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Family Friendly Activities for ALL Ages! {Episode 59}
92 Plays5 years ago
So many of you have requested ideas for family activities that appeal to ALL ages! Our children's ages ranges from infant to adult so we've got some experience finding things to do together that everyone enjoys. Whether it's a wholesome game night, a trip to a national park or creating and serving a fancy family dinner, we've got TONS of ideas to keep you and your kids occupied and bonding together as a family!
Recommendations:
Games: Clue, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Monopoly, Chess, Blokus, Sorry, Quiddler, Rook, Checkers, Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Connect 4, Otrio, Game of Life, Skyjo, War (and other kid-friendly card games), Uno, Set
Movies: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, The Sound of Music, Avatar the Last Airbender
Audiobooks: Harry Potter, Oliver Twist, Louis L'amour (author), 5 children and It (or anything by Edith Nesbitt), Tom Sawyer, The Moffats, Robinson Crusoe
Days for Girls (Non-profit organization creating reusable menstrual supplies for girls in underprivileged countries)
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Transcript
Introduction to Family-Friendly Activities
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome, welcome to our number the podcast. We're so happy to be back with you guys today. In episode 59, we are talking about all of our favorite family friendly activities. This is a request we've gotten over and over from you guys to share our tips and tricks for getting everyone from the adult children to the teenagers to the middle schoolers on down to the infants engaged and having a great time together as a family. We've got so many ideas to share with you today, plus lots of reasons why doing things together as a family is just so crucial. Can't wait for you to listen.
00:00:35
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Outnumber the Podcast. I'm Bonnie. And I'm Audrey. We're experienced moms to a combined total of 18 children. Our mission is to help overwhelmed parents find peace in parenting and humor in the chaos. Come join us as we attempt uninterrupted conversation about parenting with joy and intention.
Challenges in Finding Suitable Activities
00:01:01
Speaker
Hey guys, welcome back. This is episode 59 and we are excited to share with you guys something that we've been asked about multiple times, which is how to find activities for the whole family. And you can imagine that Audrey and I have some experience with this because we have a decent spread between the ages of our kids. Yeah, exactly. Finding something that entertains everybody is not always an easy task. So we completely understand you guys asking for an episode about this.
00:01:29
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So we're excited to talk about this. First, we're going to let Audrey give us a funny mom moment she wants to share. Okay. Well, it's a meme that I saw somebody else repost on Instagram, but it said, the tricky part about being a parent is that you never know if when your kids grow up, they're going to remember you standing
00:01:52
Speaker
in the kitchen yelling at them with an avocado mask on your face and no pants. Or if they're going to remember the time you took them to the park and played with them. Yeah, chances are good it's the avocado mask scenario. They're going to be telling that through tears to their therapist. Yeah. And she never got dressed.
00:02:18
Speaker
It's all right. It's okay. We're all there with you guys. With the avocado masks. You've got to remember something good. You've got to remember something good. Come on now. Come on.
Financial and Time Management Considerations
00:02:28
Speaker
Okay. So like I mentioned, Audrey and I both have a decent spread of kids. Audrey's is bigger than mine. How old is your oldest now? Twenty-two. Twenty-one. She's twenty-one. Twenty-one. So she's got twenty-one to infant. I've got fourteen to infant. We've been doing this for a little while.
00:02:44
Speaker
And the tricky part comes when you want to do something to bring all the family together. And honestly, it doesn't matter if you have a big spread or not. Anytime you have kids of different ages, you're going to struggle with finding something that everyone enjoys and no one pitches a fit about. And just caveat, there's probably not that one thing that no one's going to pitch a fit about, but we do have some great ideas for you guys to get you started on thinking of things that might bring your family together,
00:03:09
Speaker
even if you have kids of many ages. And the other thing that we have to think about is the number side of things, right? So if you have more than maybe two or three kids, you have to figure out that everything's going to cost more money. If there's an entrance fee, you're going to have to get everybody there. So, you know, just all the things that come into play with having a larger family and doing things together.
00:03:29
Speaker
Right, exactly. So it's pretty common that my older kids will have to compromise if they're going to do something with the little kids because obviously a two-year-old and a 21-year-old do not have the same interest. But I love it when I see them doing things together. Lately, my 21-year-old and two-year-old, just to pick those two, have been folding laundry together in the evenings.
