Little Family Fun: Family Unity

Showing posts with label Family Unity. Show all posts

Playtime Hearts

I recently had our 4th child, and we also recently moved.

I've been busy and tired and we are trying to find our new rhythm.....

and I'm trying not to lose my marbles. :)

The kids seem to be acting up a little bit more lately, and I've been praying & asking for help and guidance as a Mother.

The answer that keeps coming back to me is to spend more time with my kids.

Because when all is said and done, I know that is what really matters to me.

So I came up with an idea to help make that happen:

PLAYTIME HEARTS.

Here's what I did:

1. I traced heart shapes onto yellow paper and cut them out. They are roughly 2 1/2 inches big. I cut out about 26 hearts.

2. I wrote on each heart a fun activity that I know the kids like to play.

A lot of these are things they've asked me to play with them in the past......the ones where I have given the all-too-often response of "not now."

I came up with these myself, but it would be fun to sit down with your kids and think of fun things to do together.

Here's a list of what we've got:

Cars

Airplanes

Legos

Color

Dance

Trains

Super Heroes

Paper Airplanes

Play Library

Wii

Game (3 of these. We have a lot of games)

Soccer Outside

Catch Outside

Ninja Turtles

Mazes

Make no-bake cookies

Little People

*Your Choice (2 of these)

(I also left a few hearts blank so I could add things later that we think of to play).

3. I taped them onto the little chalkboard we have hanging up in our kitchen (You could tape them up anywhere).

4. And from here it's easy! I let the kids take turns picking a heart and we do whatever is on the heart, together. Sometimes there is a time limit (20-30 minutes depending on what's going on that day) and sometimes we just play and I try to just forget the time and focus on my kids. It's been refreshing to remember what it's like to play as a kid. It's good for all of us. :)

Some days are busy and we don't pick any hearts.

Some days are wide open and each of the kids get a chance to pick a heart.

Sometimes it's when my oldest is at school and it's just me and the little ones.

Sometimes it's all of us together as a family, including Daddy.

This week we used one of the hearts as our activity for Family Home Evening.

And sometimes we play without picking a heart at all. :)

When all the hearts have been picked, I'll tape them back up and start again.

This idea was a direct answer to my prayers.

We've done it for the past week, and it has been so much FUN!

It's helped us all in so many ways. The kids seem to not be acting up quite as much. I've noticed so many wonderful qualities in my children when we sit and play together---because I'm actually paying attention to them! Something I needed to be reminded to do.

But most of all it's helped me make the time for what truly matters to me--matters more than anything and everything.

My family.

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Family Valentine Pockets

I wanted to do something this Valentine's Day where our family could give each other Valentines!

So I created these simple pockets out of paper to hold all the love. And best of all it's so easy! Check it out! ♥

♥ Supplies:

2 pieces of 12x12 scrapbook paper (different patterns)
1 piece of white cardstock
Construction paper in red, pink, purple
Scissors
Marker
Glue or Double Stick Tape

♥ Prep Work:

1. Count the people in your family and cut that # of rectangles out of one of the pieces of scrapbook paper. Lay them out how you want them on the other piece of scrapbook paper.

2. Fold a piece of paper and cut out a heart to go on the front of each pocket. Use this as a template to trace onto the white cardstock.

3. Write each person's name onto the hearts and glue or tape them onto the pocket papers.
4. Place glue or tape along the sides and bottom of each pocket and put them into place on the scrapbook paper. **Note: in order to give them a little bit more of an opening at the top, place a few fingers underneath the paper at the top as you press the sides and bottom down:

Now the valentines can easily be slipped inside!

5. Next, get your construction paper and trace your same heart template (or a little smaller) onto it several times. Stack your papers and cut out the hearts:

Now you've got your hearts already to go!

6. Hang your pockets on the wall using tape or push pins. Place your hearts in a bowl or bag nearby.

7. Either set aside a time, or just let everyone write valentines whenever they wish to!

I cut out enough hearts so that each person could write a valentine to every other person. I'm going to have us focus on writing the things we love about each other. I think we'll choose a person each day and everyone will write something they love about that person and put the hearts in their pocket.

Then on Valentine's Day, we can each take out our hearts and read all the things our family loves about us!

