Arts and Crafts

Between work, choir practice, scouts, soccer games, and the normal routines of daily life, just getting the family to sit down together for a evening meal, especially in the summertime, is a major undertaking in itself. It's usually dinner on the run for some with very little time to sit down and enjoy the closeness and communication of the whole family.

Finding the time and activities for the whole family may be a challenge but the benefits gained will make it all worthwhile in the end. The key to success for these activities is to find a hobby or craft that everyone is interested in and enjoys. This may have to be a give and take situation  where everyone works together even on projects that they have to learn to be interested in. A switch may be necessary from time to time in order to keep everyone interested and participating.

Turn the TV and video games off and enjoy the company of each other while doing these fun activities whether it be a craft, hobby, or merely communicating about fun things to do. Family night can be great fun and keep everyone close together. It helps to keep the family bond in place.

Start collecting something that can hold everyone's interest or let each person start a collection of their own. Flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales, and yard sales are great places where many collectable items can be found. I've found that you do not have to limit yourself to one item but if you collect several things the chances are greater of finding something on a given day and keeps thing interesting. This has worked well for me. eBay!

Another great activity for the family is scrap booking. This also gives everyone a chance to pull out their old souvenir ticket stubs, flyers, and memories from the past and organize them in the scrapbooks. Everyone can label their pictures, tickets, etc with descriptions of the time and events that they came from. The whole family can contribute to gathering the information.

During the summer, gardening is one of the many selections for a family activity. Planting a flower or even a small vegetable garden can be a very rewarding family experience. This gives each member the experience of seeing something grow from a sprout to a mature plant of vegetable. The also comes a sense of pride with the being able to eat something that you have grown or helped to grow. Some of the these outdoor growing naturalist hobbies can be transferred inside during the winter weather.

Another great way to spend some quality time with the family during the warm weather is to take a vacation just for family activities and hobbies. Beach Vacations are great and very relaxing.

Go to some new area and take in the sites and activities of the region. Check out the museums and other attractions of these new areas.

Participate in some of the special activities like hiking, rock and gem mining and collecting. Do some treasure hunting and reap the rewards for your labors. There are many things that can be done as a family and a lot of them takes very little travel time.

Music is another way that a family can spend time together. Our family has several guitars, a key board, and a piano. We may not be that great but among ourselves, we make a joyful noise. This activity probably gets a family closer together that any other activity with the exception of worshiping together.  

Consider having a Family Movie Night on a regularly planned schedule and with some type of format that is fair to everyone in the family. Have some quality time together that is enjoyable to all.

Family Game Night is another great family activity to help bring the family together and teach some good "life lessons" at the same time.

These are just a few family activities with which you can make the best of your time together. We hope that the pages and suggestions from this site will benefit you and help your make some decisions about quality time for you and your family.

Sincerely and thanks for stopping by.

C. Oxford

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