00:03:52
Speaker
my two-year-old's a night owl, and so I go to bed and I pass by the laundry room. They have the door shut, they have music on, and they're folding laundry in there. Cute. That's so cute. Whatever. But then there's also the time constraints. Teenagers can go and do something all day long. They can ski, they can swim, they can boat, they've got lots of energy. Whereas a two-year-old is going to have to break it up in the middle to have a nap, and their energy obviously is not
00:04:21
Speaker
what the energy of a teenager is. So there's that to keep in mind too, the time constraints that come with different ages. Totally. And that's something I didn't even really think about when we were prepping this is that those day trips become quite difficult when you have a melting down toddler and a baby that needs a nurse and find a nap, et cetera.
00:04:42
Speaker
So we all know that there are definitely challenges in doing things
Benefits of Family Activities
00:04:45
Speaker
together. So today we're going to give you lots of ideas for things that you can do together and also give you some reasons for why it's good for these kids to do things together. Like you mentioned, Audrey, that it's good for the big kids to compromise sometimes because they learn patience and other things. So we're going to dive into that too.
00:05:04
Speaker
So, um, one of my biggest struggles is that, um, you know, kids have different interests and even two, you pick two eight year olds off the street, they're going to have different interests, right? One likes butterflies, the other one likes dump trucks. Got it. But when it comes to different ages, then
00:05:18
Speaker
They have different maturity levels as well. So think about media alone, right? Television or movies, songs, books, audio books, political events, current events they're interested in, styles, like you name it, kids are different and have different interests. And the wider variety in ages makes things even more complicated. And so just finding one thing to agree on can
Strategies for Planning Activities
00:05:41
Speaker
be difficult. So this is why we recommend, you know, the parents picking something and everybody can kind of just
00:05:45
Speaker
Learn to like it. You and your family have mentioned a lot how you do a day of the week. Whoever's day of the week it is gets to pick, or you just go through the kids today, so-and-so is going to decide what we do. Then next time we go on an adventure, then it's going to be the next person in the line's turn and so on so that everybody gets to have something a little more tailored to them and the other kids know that their turn is coming.
00:06:13
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And sometimes kids don't even realize that they would have liked this game or this activity until a sibling picks it. And they're thinking, oh, I wasn't a fan of this, or so I thought, but now I realize how much fun it can be. So lots of compromise. Yeah, that's true. So you and I have often talked about how we're not the fun mom or the adventure mom. So when we make an effort to do something with our kids out of the ordinary,
00:06:37
Speaker
They really enjoy it just simply because we're doing something with them. And so that does add a lot to the experience just because mom, mom and dad are there doing something with the kids. That's huge.
00:06:50
Speaker
Totally, and I feel like the busier you are as a parent, the more effort you can put into doing things with your kids, the more they love it, right? Because they get that your life is busy and important, quote unquote, and so for you to take time out of your busy schedule to give to them means a lot, and it says a lot about how important they are to you, and that's something I struggle with, but I know how important it is, so I'm trying, really trying.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah, trying to be more the fun mom. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we're going to start off by giving you a handful of reasons, just a few reasons why we should try to do things together as a family. Because as your family expands and the ages are different and teens get busy, et cetera, it can be easy to think, well, our time doing things together all together as a family is maybe over. But we would say otherwise, we've got a couple of reasons why this should be a priority.
00:07:38
Speaker
Okay, number one, we were just alluding to it, is family togetherness. Just doing things together because you're a family and because you're related to each other and because you have a vision for the future like we talked a lot about in our everyday intention episode. So promoting that idea of we're a clan, we're a family and the unity, that's a huge reason why we should do things together as a family.
Instilling Values Through Family Activities
00:08:03
Speaker
Right, and even if your family fights half the time, think about what you're teaching your kids for their own future families. That families do things together, they dinner together, they go on trips together, they do activities together, they work hard to enjoy each other so that when they're parents, they might have the same priorities. That's awesome.
