Tag Archives: family activity

Summer Activity—Writing a Family Biography

I wrote yesterday about how to go about collecting stories from grandparents—or how to encourage our kids to get their grandparents to talk to them about history and such. Last night, while talking with my oldest daughter, we were remembering a writing project we did one summer as a family where we worked on writing down some of those stories and writing up a family biography. I thought it might be a good project to share here for other parents who are looking for a good family project as the “boring days” of summer set it… Kids love to hear … Continue reading →

Get a Belly Full of Jelly

In a previous blog, Factory Tours Are Fun And Free!, I talked about how friendly factory tours are for both families and their budgets. I am such a big fan of factory tours for their fun, frugality and educational value, that I will be highlighting some of the best tours around. When I asked the question about favorite factory tours in the Families.com Family Time Forum, the one tour that kept coming up was the Jelly Belly Factory Tour in Fairfield, California. So many members reported having a great time there. There is also a Jelly Belly Factory tour in … Continue reading →

Herrs Snack Factory Tour

In a previous blog, Factory Tours Are Fun And Free!, I talked about how friendly factory tours are for both families and their budgets. I am such a big fan of factory tours for their fun, frugality and educational value, that I will be highlighting some of the best tours around. I’ll be asking your help to tell us all about your favorite factory tours. For this blog, I thought I would start with my home state of Pennsylvania and highlight a tour that my own family really enjoyed. I am talking about the Herrs Snack Factory Tour. This factory … Continue reading →

A Gingerbread House Made Easy

I grew up with my mother putting together a gingerbread house every year that we would decorate as a family. The gingerbread house would feature white snow frosting, a chocolate-orange stick fence, and green colored popcorn ball trees. One year she even made a blue candy pond. Her mother had done the same thing. I wanted to continue the tradition with my own children. So a couple of years ago I found a gingerbread house pattern on-line and copied it off. I then proceeded to make the same gingerbread recipe that had been in my family for years. But somehow … Continue reading →

Make It A Movie Night

Movie night can be a great time for a family to come together and have some good family fun. But sometimes what was supposed to be fun for all turns into more of a brawl. So follow these few simple steps to guarantee that your next family movie night is a roaring success. Set a time. Choose a date and make sure that everyone is aware that the night is set-aside for a family movie night. Then just like when you are going to the theatre set a time that your family movie is going to start. When the time … Continue reading →

5 Steps To Making Family Game Night A Success

Playing games is a great way to spend time together as a family. But you also want to make sure that the activity is a success and not something that causes you to not want to speak to each other. To ensure that you having a successful game night follow these five simple steps: 1. Set a date. Make sure that everyone in your family is aware that you are having a family game night and that everyone is expected to be there. Setting a date shows that you value family time and gives family member something to look forward … Continue reading →

10 Tips to Make Fitness a Family Activity

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We’re always talking about improving our fitness and getting more active. What better way to do that than to make fitness a part of your family’s activities in daily life? Here are 10 ways you can make fitness a part of your family’s routine and most of them are relatively painless. 1. Start by figuring out what activities is fun for everyone – for example – your son may love his bike and your daughter would rather play on the rock-climbing wall at the park. 2. Plan a group outing/activity every week. Combine quality family time with being physically active. … Continue reading →

Family Movie Night

Yes, we just talked about television this morning with watching Saturday morning cartoons, but there’s another family fun tradition that we employ in this household. It started a little over a year and a half ago and it’s grown into a stimulating evening of relaxation and mirth together. Movie night initially began as my way of sitting down with Cassidy to watch movies that might spawn questions. She is a huge fan of the Harry Potter films, but they can be difficult for young ones to watch. We’d make up a bowl of popcorn, get some M&Ms and the drinks … Continue reading →

Visit Your Local Discovery Center or Children’s Museum

Summer time is a great time to be outdoors, but it’s also fun to take advantage of local discovery centers and children’s museums. You can go during the week when there are smaller crowds and really take time to enjoy the exhibits. If you take a family vacation stop by a discovery center or children’s museum along the way or visit one in your destination city. Discovery Centers are a great way to spend time as a family and learn something in the process. Discovery centers are targeted to kids. They help make the world of science come alive. They … Continue reading →