Productive activities - Summers, Gaps, Weekends

[MelissaB]

Ooooh, I love that idea. We may have to do that, too. Great idea, Vicki. Thanks for sharing!

Our girls are now 11 and 8 going into 6th & 3rd, and they still look forward to starting school. (Did I mention that I look forward to school, too? I can't wait to start U.S. history this year.)

Love MFW . . .

[MelissaB]

It seems like we always run out of things to do this time of year. The snow is too deep to play in. My 3 year old can't even walk in it. The kids are starting to go a little stir crazy from being stuck inside and so am I! During the week we have school, but we tend to run out of things to do with a whole Sat. Anyone have some fun family activities for this time of year??

May I share some activities from our Family Fun Night schedule with you?
1.) Play hide-n-go-seek in the dark in the house with flashlights (our family LOVES this).
2.) Have a fun night with pizza (or warm cocoa after supper) & catch up on putting photos in the photo album together.
3.) Make caramel apples.
4.) For dinner, have hot tea & eat homemade chinese (rice with sauted chicken & vegetables) with chopsticks.
5.) Move the furniture out of the way and dance to Praise & Worship music together. Have Hot Apple Cider on the table.
6.) Warm cocoa and play a board game/cards.
7.) Symphonic Music Night: Girls dress in dresses & everyone dances to symphonic music, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, etc. (If you don't have symph. music on hand, you can youtube famous composers).
8.) Write on Feet Night! Use washable markers or pens to write kind notes on one another's feet to encourage and laugh!
9.) Play Charades Night and eat popcorn w/ m&m's.
10.) Bake Cookies for friends and elderly neighbors/widows Night.
11.)Tea & Cookies Night. Snuggle on the couch and read a book or make up funny stories.
12.) The week of April 15: We like to play Monopoly and eat pizza, just to celebrate tax season being over.
13.) Cheeseburgers, french fries & Ice cream night. Make homemade lemonade for drinks.
14.) Ice Cream Sundays & play the board game LIFE.
15.) Make a Fort Night, using the dining room table, chairs, and lots of blankets and sheets.

Hope these are helpful! Have fun!

[Yodergoat]

That's a great list, MelissaB!

We have a fun variation of the blanket fort, which we call an "air fort." We take lightweight sheets and tuck them in tightly around the outside of the couch, then put a box fan in the opening and it billows up all around. It is hard to describe but very fun.

Sometimes we have spontaneous Nerf gun battles or target competition games. Our home is very small (730 square feet), so this can even be done indoors in small homes. Then we play a rousing game of "find the Nerf bullets before the puppy does."

Occasionally we watch old home videos (our wedding, birthdays, etc). This leads to lots of discussion and laughter.

Every now and again we go on the computer and look at old vacation photos (because I haven't printed them yet) and recount favorite memories of that particular time. This can also lead to planning future trips with the atlas out and looking up websites together showing potential destinations.

We keep a variety of bird feeders and a bird bath with defroster and have a good time watching them through the windows on cold winter days. If you've never done this before it is more interesting than it sounds, especially if you also look up and learn about the birds you see. You could take part in Cornell's "Project Feederwatch" or the "Great Backyard Bird Count" to make it livelier, or keep a tally and report your sightings to eBird.com. Or maybe that's just fun for folks like us...

[CaseyVG]

Last weekend my son spent a couple hours making a balloon powered Lego car. It was fun. You could turn it into a family competition!

[lovehomeschooling]

Thanks! Those are some great ideas!

[Poohbee]

I am SO excited about this idea. I have been thinking about all the fantastic movies (Planet Earth, March of the Penguins, documentaries about the countries) that we can watch along with ECC this year.

I have decided that every Monday night, we will have popcorn and fruit and snacks for dinner and watch a movie that goes along with our studies. I often save the "fun" stuff until the end of the school week, but I like the idea of doing something special on Mondays to kick off our week. I also try to get the house clean on Mondays most weeks, so I'm hoping it will be a motivation - get off to a good start with our schoolwork, do some housework and we get a fun night as a reward!

What a fun idea! I like your idea of beginning the week with something fun rather than waiting for the end of the week.

We have done similar things in the past to have some things to look forward to. I usually implement these things in January, after Christmas break, when we need something to shake up our days just a bit.

We have done:
Mad Lib Monday, when we do a Mad Lib in the morning after Bible.
Wii Fit Wednesday, when we use our Wii Fit program to get some exercise and have some fun on the cold winter days.
Fun Friday, when we play a board game as part of school...usually something that goes along with our studies.

Just a few more ideas for you.

Have fun with your Movie Night Mondays!

[disneymommy]

I love those ideas! How fun. Thanks for sharing.

[hsm]

I love these ideas

One more....(from Bravewriter though)...tea time Tuesday. We make tea, hot chocolate, juice in fancy cup, whatever and some dainty cookies. Then we read poems out loud.

[MunkyWrangler]

I love these ideas! I was thinking how cute it would be to add some movies in, seeing as my family are "movie heads." Now I don't feel so bad turning the TV on!

Mwahahahaa - I cannot wait to tell my husband we're going to implement Tea Time Tuesday. Our two princesses will adore it. "Daddy, would you like the pink tiara or the purple?"

[Alicia42]

I think it's a superb idea. At our place, Saturdays are generally family movie nights when we either sit back at home and watch a DVD in the evening or else sometimes go to a theater nearby if there is anything good on there. Here's a list of some of the best family movies (speaking from personal experience) - the kids will especially love these:

• Alice in Wonderland: Disney's adaptation of Lewis Carroll's fantasy takes you down the rabbit hole with a whirligig of dazzling color, delightful wordplay and visual absurdities around every corner. Looking for a way to introduce kids to a great work of literature? Go ask Alice.
  Frozen: Ever since she was a girl, Elsa, princess of Arendelle, has had literally chilling powers. With a wave of her hand she can cover everything around her in ice and snow. However, when her frosty abilities nearly kill her sister, Anna, Elsa is confined to a room in her castle, not to emerge until her queenly coronation. On that day, unsurprisingly, things go very awry, and the two sisters - with help from a friendly snowman who dreams of spring - must work together to save the kingdom from eternal winter.
  The Lion King: Elderly lion Scar plots to usurp his brother, King Mufasa, from the throne, only to find his route blocked by newborn cub Simba. Scar orchestrates Mufasa's tragic demise in a stampede of wildebeests, then makes Simba believe he is to blame. The young lion is overwhelmed by guilt and flees his home, ending up in the jungle where he befriends Timon and Pumbaa. Full-grown Simba is persuaded to return to the Pride Lands to save the pride with the help of his new friends.
  E.T. The Extraterrestrial: It's a simple story, really - Boy meets alien. Boy and alien become best friends. Boy says goodbye to alien when his outer-space buddy has to go home, causing audiences everywhere to sob uncontrollably. And the story goes on.
  Penguins of Madagascar: Plucky penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private - the most elite spies ever hatched - join forces with a chic undercover organization known as the North Wind. Led by highly trained, handsome and arrogant Agent Classified, this special inter-species task force must stop a many-tentacled villain, Dr. Octavius Brine, from destroying the world.

Happy watching!

[MelissaB]

Great ideas!