00:08:20
Speaker
Number two reason why we should do family things together is that it promotes lots of wonderful values like friendship between siblings Empathy for each other and forgiveness because I don't know about you guys But every time we play a game somebody gets their feelings hurt
00:08:34
Speaker
And yep, I could take that as a reason to never do it again, or we could make a lesson out of it and say, that really was tough to lose that way, wasn't it? It felt like maybe he was cheating or whatever the scenario is. That kind of feels stinky, doesn't it? What can we do next time to have a better attitude, be a little bit more, um, better sportsman, or what could you do to be a better winner? You know, um, so they're constantly learning these wonderful values as they play and do things with their, with their siblings. And I think that my kids really do love each other more and
00:09:05
Speaker
love easier when we're spending lots of time together. I mean, to a certain point, there is a point where you need breaks from each other too. Yeah, that is so true. I don't know how many times I've said to a kid who's kind of being a poor loser, it's really not about the game. It's about us spending time together. Didn't we have a nice time spending time together? Right. Another reason, number three here, is it helps prepare kids for parenthood. Now, this is talking about our older kids playing with our younger kids.
00:09:33
Speaker
So it really does help our older kids prepare for parenthood by playing and being around and doing things with, with their younger siblings. Um, so that's, that's an advantage of, of big families for sure. I know we've talked about that before, but that is, that is a reason to do things together because you know, it's just awesome. I know that we've talked about this so many times, but to see my boys, especially changing a baby's diaper or.
00:10:01
Speaker
you know, giving their little sister an airplane ride or, you know, walking around with a baby on their hip. It's just so cool because it's like a little glimpse into what this child is going to be in the future as a parent.
00:10:13
Speaker
Right. And what a blessing you're giving them in their life to give them a head start when it comes to, they're not going to be one of those parents, the kid comes out and they're like, oh, I don't even know what to do with this kid. There's so much we have to get used to as new parents anyway, but to have that little head start of having already interacted with kids is awesome. I mean, our younger kids obviously won't have that quite as much, but hopefully they'll have nieces and nephews to do that with by the time they're old enough for that, you know? Oh yeah, exactly. The offset in the ages, they will definitely have
00:10:41
Speaker
nieces and nephews to play with, yep. Right, right. Okay, so I also wanted to mention that one of those other values that being together teaches is selflessness.
00:10:52
Speaker
So every time my teenager or my older kids sit down to play Barbies with a kid or with a little sister or play trucks with his little brother, he's learning what others needs and desires ahead of his own. And that is not something that every kid does regularly. And sometimes I have to incentivize him. It's not like he walks around going, who wants to play Barbies with me?
00:11:16
Speaker
That's not normal usually. Some teens are amazing like that. So sometimes I'll have to say, you know what? It's your turn to watch the little kids. I've got to do this with somebody else. Take a half an hour, sit down and play what they want to play, jump on the trampoline with them, do arts and crafts with them, whatever. And he's learning how important it is to put aside his own selfish desires for the greater good of helping out with the family. I love seeing that. I love it.
00:11:43
Speaker
I agree totally. I think that's probably the biggest advantage, the reason why we should do it. So yeah, yay for that. Okay, now we're going to move into ideas for what to do together as a family. We have mentioned the struggles in finding things to do in a large family, large spread of ages, but you can also have some animosity between kids.
00:12:07
Speaker
And I don't know, maybe we should have put this in our reasons to do it. Sibling rivalry is one of our most popular episodes. And so go back and listen to our ideas and that. But having fun together as siblings, it does really help siblings overcome those feelings of negative that they have toward each other.
00:12:26
Speaker
Yeah, I've seen that a lot. I think we all have a few kids that tend to take their anger out on each other more than others, you know, or they just kind of personalities clash. And when we have when we make time for fun time, oftentimes, they're a lot more similar to each other for a long time, they've just learned to play together, you know, and it makes things better.
00:12:46
Speaker
Okay, so moving on to our ideas.
Recommended Activities for All Ages
00:12:49
Speaker
All right, number one is to play outside. So going outside, there's almost always something that can be found to do for all ages. So a few ideas are going to the park together so you can, little kids can be busy on the slides and the swings while the big kids can kick a ball around or play volleyball, play baseball.
00:13:08
Speaker
There's so much to do, you know, just at a park, going on bike rides. So this can sometimes require some creativity. I remember when we had, hmm, let's see, I think six kids.
00:13:19
Speaker
uh under eight. I think only one could ride a bike independently maybe two and he couldn't they couldn't go for very far so we had like two bike trailers for the little ones and sometimes it requires some ingenuity or you just go in a little loop where you can kind of catch up with each other you know um but it's fun and it shows them that we have a priority of spending time together and enjoying the outdoors um and then also uh like walks and hikes those are simple if you have a hiking backpack you can go on a really low key
00:13:48
Speaker
a walk or hike that every age can do, right? And that's also another wonderful time to have big kids help out with little kids. But even if you don't have big kids, just something pretty simple where we can all go out and do a little nature exploration, right? Yes, absolutely.
