Family Game Night

I am a fan of simplicity.

As my advocation for carnival avoidance may imply, I like to spend time with my family in the simplest of ways. Walks and bike rides, books and the backyard, crayons and bouncy balls fill our time together. Of course, the occasional movie theater or theme park trip peppers our adventures. The idea is not so much avoiding ultra-exciting activities but rather cherishing the quiet, everyday ones as well. (Did I just use the word "quiet" in relation to time with my children?)
 

The hour upon hour of time at home together is generally the stuff our days are made out of - and character is created within. 

 

At times, we can all use reminders to enjoy our children by enjoying simple activities with them. And certainly, most of us also welcome new ideas for our repertoire of such activities.

 

So, as the thermometer is creeping upward and the clock seems to be slowing into a progression of lengthening summer evenings, my family has occasionally gotten creative with a few ideas, perhaps worthy of sharing:

 

 

One evening, I took all of our mason jars out of the cupboard and placed them together in a large basket. A shallow box would also work. Admittedly, I have a lot of jars - for good reason, (as you may recall from here.) But you could start saving your recyclables to build a small game-worthy collection. Any small balls work for tossing; we used ping pong.

 

They bounce all over the place, in and out of the jars. It's just the right level of difficulty to keep all ages interested.  

 

 

 

On another afternoon, my husband fashioned a target board out of cut recyclables and a piece of a cardboard box. We tossed bean bags and shot Nerf guns into the targets.

 

Keeping some semblance of score - with a nice, cool dessert as the reward at the end - added inspiration on both instances.

 

 

 

Other posts you may like:

 

Plushie Hatin

Playground Love

Special and Not-So-Special Occassions