rides (or short ones that might seem long to your child) break out those silly songs you may have learned at camp as a kid! Take turns teaching each other new songs...I have learned some new ones myself!

Building bridges: My son loves Lego's and always wants us to build with him. I am no brick master, so building can be quite embarrassing to me! Everyone writes random objects on slips of paper and drop them into a hat. Choose one person to pick from the hat. The first person to build the object on the paper wins and gets to choose the next challenge.

Now you're cooking: Get in the kitchen with your kids...even the most simple recipes can teach a child the beauty of teamwork. Something as simple as a box cake can seem like a massive project to a child. Have Mom measure, Dad pour and the kids stir and mix. Shh..don't tell them, but math can be taught while having this fun too!

Movie Night: This might seem like a no- brainer, but sometimes the simplest things go forgotten. Let the kids pick out the movie, help them pop the popcorn and snuggle up together for a fun, but sometimes forgotten favorite past time.

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