00:14:02
Speaker
A few other outdoor ideas are some seasonal excursions. So like going to the zoo in the summer or for us it's in the winter because it's too hot. The pumpkin patch in autumn, go find a sledding hill in the winter, a 4-H fair, anything that is maybe happening around you that only comes around once or twice a year can be a really fun excursion for a family and tends to be pretty family friendly, those sorts of things.
00:14:28
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. We, we love the 4-H fair and it's usually super low cost. Like you walk in for free and you can go through all the exhibit buildings and see all the things for free. The rides do cost money, the food costs money. And then if there's a special event going on, you know, that costs a little money too. But it's, um, it's a fun, family friendly, um, free, mostly idea that you can do. So yeah, that one's cool.
00:14:54
Speaker
Our family actually went to our very first 4-H fair last year, I think, when we were in Utah for the summer. We had never been to anything like that around here. And my kids just went crazy. All the animals, all the booths, all the cool things I got to see. So we got to do more of that. They had a great time.
00:15:12
Speaker
Yeah. My kids were in 4-H for several years. And why it's family friendly for a bunch of different ages is like in the exhibit halls, there's things made by little kids and there's things made by big kids. And so that's how come lots of different ages enjoy it. And then the animal shows are usually free where the kids are exhibiting their own animals. Those are usually free too. Yeah. So fun. Yeah.
00:15:39
Speaker
Okay. Another option is to have a game night and not everybody has to be playing the same game. You can set up several games in the living room. You can rotate around the games. You can have a big kid take a turn with Candyland and then they get to, you know, play one of the bigger games. That's more fun for them.
00:15:57
Speaker
Oftentimes, we have a couple games going on at once where the big kids are playing their choice of a game and the little kids are just happy to be in the same room and they play their own game or have a deck of cards. They're strewing everywhere. We thought it'd be fun to list some of our favorite family games, each of us.
00:16:17
Speaker
We currently have a clue rivalry going on at our house where everybody is trying to beat or at least not let win our 19 year old son because he wins every single time.
00:16:33
Speaker
So they'll come to me on, usually Sunday night is our game night. They'll come to me, mom, mom, mom. You've got a place. You're the only one that can beat him at Clue. Come on. Bring him down. And he just grins and wins. Okay. Other games we like are Settlers of Catan and all the offshoots of that Nights and... Nights and cities?
00:16:59
Speaker
I can't remember. We're going to link some of these in the show notes. Monopoly. Incredibly, some of my kids love Monopoly and I can't play it. It just goes on too long for me. But even some of my little kids love Monopoly. I think they love to play money is the thing.
00:17:17
Speaker
Chess. In fact, two of my kids, my 14-year-old and my 8-year-old sons are doing a chess curriculum this year where it's part of their math and they have this side chess curriculum thing they do and they love it and so they get everybody roped in seeing who they can beat at chess because they're the only ones who are any good at it. We love blockists. Do you guys have blockists?
00:17:44
Speaker
Yes, I love that. Well, I'm a Tetris fan, like I grew up on, you know, Nintendo's Tetris. So yeah, Valkis is like the board game version. Yeah, and even the littlest kids can play that because if they don't put their piece down right, you can still play around them. So that one's a good one for all ages. Okay, Ticket to Ride. Sorry. Quiddler. Do you guys play Quiddler?
00:18:09
Speaker
No, I never heard of that one. Okay, it's a card game. It's really fun. And I like it because I feel like my kids are getting spelling help. But it's a deck of cards and each card has a letter on it. And then there are some
00:18:24
Speaker
what's it called, Diphthongs letter pairs, like TH or ING or some letter pairs. So then they get dealt cards and they have to try to make a word. And yeah, that one is fun. And then because it's the Midwest, I don't know, maybe they play Rook everywhere, but we play Rook a lot. It's a card game. And then an offset where you're teaching kids to play Rook is called Up the River Down the River. And you start with one card, the first round, and then you do two cards a second round. And it's a way of teaching little kids Rook
00:18:54
Speaker
that doesn't use all the cards and all the strategy at once. So do you play Rook, Bonnie, you were in Michigan. Yeah, you know, I remember it really sounds familiar, but I can't remember the rules. So I'm sure I played it as a kid, but I haven't played it in years. So I have to put that one up again. OK.
