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Fun and Learning at the Beach

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Going to the beach is great fun if you have some foolproof activities in mind to keep the children engaged all day to ward off boredom. Be sure to bring a basket or bag for all the goodies your child may find along the beach to bring home with them. You can get in on the action too or just sit back and watch your kids have a ball. Try these with your little explorers:

Seashell Hunting

Seashells come in all shapes and sizes. Just walking along the beach where the tide rolls in can net you lots of pretty shells. You can also hunt in the shallow area near at the waters edge for more.

If your child is like most children you will have to help them sort through and choose the best shells to take home otherwise you may need a truck to carry them all. Teach them how to inspect the shells for defects, make groupings by color or shape, and even plan how to display them creatively at home.

Rock Collecting

The beach is wonderful place to go rock collecting. Many rocks along the beach will be smooth from years and years of rolling through the tides which makes for easy collecting for little ones. You will find many types of rocks on the beach agates, jaspers, quartz, jadeite among many others. You could even get lucky enough to find fossils among the rocks as well.

Some of these rocks are very beautiful just as you find them. But, if you choose to take them home to clean them up or put them through a rock polisher your child will be amazed at how truly beautiful their finds are.

Beach Combing

The tides rolling in and out bring in lots of gifts from the sea that are deposited on the beach every day, such as sea glass, tropical seeds or fossils. Make it your mission for you and your children to find some treasures on the beach to take home.

Another fun thing to do after you get home is to make a keepsake out of the things you found. A few ideas to get you started are attach all your finds to a canvas to make wall hanging, make a treasure box or add your items to a net tied at the top

Metal Detecting

Most beaches have hordes of people visiting all summer long which makes for great treasure hunting with metal detectors. Older children who have the patience will be the best suited for this type of activity.

Making Sand Castles

Bring buckets, molds and shovels to create the ultimate sand castles. You can even invite other children to work with your child to build a large community of castles with trenches, moats and towers. The kids will love it and you child may make some new friends too.

A day at the beach is more than just swimming and sunbathing. With a little creativity, you can turn your beach trip into an exciting adventure and even add a few teachable moments to your weekend.

Families That Garden Together Eat Together

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Do you garden? Do you get the whole family involved in garden? If you’re not gardening as a family, then you are missing a chance at helping make those family mealtimes happen – and you are missing out on so much more, too. The family that gardens together eats together and saves money together.

Here’s why gardening as a family helps make mealtime true family time.

If you have a picky eater who won’t eat his (or her) fruits and vegetables, then start showing him where it comes from. Let him pick seeds to plant and then plant them. Maybe a different variety of a particular vegetable would appeal more.  Water them, tend to them, weed them, and watch them grow. Give him the responsibility of taking care of the garden. Once he sees where a plant comes from he’ll be more willing to try it. Once he has the pride of working to grow something, he will want to show off what he did to everyone and try it out for himself to see what he created with his own hands.

Slice it up and cook it together. Make a yummy vegetable pizza out of the vegetables you just grew in your garden. Let your child help cut up the vegetables and put the vegetables on the pizza. Grow tomatoes and make a nice homemade tomato sauce together to put on your homemade pizza. Put it in the oven and then sit down as a family to eat what your child created from start to finish. Straight from the garden to the table is the best way to do it.

A child who not only grew the yummy vegetables that went into the meal that your family eats, but then also helped cook it, will grow his self-esteem as big as the garden he has created with you. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction you receive of knowing that you provided delicious food for your family from start to finish.

There are so many health benefits to gardening together too. Not only are you eating more healthy fruits and vegetables, but getting out in the sun and working in the garden is also great exercise. All things that will help you live longer. You can entice your child to put down the electronics and get outdoors by saying, “Let’s go outside and dig in the dirt.” He’ll love it.

All this time spent together creates memories with your child. These will be special moments you’ll never forget. Your child won’t forget either. You are creating childhood moments that will last a lifetime, and traditions that your child likely won’t outgrow. He will learn great skills which will last him his entire life. From gardening, to eating healthy foods, to preparing his own meals, he will be well-rounded. Not to mention all the opportunities to talk about what’s happening in his life. Gardening together, cooking together, and eating together are all moments to communicate together.

So all in all, gardening together will not only lead to eating together, but also cooking together and communicating together. The health and emotional benefits of gardening together and eating together never end.

Landscaping with the Whole Family

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Landscaping doesn’t have to be something that is left to the professionals. It’s something we can do on our own or even as a family. Here are some simple landscaping ideas that are so easy the whole family can help you do it. So get the family together next weekend and work together making your yard the best in the whole neighborhood without having to spend a whole lot.

