Re-Inventing Family Night
When our first two sons were seven and two, friends of ours declined a movie invitation saying they had a commitment with their kids that night. We were intrigued and asked what they were up to. They shared that Friday nights were family night and that they simply played games and invented stuff together. We were inspired! Over the years, reinventing our family night has brought laughter, built memories, and strengthened relationships with our children. Here are a few of our favorite family night ideas.
#1. Hide and seek! We invented a game we called “hide the baby.” When our youngest was barely one, we’d hide him in a safe place, like under the table or behind a door (where an adult was always supervising him). Then we’d call the other children to find the baby. For some reason, the little guy loved to sit quietly until he was found. Squeals of delight would erupt when someone called out, “I found the Baby!” Sometimes we would change it up and play hide with the baby. As each person found the baby, they would crowd into the space until the last family member arrived! Then great joy and laughter would erupt again! Yeah, we loved hide the baby. When the baby grew too big for the game, we sometimes hid the pet hamster or bunnies.
#2. Board Games and crafts! Though we played many rounds of Candy-land, Rack-o, Rook, and Dutch Blitz, the best game was the one we created ourselves. We made the game board out of a box and borrowed pieces from other games. This gave our kids such a sense of accomplishment and value, as we played their unique game together. Crafts were my favorite and became a delight to everyone as we sought to make things that were useful and fun. I saved little soap boxes and turned them into garages for matchbox cars. Of course my garage had glitter and stars on it! We also made tunnels out of toilet paper tubes or paper towel tubes. This eventually turned into a marble works contraption, complete with a starting ramp and a three-pronged finish line. I wish I had saved pictures of this one. But if you collect your tubes and provide plenty of tape, you’ll discover your own way, I’m sure.
#3. Boxes! One of our most memorable family nights included a stack of moving boxes that we cut up, laid flat, and taped end to end to make a fort. Using the natural folds in the boxes, we were able to create walls and turrets and even a draw bridge door! This became a week-long endeavor, as the boys created tunnels that led to the fort and eventually an entire maze that you had to crawl through to find the original fort. It took about forty medium-sized moving boxes and filled our entire upstairs hallway and bedrooms. Finding the boy’s beds each night was interesting. We just cleared a path and filled it in again in the morning.
#4. Sumo Wrestling! Having boys means that any activity involving physical contact is met with exuberance. Sumo wrestling became popular with our sons between the ages of four and twelve. This activity involves putting on an oversized t-shirt (usually Dad’s) and shoving a bed pillow up the front of the shirt and another in the back. Then you wrestle on your knees, which keeps the activity safer. Involving Dad is essential to the joy factor. Get ready for hysterical laughter as everyone falls down and rolls around, arms and legs frantically trying to right their corpulent selves.
#5. Contraptions! A contraption is making a complicated solution to a simple problem. It is a chain reaction that results in the completion of a final task such as a ball bouncing into a bucket a certain number of times or a bell ringing. We built contraptions using what we had around the house: hot wheels tracks, dominoes, marbles, and an old Mouse Trap game. The first step is to identify your end goal. Once the goal and the location of its completion is determined, such as the kitchen table, you can begin building from another location, like the living room. Contraptions that flow from one room to the next create the most excitement. We never had a clear plan. Our inventions just seemed to happen as we built. One person would say, “Hey, let’s make the dominoes fall over onto the spoon and flip it up to release the car that will roll down the track.” Then someone else would chime in with, “Yeah and the car will knock over this ruler and …” on it would go until we’d built our contraption. This activity takes teamwork and collaboration, but the result is well worth it.
So, January need not be all ice and loneliness. Bring on the games, the contraptions, forts, and laughter. May joy reign in your home as your re-invent family night.
Joleen Steel is the curriculum specialist for Camping Stick Kids. She has a B.A. in elementary education. She taught public school for ten years before deciding to open her own music studio and homeschool her boys. Joleen is a pastor’s wife and grew up as a pastor’s kid. Her love for the good news of Jesus Christ flows out of her and into the camping stick kids curriculum. Her easy style and creative approach to teaching will encourage your student to learn the Gospel story and be able to share the good news with their friends and family. Joleen would love to have you visit the camping stick kids website and blog. Come say hi at www.campingstickkids.com.