Game Nights and Their Impact
00:19:10
Speaker
So yeah, some of our favorites are similar to yours, or the same ones as yours. We love Sari as well, Ticket to Ride, Chess. We also love Checkers, and that's a pretty simple one for little kids. They can get that pretty easily. Candyland is a little kid fan, and I've been playing it for like 30 years, so. No end in sight. You know, Shoots and Ladders is also a little kid fan favorite. And sometimes the big kids like it too, so don't count those one out.
00:19:37
Speaker
We really like the game of life. I played that as a kid a lot too, and my kids love it. And then lots and lots of card games. So Uno, War, Set is a really fun matching game. And you know, you get a pack of regular playing cards, and there's 101 things you can teach kids. Everything from the simplest thing, like my six-year-old is obsessed with war. He somehow manages to win. I know it's a game of chance, but he wins every time. I don't know how it works. He's the one to beat in your household.
00:20:03
Speaker
Yeah, he totally is, he totally is. So just so much fun. And sometimes I get that games are not a priority unless you make them, because there's always media vying for your kids' attention. But if you create a weekly game night, I guarantee your kids will go bonkers for it. They will be so excited to have mom and dads
00:20:20
Speaker
unlimited attentions sitting right there playing some game. They will love to beat you. And if you're competitive like me, I know it's going to be hard, but you've got to just let your kids win. It's so hard for me sometimes, especially when they're 14 and being rude about it. But it's just really, really fun. Plus, pop a bowl of popcorn, cut up a plate of meat and cheese, sausage, and everybody's happy.
00:20:44
Speaker
Right, right, have some yummy snacks and it's a great time. In fact, that's one of the reasons I love the holidays is because my husband has time off and we always play lots of games. We tend to get games for Christmas and we will just sit around and play for days at a time and I love it. So I'm determined to do more of that throughout the year.
00:21:00
Speaker
Okay, so we're going to move on to our number three set of ideas. And that is to allow teens or older kids, even just a few years older than the other ones, to create a fun night for the little kids. So this is a great way of getting all ages to work together because sometimes we tend to just take over as like entertainment coordinator, you know, as a parent, like, oh, let's find something fun. The kids are bored.
00:21:24
Speaker
But really that takes away from them their creativity and imagination and the ability to come up with ideas. So instead I'll tell my 8 and 10 year olds, hey, the little kids really need something to do. What can you come up with for them? And my 10 year old is a fun lover. She will come up with
00:21:41
Speaker
They'll make a little pretend store. That's their favorite thing to do is a pretend store. They sell their stuffed animals to each other or they teach them how to make cookies or they teach them how to do some art or they make up an obstacle course outside or a scavenger hunt, put on a play. And again, this takes some time and some ingenuity, but if electronics are not an option, your kids will do it. And then the little kids just go crazy because they get to play with the big kids and do this really fun activity they've come up with. It's just so rewarding to watch. I love it.
00:22:10
Speaker
My kids are totally into obstacle courses right now. They set them all up and try to make them as hard and fun as possible. And yeah, my kids are totally into obstacle courses right now. Yeah, bonus. It's good exercise too. Yeah.
00:22:23
Speaker
OK, so something really kind of fun that we do along those lines is an kind of an alternative date night where the kids plan and prepare and serve dinner to the parents.
Creative and Service-Oriented Family Projects
00:22:40
Speaker
So I love that. So each kid takes a role from like, of course, I have older kids that can help out with this. And when my kids were younger, we did this every Valentine's Day and every
00:22:53
Speaker
every year on our anniversary. The kids would plan the meal and I would kind of earlier in the day help them if it was a food they couldn't prepare ahead or they couldn't do by themselves, but I would have it ready for them to be able to serve. But anyway, now that I have big kids, they cook, the little kids love to put on an apron and be the waiter, the waitress.
00:23:12
Speaker
You could have a busboy who cleans up and then the little kids love to create a fancy menu. It doesn't have to be fancy food. It just, you know, create this pretty menu. And then they set the table with the tablecloth and it's always fun for them. I don't know why, to set it up in a different room than the dining room. So maybe the living room with it.
