Family Fun Activities

Today in our Young Women's lesson at church we designed Family Fun bags.  All of the girls decorated their bags and then we filled out pieces of paper that had ideas for fun family activities on them.  There were some great ideas. Now each YW has a bag full of ideas for their family to do when they need a little more "family time."


1. Grey Wolf: A variation of hide-and-seek.  One person hides (and is the grey wolf).  Everyone has to leave the base to go looking for the grey wolf.  When you see the wolf, you shout "GREY WOLF" and run as fast as you can back to the base.  If the wolf catches you before you get to base, you are it.  This is really fun after dark.  
2. Eureka: This is a great one for family walks.  The kids have to run ahead of the adults and hide somewhere on the path. If the parents see a child, they say "I see you John (or whatever the kid's name is). If the parents walk by the kid without being spotted, the call "Eureka" and they get a point.  The kid with the most points at the end of the walk wins.  (This was invented by my in-laws as a great way to walk without kids listening to every word spoken). 
3. Family Cook-off: Each family member can compete in cupcake decorating, in cake making, in chili recipes, etc.  
4. Sardines: Another hide-and-seek variant.  The person who is "it" hides.  If you find "it," you hide with them until the last person finds the group and they become "it."
5. Walk to get ice cream: Self-explanatory, but pick a location to walk to that has a pot of gold at the end. Walking for ice cream, pizza, roller skating, etc. 
6. Snorkeling: Obviously, this is not for every location, but living in Puerto Rico, we forget that we have  beautiful waters to explore.
7. Scum (President) Card Game: This is a fun card game that can be played with a bunch of people.  As I'm not the best at describing card games, here's a link to describe it.  Thank you Bruce Gourley. Scum or President Card Game Rules
8. Skip-Bo: Another card game.  Here are the instructions courtesy of Mattel. Rules for Skip-Bo
9. Monster: This is a great outdoor game to play on a family sized jungle gym.  One person is the "monster." They cannot touch any part of the jungle gym with their feet, but may run around the ground as much as they want.  The victims of the monster are not allowed to touch the ground, but must stay touching the play equipment. Especially with larger groups of people, this leads to much hysterical laughter 
10. Movie Night: Pick a theme and break out your best G or PG movie for everyone to enjoy. Popcorn enhances this activity.
11. Tea Party: Break out the cucumber sandwiches, scones and clotted cream, mini muffins, cheese slices and peppermint tea for a fun picnic cum tea-party.
12. Flash-light tag: Another after-dark game. Only the person who is "it" has a flash-light.  Usually we get in a field or an open area to minimize injuries and then it is just like regular tag, except if the light hits you, you are "it."
13. Spud: You need a tennis ball for this game. You assign everyone a number and then you have someone who is "it." They have to throw the ball straight up in the air and call someone's number. If they call your number, you have to run as quick as you can and get the ball and call "SPUD!"  If you don't have your number called, you need to run far, far away very quickly until you hear the person's whose number was called yell "SPUD!" and then you freeze.  The "it" person can take three giant steps towards the closest victim and then try and hit them with the ball while they are frozen.  If they get hit, the person they hit gets the letter "S."  If they miss, they themselves get "S."  You play until someone has spelled "S P U D."
14. Blob Tag: This is a variation on tag where when you get tagged, you are stuck to the "it" person until the last person is caught. Fun Games Kids Play has this site that is dedicated to Tag and all of its variations. Varieties of Tag
15. Pass the sign or Animal: Each person in your group picks an animal sign that they make with their hands (eg: one finger sticking out of your forehead, could be unicorn, etc.) After each person has a sign, you pick someone to be in the center of your circle. Have them close your eyes, and pick who will go first. Then have them open their eyes. The person going first, must make their own sign and then the sign of someone else in the circle without getting tagged by the center person. When they pass the sign, that person must make their own sign and then the sign of someone else.  Play continues until the middle person catches them giving a sign.  If the play passes fast enough, it is very hard for the person to tag them even if they can see whose sign is being called.  This is really funny too.  Here is another variation on the game. Animal game variation

I'd love it if you have other games that you play with your families that you can share on here.  I know that by spending time in joyful activities with my family, we become closer and create amazing memories.