79 Suggested Activities For Quality Time With Your Kids - Part 3 - All Age Kids 

From LifeLearningToday.com

If you have young children, you know that the thing they want most is YOU! They want your attention. They want your teaching. And they want to play with YOU!

How flattering! The love is awesome!

But here's the hard part - finding the time amidst all your work, home, and personal tasks on your to-do list. Then what are you going to do with your children? 

Below is a continuation of the list. You can either just print out the list below or you can download a PDF file of the list to make your own 3 x 5 Activity Cards.

Click to download file.

ALL AGES

1. Fun with Cleaning - Choose either windows (Kids love to squirt spray bottles), dusting, or tidying up. Make it fun with music, incentives (such as hiding money to be found when tidying) or prizes for getting all the windows cleaned.

2. Goopy Fun - mix 1 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup water in a big bowl. Squish it and it become solid. Let it sit and it turns back into a liquid.

3. Bean Bag Toss - mark out squares with masking tape on the floor and make different points for each box. You can used small stuffed animals instead.

4. Baking - even young kids can help with pouring or mixing. It might be messier, but that's part of the fun. Kids look cute in aprons too. Get a picture of your little chefs! Search Google for cookie recipes.

5. Make a pizza from scratch - Pizza dough is easy to make. Search Google for recipe. You'll need flour, yeast, water, olive oil, and salt. Once your dough is made, add sauce, fresh mozzarella, oregano, and whatever toppings you like!

6. Make Soup or Stew - Have your child help you wash the vegetables. You chop. They dump into the pot. They pour in the water or broth. You do the meat if you're using meat. When this soup is ready, watch your kids be more willing to eat the vegetables since they helped make the soup!

7. Pinecone Birdfeeder - Tie some string, yarn or several strands of thread to the pine cone. Take a pinecone and smear it with peanut butter. Then roll it in any kind of seeds or nuts. Tie the pinecone to a branch of a tree outside your window. Tip: hand this up in the morning so you can watch the birds come around and feed. If you hand it at night, the squirrels might get it by morning. That can be fun to watch too.

8. Make Jack-o-Lanterns - In season, search Google for Jack-o-lantern patterns. You cut the pumpkin. Be careful!!! Kids can help gut the inside and help draw the face pattern. You do the carving. After search Google for pumpkin seed recipe, and yum, you'll have a healthy treat for afterwards.

9. Play with Blocks - It is the one toy that kids never outgrow. Join in for the fun. See where your child's imagination will lead.

10. Dominoes - Search on Google for different ways to play. Or just keep it simple and make up your own rules. Little kids might like building with them. And it's always fun to set up the knock-down pattern.

11. Let's play cards - Games like Go Fish, War, and Concentration are easy and fun. For young kids use a small amount of cards when playing concentration. You might want to make up your own with pictures. Just use simple symbols like yellow star, red circle, blue square, etc. For older kids you could try out Rummy. Or search Google for more ideas.

12. Nature Exploration - Head to the beach, woods, a field, the mountains, whatever is close to you and begin with "Let's listen and explore the mysteries here!" Listen, what do you hear? Look, what do you see? Smallest things, biggest things? Ask lots of questions. Be curious about Everything! Have fun. When you get home, look up things online that were burning questions for you and your kids.

13. Tent City - Grab some pillows and sheets and set up a tent in your living room. Bring snacks, play pretend (let child lead the way), play 20 questions, Sing songs, tell stories.

14. Star Gazing at Night - ask what patterns they see. Tell them about the constellations you know. What do they think of the stars. What do you think? What's out there? How big is it? Aren't we lucky to have these stars!

15. Visit the Zoo - The opportunities for fun, learning, and bonding are endless. Make it fun. Bring snacks and drinks and as always with outings, keep a watch on the kids' and your own energy level. When energy starts to fade, it's time to finish off on a good note and get home to rest.

16. Collage with Nature - go outside and collect leaves and flowers from nature that can be made into a collage. Use paint too.

17. Collage with Magazines - cut out pictures from old magazines and make some cool collages. Hang them up when done. For older kids you could try doing mosaic collages with pictures of different colors. For creative ideas search Google for "collage ideas" or "mosaic collage crafts."

18. Painting! - finger paints, brush paints, any kind. The only key here is to completely let your child express his/herself freely. Don't guide too much except for instruction on how to use the paints. Have fun!

19. Coloring - both crayons and magic markers are so much fun. Both free drawing and coloring books. The possibilities are endless.

20. Sidewalk Chalk - pictures, letters, numbers, hopscotch games, tracing hands etc. Lots of fun!

21. Visit the Library - Suggestion: stay clear of the computers. Explain ahead of time that the visit is about finding some great books. You can read to your child right there in the library and let them pick out a ton of books to borrow. Try to go once a week or every other week.

22. Go to the Park - to make this different you might want to try a new park for a change. Take a drive and explore a new park. Bring healthy snack and water.

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God bless your family and your marriage.

Jim Stephens