00:23:32
Speaker
candlelight only and whatever. They get to plan it and do it all, serve it to mom and dad. It's one of the cutest and most fun things. Sometimes one of the kids, their job is to just keep the baby out of the room and feed him and feed the other kids. So yeah, everybody pitches in and has a fun. So there's an alternative, family friendly and fun idea, especially for mom and dad.
00:23:59
Speaker
Okay, I am obsessed with that idea and I'm stealing it right now. In fact, we are recording this right before Valentine's Day and I hate going out on Valentine's Day because it's too crazy. Yes, yes. But I think I'm going to do that. Hey, kids, I got a fun activity for you. You're going to go fuck me dinner. It's going to be awesome. But I have a few kids that would just go crazy over that idea. They would love to make a special occasion. Yeah, we used to do it all the time when we lived in places that we didn't have any family to readily babysit for us when we would go out.
00:24:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Steal it. Do it. What a fun idea. Cool. Okay. So number four ideas for family activities is a service project. So I'm going to preface this by saying that it can be really difficult to find service projects that are appropriate for young children. It's just tough. In fact, if you happen to be in the Phoenix area, shoot me an email because my cousin has actually set up something
00:24:51
Speaker
where she creates these mini service projects just for kids, like under seven, because it's so difficult to find opportunities for them. Nobody wants little kids because they're not very helpful. But an alternative is you can do things at home altogether. So one example is the organization Days for Girls. I don't know if you've heard of them. I think they started here in the West somewhere. No, I haven't heard of them.
00:25:13
Speaker
It's an organization that finds needy areas in the world generally in African countries that do not have regular access to period supplies. And so they create these reusable menstrual packs and then they go distribute them to these girls in need. And then they don't have to miss school or work or whatever. And the wonderful thing is there's so many projects you can do at home for this. So you can, you know, sew up these drawstring bags, you can sew up these liners, you can raise money and go buy packs of underwear that go in the pack.
00:25:43
Speaker
Just things like that that you can do at home under your supervision. And if your little kids make a mess, you can clean it up instead of trying to take them somewhere. That's really, really rewarding. And then creating meals for the homeless or something else like that where you're allowed to do it in your home and then go distribute it. And the big kids can actually participate in person somewhere else, but you can still allow the younger kids an opportunity to serve under your supervision.
00:26:11
Speaker
Those are some really cool ideas. And I've noticed that when we do a service project, um, the kids all feel so fulfilled and afterwards they're like so content and satisfied. So yeah, definitely recommend that one too. Yep. Okay. Number five is productive projects. And this is like what our family is all about, but not, not all family time has to be pure entertainment. Um, there's,
00:26:36
Speaker
lots of house projects you can work on together. Yard work, you know, the big kids can rake while the littles play in the leaves or water the garden. Having a garden is a family-friendly project. Everything from planting it to the planting to the weeding, everybody gets involved. At our house, we do a lot of big food preservation projects and this is related to having a garden. We make sauerkraut, but then like in the winter we make
00:27:05
Speaker
We make fruitcake. We do sausage making. We do lots of food preservation projects that require a lot of hands on, a lot of hands helping with the prep. And then on our farm, we have a lot of cleaning animal pens, building animal pens, working on fencing, that kind of thing together. So lots of productive projects together that build camaraderie because you've been working hard and sweating together.
00:27:35
Speaker
Or you can do earning money together projects. Little kids love to put together a lemonade stand or a garage sale. We have done farmer's market in the past and everybody gets in cooperating on that. But anyway, the little kids can learn so much from the big kids who offer perspective and wisdom and have the mature ability and are patient enough to slow down a little bit and let the little ones in and play too. So that's another idea, productive projects.
00:28:05
Speaker
Right. And I fully understand that many of you probably don't have any big kids to rely on. And I get that that's a really frustrating phase of life that you feel kind of stuck in for five or six years where there's nobody big enough to help out. But I promise that if you create this culture of helping out together, even if the kids are just making messes,
00:28:23
Speaker
even if it's just an hour like say you and your husband are raking leaves you let them come out and make a mess for a little while and then you go put them down for naps and you go finish the job the right way that will create this atmosphere of we all pitch in and help together and then as they get older they'll be more helpful and you won't have to pull them away from their big kid activities because they already know we do these things together right um it's just it's just a little bit of a waiting game when they're when they're real little but i promise they'll help eventually i know we really want to do it together
00:28:51
Speaker
Yeah, when I was a kid, we cut all our own firewood and everybody helped. My dad ran the chainsaw and the older kids could do the bigger stumps and the little kids could just pick up sticks and move them out of the way. So kind of a good analogy there, cutting down a tree and everybody can handle some part of the tree.
