Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

Most Popular Posts of 2012

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It’s always fascinating for me to go back and see which of my posts YOU liked the best. Each and every one of these posts was packed full of ideas, so in a way you’re getting a bonus. Inside of these 10 most popular posts, you’ll be getting hundreds of ideas for family fun! So here they are, from 10 to 1.

10. 10 Ways to Bring a Book to Life: In this post, you’ll find 10 fun ideas to add a little something extra to the books you read from using props to having a book-inspired meal.

9. Summer Bucket List: Inspiration Roundup: Here is a list of all the information I used when creating our 2012 Summer Bucket List.

8. 10 Ways to Have Fun With Math: Math doesn’t have to be boring! Here are 10 hands-on ways to have fun while learning basic math skills.

7. 10 Ways to Have Fun on a Walk: Walks are a fun way to spend time together as a family. So in case you want to add a little variety to your neighborhood walk, here are 10 fun things to do on a walk.

6. Summer Bucket List: Our 2012 List: Here is is, our 2012 Summer Bucket List. We kept things simple by only listing 20 fun things we wanted to do this past summer and we accomplished all but two!

5. 10 Ways to Keep Your Kids Occupied While You’re Cooking Dinner: It can be hard to cook dinner with kids underfoot. Here are 10 activities that are easy, self-directed and require little supervision (if any).

4. 10 Ways to Create with Cardboard Tubes: One of our favorite supplies to craft with is an empty cardboard tube. Here are 10 fun things to create with the cardboard tube.

3. 100 Ideas for Your Fall Bucket List: Fall bucket lists are just about as popular as summer bucket lists. In this post, I’ve provided 100 ideas for fall fun.

2. 10 Things to Do When You’re Stuck Indoors: The kids are stir crazy and you’re desperate to find a fun activity for everyone to do. Here are 10 fun things to do when circumstances are keeping you inside.

1. 200 Fun Ideas for Your Summer Bucket List:  This was far and away my most popular post of the year. Check out these 200 ideas for summer fun!

I hope you enjoyed this look back at 2012. Thank you for joining me in this journey and I hope you stick around as we have fun in 2013 celebrating family and creativity!

Simple Ideas for Holiday Family Fun

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Merry Christmas! Posting has been slow around here lately as I’ve been enjoying the holiday season.

I love this time of year so much and want to spend plenty of time enjoying the simple pleasures of Christmas

But, I did want to post one last time before I signed off for Christmas and New Years. I encourage you to do the same.

Spend time with your family. Enjoy the season.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Here are 10 simple ways to spend time together as a family over the holidays.

Gather round and go through your Christmas cards together. Tell stories about your family and friends to help your children get to know them better.

Put the kids in their pj’s (you can wear some too) and drive around to look at Christmas lights.

Settle in with mugs of hot chocolate and a pile of Christmas books. Have a family read-aloud night.

Sing carols together. Have your little musicians accompany the family with some homemade jingle bell shakers. (You can find the instructions here at Daria Music.)

Bundle up and go for a winter evening walk. Look at all the holiday decorations in your neighborhood. Use the time to appreciate the sights and sounds of nature.

Bake Christmas cookies. Pick out a fun new recipe, buy the ingredients, and spend time in the kitchen together.

Have a board game night. Pick a few favorite games and spend the evening playing. Younger children can team up with a parent or older sibling if needed.

Brainstorm your New Year’s resolutions together. Or, just talk about your hopes and plans for the new year. Is there anything you can do together as a family?

Spend an evening doing family interviews. Consider making it a family tradition.

Play charades! It’s an old-fashioned game that has stood that test of time. And it’s no wonder, it’s fun to play.

What are some of your favorite holiday family activities?

Hearts to Newtown Project

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Today, many blogs are taking a day of silence to honor the victims of Newtown. I had planned on doing the same until a read a post on The Mary Frances Project late last night and found out about the Hearts to Newtown project. So instead, I want to tell you about the project and how to participate.

 

The premise is simple. Have your children make a heart to honor Newtown. Here are the words from their Facebook page, “We just want to fill the walls of the school, the Newtown library, city hall, the hospital with reminders that children from all over the country are with them. Have your child draw a picture on a heart piece of paper of something “happy or good,” include their name, age, and state, and send it to: Include your school, scout troop, baseball team or church in the effort!” 
Cut your heart from a standard 8-1/2 x 11-inch paper. If your children are too young to know about the tragedy, just have them decorate the heart with happy things. Include your child’s first name, age, and state.
Once completed you can send your hearts to: P.O. Box 754 Bethel, CT 06801
For more information, you can visit the Hearts to Newtown Facebook page.

Please join me in honoring the victims of Newtown.


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10 Ways to Play This Weekend: Week 20

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After Friday’s tragedy in Connecticut, I debated whether or not to post my usual weekend post. But then it occurred to me that this post is all about connecting. It’s a way for me to share good ideas I find from others and it’s full of ways that you and I can use to spend time together as a family. I’m sure many of us are craving family time this weekend. So go, play, and enjoy each other.
  1. Make the biggest snowflake ever with Mama Scout
  2. Do some simple candy cane science with Teach Preschool
  3. Make salt dough coasters to give as gifts with Rainy Day Mum
  4. Play some fun Christmas word games – Mad Libs style.
  5. Make beautiful glitter star ornaments with The Artful Parent
  6. Make yummy peppermint bark with the Brown Eyed Baker
  7. Play Christmas Carol Charades with Inspired by Family Magazine
  8. Make pretty icicle ornaments with Happy Hooligans
  9. Make Hugs Pretzel Sandwiches with Mess for Less
  10. Learn a new Christmas song with Angelique Felix – The Magic of Play
How are you going to play this weekend?

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Christmas Cards for Faraway Family & Friends

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I’m so happy to be participating in the Creative Christmas Countdown this year. Each day until the 24th, all of my favorite bloggers will be sharing a fun & simple Christmas activity. Be sure to check the official Creative Christmas Countdown page for all the previous activities and you can keep up with the rest of the countdown.

We have a lot of family and friends that live far away. Unfortunately we never get to see everyone we love during the holiday season, so this year we’re going to send some love their way.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

We started with the camera. I took several pictures of the girls blowing kisses. I had hopes of getting the girls together in a picture, but sometimes that can be an impossible task!

Once I had a couple of pictures I loved, I used PicMonkey to add the text. PicMonkey is a free, easy-to-use, web-based picture editing program. You just upload your picture, edit, and then save to your computer. Easy-peasy.

I printed the pictures out and trimmed them to fit inside my blank cards.

I cut some pieces 8-1/2×11″ card stock in half and then folded them to make the cards.

We glued down the photos and got to work decorating the outside of the cards. We used stickers and markers, but anything would work.

Now, we’re all set to send a bit of Christmas cheer for all of our faraway friends and family! We’ll be sending our love in our own special way.

I hope you’re enjoying the Creative Christmas Countdown! Don’t forget to follow along and catch up with all of the other fun & simple ideas that have been shared already.