Making family fun

ast week, our speaker at MOPS spoke on infusing fun into the family. Her ideas really hit home with me. I loved that so many of her suggestions didn't cost money or even lots of effort; it was more about an attitude shift. I went home the day of her talk and used one of the ideas: a dinosaur hunt. (OK, I didn't use dinosaurs; I used toy cars.) When the kids were napping, I took 20-25 toy cars and hid them out on our front patio. After nap, the kids got to go on a car hunt! (Lucy didn't find it that fun, but she was still in her post-nap funk.) Nate loved it. It took me less than 5 minutes, but it changed the late afternoon grumpy time into fun time.

The speaker also asked us to remember what was fun in our own childhoods, and I remembered some great stuff.

• The sucker fairy at Hanshill. Looking back, it was so silly, but I LOVED the idea that the sucker fairy came overnight and planted those suckers (lollipops) in the front yard rocks at Hanshill. All of the cousins would run out and pick our suckers in the morning.
• The "performances" my friends and Greg and I would create. I remember being so serious about the musical we had made up to perform for our moms (Miss Kathy and Mama); my friend Katy and I had to keep correcting Greg over and over on his pronunciation of "the," since I think that was the only line we gave him. Haha!
• Sleeping in a tent in the back yard with Greg in Little Rock. Well, I remember starting off in the back yard but then being too scared (I think of bears), so we got moved to the deck. :)

Here are some more ideas that I have implemented or plan to implement:

• Play "library." Set up 10-12 books along the wall outside your child's room, and he/she gets to be librarian. I've done this twice with Nate, and although he's a bit old for it, he still likes when I pretend to be a customer and ask, "Mr. Librarian, I'm looking for a book that has bears in it... Do you have anything for me?" Then he goes and finds Goldilocks, etc.
• Family movie night. Plenty of people do this already, but make it even more fun by dressing in your PJs, printing "tickets" off the computer, setting up a "concession stand" on the dining table with popcorn, apple juice, candy, etc.
• Our house is already full of Daddy fun time (tickling, wrestling, getting tossed onto the couch). But the other evening when we were out to dinner, I asked Jon what fun things he remembered from his childhood. His first thoughts were blanket rides and popcorn nights. The next night, he gave Nate and Lucy their first blanket rides:
  
  
  
  

• Our speaker spoke about ice-cream kidnaps: put the kids to bed as usual, but 5 minutes later, come in and say, "Everyone up! In the car!" and drive to your local ice cream shop for surprise ice cream. (Make it especially memorable by having mom and dad wear their pajamas too.) We wouldn't exactly do this, since Nate can't have ice cream, but it made me think about doing a Christmas-tree-light kidnap. Each year, some time close to Christmas, we could surprise the kids after bed time with a car ride to view all the cool Christmas lights around town.
• Forts. It's universal; kids love playing in covered areas. Cover the kitchen table with blankets and put Legos or Barbies underneath for a fun afternoon surprise play location.
• Heads or tails walk. Go on a walk and bring a coin. At each intersection/street, toss the coin. If it's heads, go left; if tails, go right (or heads this side of the street, tails that side; heads skip, tails march).
• Camp out in the family room, tent and all (or at least sleeping bags).

Aren't those ideas fun and simple?--and so easy to accomplish. Ultimately, they give our kids a sense of belonging. Fun traditions help them feel like they are part of something cool, a family "team," and that will be so valuable!