00:29:12
Speaker
Right. When it comes to kids helping, I feel like I always want to share this with younger moms that, you know, when, when their toddlers and early elementary age, they always really want to help, but they're super not helpful. Right. They're just making messages or like, you know, their, their ability to learn is, you know, it's just messy.
00:29:28
Speaker
Then they go through this late elementary phase where they might not be as helpful, but they're starting to develop skills so that they can be more helpful. Then they become middle schoolers and teenagers that are really helpful. The trick is to keep them helping during those late elementary years, so seven, eight, nine, 10.
00:29:48
Speaker
so that when they get the ability and the maturity to really be helpful, they still want to help. I think a lot of people keep putting off kids when they're not helpful. Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. That eventually when they're 12 and really helpful, they don't want to help anymore because they've been told to scram so often and they have their own things they want to do. So that's really tricky for me, but has been really beneficial to say, nope, we're all going to work together. Yes, they make a mess. Yes, I get it, but we're all going to work together and then they will learn the skills they need to.
00:30:16
Speaker
That is an awesome tip because it's those in between years when you lose them that that's the really important time. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so idea number six is art projects. Okay, so this can kind of fall under that umbrella of having the big kids put something on for the little kids because
00:30:34
Speaker
Um, they're really good at this, like teaching their skills. My oldest is an artist. He's very, very good at sketching and he loves sharing his skills with his younger brothers and sisters. And my six year old wants to be an artist. So he'll sit there and watch what he's doing and try to mimic it. It's the cutest thing ever. Um, but even if you're in charge, these
00:30:51
Speaker
Our printers can really be customized to any skill level and you can all do the same thing. So for example, say you get out your acrylic craft paints and you can teach maybe a more advanced technique to the older kids. Hey, we're going to learn how to blend and make this cool landscape. And the younger kids are just painting rocks or writing their name on a big poster board. That's fine.
00:31:11
Speaker
But they're all working together, all doing something fun together. Some other ideas are some sort of sculpture. You can get some cheap clay or even just play-doh. And the big kids can have a competition to see who can do the best face that looks like dad's face or something. And then the younger kids are just cutting it with a knife. Sewing, we're sewing bloggers. We love talking about sewing and teaching sewing.
00:31:33
Speaker
little kids can practice some simple hand stitching while older kids can actually sew a garment on a machine, cooking, baking, writing and binding books, making cards. The list is endless. Any craft you could possibly think of really can be tailored so that multiple ages can do it if everyone's willing to be a little patient and work together. Yeah. If it involves glitter, my girls are there.
00:31:57
Speaker
Oh, I got to leave if there's glitter. Too much dress. Me too. But anyway, yes, kids, little kids love art projects and crafts. They just get all excited about it. Cool. Okay.
Nature and Relaxation-Based Family Activities
00:32:10
Speaker
Idea number seven is national parks. Usually you pay by the vehicle to get into a park, so they are definitely losing money when a 15 passenger van comes through.
00:32:20
Speaker
Exactly. We take advantage of that, don't we? Yeah. But then when you're inside, there's so much to do. Hikes, caves, lakes, rivers, exploring, ghost towns, wilderness, rock formation, geysers, you name it, each national park has something really awesome to explore.
00:32:36
Speaker
I've seen some families and I even think this is part of the national park system where kids can get the brochures that you fill out and like put a sticker on each national park you visited. So the national parks definitely look and see if you have any in your area and what can be explored near you. That's really cool. And what a great opportunity to just go out and enjoy nature, you know? Yes, absolutely.
00:33:00
Speaker
We need to do better at that because we don't have a ton of them close to us, but we do have the Grand Canyon. I just get nervous when little kids are around the Grand Canyon. There's little other canyons though, right? That's true. Yes, that's true.
00:33:14
Speaker
Okay, so and then one of our last ideas is when you finally just need some binging time because admittedly, a lot of these activities do require some energy and sometimes you just want to be with your family without expending any energy. So we're going to share a couple of more relaxing family experiences and mine is just going to be some family friendly movies. So sometimes you just need something that you can all sit around and watch and eat popcorn together.