♥

♥ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! ♥

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Compliment Hearts - Family Activity

Here is a fun activity we did for Family Home Evening a while ago. This has been one of my favorites! It's super easy and was really fun & uplifting to think about all the things we love about each other. :)

Here's what you do:

Cut 3 hearts out of different colors of felt OR paper.
Put each persons name in a hat and have everyone draw someone's name.
Have someone stand on one of the felt hearts, and the person that drew their name says something nice about them.

We used the 3 colors of hearts like this:

Yellow - Say 1 thing that person does really well (ie. "He is really good at playing football.")
Pink - Say 1 thing you love about that person (ie. "I love how he makes me laugh.")
Blue - Say 1 thing you can do to show you love that person (ex: "I can share my trains with him.")

Then that person sits down and the next person stands on the hearts, and on until everyone has had a chance.

This was so fun, and really cute to hear what nice things the kids thought to say. I want to do this again, and maybe even record it, or write down what everyone says. :) Because doesn't it just brighten your day when someone says something nice about you?

Awww......shucks! :)

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Teaching Family Values

This is the 2nd activity in our "Family Unity" theme. We did this for Family Home Evening to talk about how these core values can strengthen our family.

These 9 values come from "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" where it states:

"Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

Prep Work:

Cut a white piece of paper (or cardstock) into 6 rectangles. On each rectangle, write each letter of the word FAMILY.
Cut out 9 big triangles from different colors of construction paper. On each one, write each of the 9 values mentioned in the paragraph above: faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.

Here's what you do:

Sit down with your family and lay out all the papers you made. Tell them we are going to build a house. Have them put the letter rectangles in order to spell "family" (3 letters on top, 3 on bottom).
Then tell them there are 9 different roofs for the house that can help the house be strong---with words of things we can do to help our family be strong.
Have a child choose one roof at a time and put it on the house and talk about how your family can develop that value. For example: "What are some ways we can show that we LOVE each other?"

Do this with all the values. OR you can focus on 1 value each week or each month--and make 1 goal as a family for how you can implement that value into your lives.

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Family Balloon Games!

Our theme for this week and next is "Family Unity."

The Thanksgiving season is time for family, and remembering how we cherish these relationships. So over the next few days, I'll be sharing some activities we've done as a family that have been FUN and have helped us become more unified. :)

This first activity is using balloons to play a few fun family games!

Prep work:

Blow up the same number of balloons as people in your family.
With a permanent marker, draw each persons face on one of the balloons (or you can have each person draw their own face. OR each person draws someone else's face and everyone tries to guess who it is!) :)

There. Now you have your own little balloon family:

Games to play:
(We have played the first 2 games and had lots of fun! Here are a few more ideas too!)

BALLOON BOUNCE: Get a BIG blanket or sheet and each person hold a corner or edge. Pull it out and hold it up--then place the balloon family on top. Everyone shake the blanket and watch the balloon family bounce all over the place! TRY to keep all the balloons on the blanket, but when a balloon falls off, everyone drop the blanket and go "rescue" that balloon. Whoever's face was on that balloon gets a big group hug! Then put all the balloons back on and play again!

HIDE & SEEK 1:Take turns hiding all the balloons in a room for the rest of the family to find! (The boys (5&3) love playing hide and seek, so this was a VERY simple and fun way to use the balloons!)

HIDE & SEEK 2: Each person take their balloon face and go hide it somewhere in the house. When everyone's balloon is hid say "ready, set, go!" and everyone search for the balloons! (But you can't find your own balloon).

BALLOON LAVA: Stand in a circle and everyone throw the balloons up in the air. Do whatever you can to not let any of the balloon family land in the lava (touch the floor).

ADVANCED: do the same thing, but lay on your backs and only use your feet to keep the balloons up in the air! :)

BALLOON SURPRISES: ***Before you blow up the balloons---cut up small pieces of paper and have each person write or draw something they love about each member of the family. Stuff the little papers into the balloon. THEN blow them up and draw the faces on them. One at a time, pop the balloons and read the sweet messages inside!

Got any more ideas? Share in the comments below! :)

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Monster Jump Game for Preschoolers

LB(3) sure loved this game we played during our MONSTER - week!

This is a super fun way for little ones to get out some Halloween wiggles, (and also a good calorie-burner for Moms like me, who are looking forward to eating their children's Halloween candy whilst they are nestled all tight in their beds. What?)

This is fun to play with just a few people, or as a family, or with a big group!

