Ideas For a Family Fun Day

by Marcus Delore
(Mass)

There are really 116 ideas but after a 101 who counts anymore? This list of Family Home Evening activities was handed out to our ward this Sunday in conjunction with a combined, fifth Sunday lesson for Relief Society/Priesthood entitled "Teaching the Gospel in the Family".

Feel free to submit any other ideas that have been successful in your family. I will be adding appropriate links and additional ideas as I find them. Visit the zoo. Find out about your area's community center and/or park activities.

Wash the dog. (A neighbor's dog if you don't have one!) Have a family slumber party. Build a fort. Get out the the family photo album. Research your family history. Visit the Genealogical library. Play stickball.

Clean the house together (Have a pick-up party.) Make up a play. Take it to a nursing home. Fly kites. Go on a family trip/historical excursion. Did it snow? Go sledding and make a snowman.

Make a collage out of pictures from old magazines. Set up a lemonade stand on a warm day. Shoot hoops together. Play H.O.R.S.E. Draw pictures of members of your family. Make a family calendar. Tell stories around a campfire. (Or at the barbecue?) Organize a game of capture the flag.

Make miniature boats and float them in some water. Write letters to grandparents or a missionary. Play freeze-tag. Tell scary stories (With lights out.) Play broom ball. Go for a hike. Go for a bike ride together. Go get ice cream and walk around the temple grounds.

Learn to play the guitar together. Listen to classical music, lights off, lying on the floor, and take turns saying what it sounds like. Attend community concerts or listen to a local band. Organize a community clean-up. Visit the library. Go ice skating or roller skating. Paint a picture, a mural or a room.

Learn how to use a compass. Organize 72 hour kits. Plant a tree or some flowers. Learn the metric system. Learn sign language. Learn the Morse code. Go swimming. Go bird watching. Walk the dog. (A neighbor's dog if you don't have one!) Visit the countryside. Visit the City. (Maybe on a bus?)

Pick berries/fruit together Bake cookies or bread. Make homemade jam. Take treats to neighbors or friends. Plant a garden. Join a family choir. Start a family journal. Go to a museum. Take a nature hike trail. Play cards. Start a family exercise group. Sing (in the car).

Visit a local bookstore or library. Make crafts together. Give them away. Make Christmas ornaments together. Write a story together. Put a sleeping bag out in the back yard and watch the night sky through binoculars. Go fishing. Play touch football. Have a culture night. Make a meal and learn about another culture.

Take photographs. Invite friends over. Cook Chinese food. Do yard work together. Play Frisbee. Make your own family cards for the holidays or birthdays. Play chess, bridge or checkers. Go camping. Go for a long walk. Play charades. Do a rain dance.

Go around the table after dinner and have everyone say what they love best about each other. Go dancing. Have a family dance. Take a dance class together. Climb a tree. Watch the sunset. Watch the sunrise. Figure out when the sun will rise and set in your location.

Have a big party and celebrate a TV free week. Have a picnic. (If it's raining, have a picnic in the family room on a blanket.) Invite a non-member family over for a barbecue. Memorize the Articles of Faith. Memorize a family hymn. Learn how to fold the American Flag (or your country's flag). Have a patriotic night. Have a flag ceremony.

Visit an elder person or someone shut in. Have a first-aid night. Invite other families. Call the fire department for a class. Learn what to do if you are lost. Have a budgeting class. Save for a family trip. Learn how to build a fire and the cook hot dogs and enjoy. Have an etiquette night. Practice your skills over a formal dinner.

Talk about drugs. Do role-playing. Have a friend come and discuss good nutrition and health practices. (they don't listen to mom). Learn home repairs for an activity. Make sure the girls learn too. Prepare a family group sheet/four generation pedigree chart. Interview an older family member.

Start a family collection. (coins, rocks, stories, dress-up, clothes, treasures). Have a family testimony meeting. Have a bubble blowing contest. Do bubbles outside. Try different instruments. Have a baking contest Adopt a grandma or grandpa from the ward. Have a family fireside Watch an old movie (maybe a western) together.

Make a family goal chart. Have a service car wash. Learn to play golf together. Go miniature golfing. Make a grocery list, set a budget, divide items, go get pizza with the money you save. Make a family cook book. Have a family treasure hunt. Have a family dance. Everyone can bring partners. Solve a crossword or word search puzzle together. Get into the spirit of play.