00:33:39
Speaker
And you know that everyone's going to enjoy and you know, you're not going to be surprised by any scene that you don't want the four year old seeing. So I'm sure many of you guys have some great movies that you default to for the whole family. But if you need some ideas, we often opt for the old classics. So we love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. That one's hilarious. There's so much non politically correct.
00:34:05
Speaker
I'm talking, singing that one. It makes me laugh every time. All the original Disney movies are fun. I will share one modern-ish TV show that everyone in my family enjoys. Seriously, the two-year-old to the 14-year-old, and even my husband, I'll catch my husband binging it, is called Avatar the Last Airbender. And it is a cartoon series that was put out by Nickelodeon years ago, and we bought this series at Target or something on DVD.
00:34:35
Speaker
And my kids, the only time we really watch it is when we go on road trips, but they will watch it for like, you know, we drove to Utah, it was like 12 hours. Like if I let them, they would watch it the whole time. I'm like, all right, break. But that's a really fun one if you're looking for something that everyone would enjoy. I recommend that one. Those all sound really fun.
00:34:50
Speaker
Another low-energy activity that we love to do is listening to audiobooks together. And it is possible to find some audiobooks that are family-friendly options, keep all ages engaged. So sometimes you do have to pause it and explain to the little ones what's going on. But they love to be involved in it too. Some that we've listened to are Harry Potter, any, all of the Harry Potters.
00:35:16
Speaker
Anything by Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist is a great place to start. My kids happen to love Western dramatization, so a Louis Lamour with all the different sounds in the background. Five Children in It, or Anything by Edith Nisbet. A lot of Mark Twain's works. Tom Sawyer is a good place to start. The Moffitts, or Anything by Elinor Estes. John Loughoray has some really good books. Robinson Crusoe, The Lie and the Witch and the Wardrobe.
00:35:45
Speaker
There's a lot of ones that you can listen to when you start thinking about options for your whole family. And then in my family, everybody likes to do different things while they're listening. Color, embroider, draw, whittle, everybody's got a little something going on.
00:36:00
Speaker
while we're listening to audiobooks together. Oh, that's so fun. We have recently really discovered audiobooks too. It was tricky for me for a long time to figure out when we'd listen to them and how and what my kids like the best, but we've loved it. In fact, I would just wanted to share that for Christmas time, our kids got the latest Kindle that you can listen to audiobooks on, and my kids are listening to something nonstop, and that's more an individual activity that they like to do. But when they listen to the same ones
00:36:29
Speaker
at the same time, then they have things to talk about and we can listen more in the car or whatever else. So really, really fun. I love them. Yeah. We listen oftentimes in the car to an audio book on a long trip. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:42
Speaker
Okay, so just a few final thoughts. Really, I don't want anyone to feel like they have to over-complicate the family activity thing. Sometimes, especially when you've got a lot of little kids, it's exhausting to think of bringing everyone together and doing something together. But every time we do, I know that it will strengthen our family bonds and will help everyone to get along better, even if it seems like just a giant fight. Because they're spending time together and they're putting aside their own wants for the families, for the benefit of the family, right?
00:37:06
Speaker
And anything we can do together will help strengthen that unity and teach our kids valuable skills. Right. My final thoughts are quite similar, that being together strengthens our family unit. But it also makes the everyday easier because the kids are getting along better and they've had common experiences together that just cause them to sort of be settled and get along with each other during the day.
00:37:34
Speaker
future friendships are created in these fun activities that we do together as a family. So definitely some good reasons to do stuff together with your whole family. Yeah, totally. So we will include our recommendations on the show notes, all the games that we listed, some of the service organizations, art supplies, et cetera. So if you're interested in any of that, check out our show notes and best of luck to you doing those family activities.
00:38:11
Speaker
Just head over to patreon.com slash outnumbered. Next up, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a written review on iTunes. It helps other moms find the podcast and receive the help that you're enjoying. And finally, you can follow us on Instagram at outnumbered the podcast. We're always having fun over there too. As usual, if you have any questions or ideas for future episodes, you can always reach us at outnumbered the podcast at gmail.com. Thanks for all your support. We'll talk to you next week.
00:38:24
Speaker
Thanks so much for tuning in.