PrepWork:

Acquire a handful of monsters with different numbers of eyes (like the ones pictured above: 3, 2, and 1-eyed monsters). Here are some ideas:

You could draw your own monsters on pieces of paper.
You could find some cute monster images online and print them out.
You could create your own monsters with these awesome stickers!
You could look for some monster stickers at the store. (Like these ones I used. They were on clearance after Halloween last year. They were in a package of Halloween foam stickers I got for like a nickel or something. I love after-holiday sales!!)

This package of stickers also had stickers that said, "Happy Halloween." So I decided to use those too.

Again, you could just write it on a paper, or print it off along with the monsters if you don't have stickers. :)

Here's what you do:

Take turns reaching into the bucket and pulling something out.

When you get a monster, count how many eyes it has. Then JUMP that number of times!
When you get a Happy Halloween sticker, hold hands and dance in a circle as you say Happy Halloween over and over til you all fall down. :)

Here is LB jumping, and LL watching in amazement. :)

**We've got over 40 other fun crafts & activities for Halloween. Click HERE.**

p.s. Need some good craft supplies? Check out our post on the best kid-craft supplies for great prices on Amazon! We've got some good recommendations. :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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Monster in the Mail

My Sister-in-Law runs a little preschool in her home. She is AMAZING at it, and does the cutest activities with her kids! And last week, we were right in the middle of our "Monster" -themed week when we got this cute little surprise in the mail!

Here's what you do:

Have your kids make a cute little monster out of any kind of paper you have. You can even glue it to a popsicle stick like the one we got.
Pick a family you think would enjoy your creepy creature.
Write a little letter to go along with the monster. Tell about how you made the monster for them and to take pictures with the monster as they do all their usual Halloween traditions: carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, decorating, etc. Ask them to email their pictures to you so you and your kids can see all the fun the monster is having! :)
Then mail the letter and monster!

**We've got over 40 other fun crafts & activities for Halloween. Click HERE.**

Need some good craft supplies--like craft sticks and paper for this fun activity? Check out our post on the best kid-craft supplies for great prices on Amazon! We've got some good recommendations. :)

And if you need some cute scrapbook paper, check out this post on the most AMAZING deals on scrapbook paper on Amazon!!

Square Monkey Puppets

I made 5 Monkey finger-puppets a couple weeks ago for some AMAZING friends of ours, and their 5 little monkeys! :)

These square puppets are similar to the Square Farm Animals I made a couple years ago

(but these ones are puppets, not stuffed. AND these are actually easier to make since I used fabric glue instead of stitching them by hand.)

These could be fun to use when you tell the story, "10 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." (....or one for each member of your family!) :) Or just let your kids play and come up with their own crazy stories and adventures.

They are also light and space-efficient, so you could pack them along in your bag for the car, church, dr. office, or anywhere you need instant entertainment!

Supplies:

Felt (brown, tan, white, black, & any colors for bows)
Scissors
Fabric Glue

Here's how to make them:

Cut out brown squares from the felt. Mine are about 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" and they fit on 1-2 fingers. (but you can make these however big or small you want!) :)
Using the other colors of felt, cut out the Monkeys' facial features:

2 ears (brown and tan)
nose (black)
mouth (black)
around the nose & mouth (tan)
bows (any color) if you want any of your monkeys to be girls. :)
eyes (white & black). (I made a lot of eyes. I'm planning to use the rest for something else.....stay tuned!!!) :)

So, after you cut everything, glue it all on using fabric glue!

After you glue the ears on, then get another brown square and put glue around the top and sides. Then place the monkey face square on top.

You should have an opening like this for the fingers to go in:

And if you want your monkey to be a girl, glue a bow on the corner of her head. :)

All done!!

Family Olympics Tradition

I LOVE the Olympics!!!!

It is so exhilarating to watch these amazing athletes push their bodies to the limit of human ability and strength....as I sit lazily on the couch eating Bon-Bons.

"I wish I were an Olympian!" I say to myself as I plop another Bon-Bon in my mouth.

(Boy. Those sure are GOOD.)

But will my Olympic dreams ever come true?

The answer is

YES!!!!

Last week, our little family had our very own Olympics!

All our Olympic dreams have come true, and yours can too!

And so I present to you our:

Here are a few posts about a new family tradition that we just started and will possibly (hopefully) maybe do every 2 years around the Olympics. You could do something similar before the Olympics, during the Olympics, after the Olympics, or anytime!

(Click on the words to go to that post):

Family Olympics: Shirts

Family Olympics: Cupcakes

Family Olympics: Torch

Family Olympics: Sports

Family Olympics: Medals