  1. Start a garden. If you already have a spot without grass, then that’s perfect – if not, then you will need to kill your grass in the area you want your garden. To do this, lay a thick layer of newspaper over the grass where you want a garden and then put a layer of mulch on the newspaper. Once the grass is killed you can remove the newspaper and place fresh soil and begin planting.

Know the type of environment you’re planting in. Is it sunny or shady? What is the soil like? When you go purchase your plants or bulbs, ask at the nursery for help in choosing plants that grow best given the conditions of your yard.

  1. Create a landscape design. This isn’t just for the professionals. They all use five basic things when designing a landscape. Color, form (shape of the plant), line (how the grouping of plants makes the eye move), scale (size of the area you work in), and texture.
  2. Water the lawn and the plants. You can do this with a sprinkler, but for the garden you might want to consider a more hands-on approach. A watering can and a small child are great at watering the garden. And they usually love it!
  3. Remove weeds. You can use a weed whacker for bigger jobs, but in the garden, good old-fashioned weed pulling will keep your garden healthy and looking good. Another great job for children.
  4. You can create a great backyard space on your own by adding simple things like a fire pit. Just dig a small round trench and layer it with gravel and sand. Then place large stones around the perimeter to create your fire pit to use for backyard barbecues or just sitting around the fire.
  5. Build do-it-yourself walls and patios. This might not seem like something you can do yourself, but the benefits of the internet are that there are all sorts of tutorials and easy-to-follow videos for doing this stuff yourself. With the proper space carved out and a nice sunny Saturday afternoon to work (and a few friends), you can really create your own little patio or rock wall to really add pzazz to your landscaping design in your yard.

Don’t go at any of this alone. Have a plan in advance and talk to some friends and family who have done some things you like in their own yard and see if you can get them over to help you. Remember to give age-appropriate jobs to the kids like weeding and watering for maintaining certain parts of your landscape.

You can really create your own beautifully landscaped yard by yourself for much cheaper than hiring a professional – if that’s what you want to do, that is. It’s a great way to begin working together with the family and do something you all can have pride in and sit around and enjoy together as a family. So what’s your next do-it-yourself project with the family?

Getting Everyone’s Input on Redecorating the Family Room

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The family room is the room of the house that you want to be an inviting place where the whole family feels comfortable and secure. One way to do that is by getting everyone’s input on how it should be decorated. But with numerous different people and different ideas, asking everyone’s opinion may seem like a very daunting task. It doesn’t have to be, though. Here is how to decorate the family room so the whole family is happy with it.

How to Make Your Family Room a True Family Made Room

  • Let the kids have input. Don’t turn down everything they say. If they suggest a shag carpet, get them a small shag rug and place it in their favorite area of the living space. Remember, the goal is to make the room an inviting space for the whole family.
  • Use fabrics that clean easily. Leather, microfiber, and acrylics are all great fabrics to use in a family room where the kids are going to be possibly, definitely spilling things.
  • Use your space appropriately. Divide it up with furniture if it’s a large space. Keep clutter hidden behind cabinets or inside of ottomans. If you’re going to allow toys in the family room, then find easy ways to store and hide these items when they are not in use.
  • Functional seating is important in a family room. When it’s just you and your family you might not need a whole lot of seating. But an ottoman is great in that can be used for kicking back or as a table when you have company over.  That way no one has to sit on the floor or stand and there’s a space for everyone to sit.
  • Don’t be afraid of patterns and using them to make a cozy space for the whole family to enjoy.
  • Don’t forget about window treatments. A sheer curtain in the family room allows light into the space, making it bright and comfortable.
  • Play to your family’s interests. If you’re an outdoorsy family, then use colors from the outdoors. If you are interested in boating, then do a nautical theme. Bringing the things the family loves to do together into the family room will make it the favorite room of the house for everyone to hang out in. If your family loves the beach, then bring in blues and corals into the room with pictures of beach sunsets covering the walls.

When decorating your family room with your whole family in mind you want to remember comfort and functionality first. Creating a space that is comfortable for everyone to be in while also working to your family’s needs is what the family room is all about. A family who doesn’t entertain a lot might not care too much about having extra seating, but might want the family room to reflect the family’s interest. So figure out what works best for your family and sit down and talk to everyone about what they would like to see in this space. Then come up with a plan that works with all of these ideas.

What is your ideal family room décor?

Hosting a Family Reunion – Get Everyone Involved

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Has it been a long time since you have seen the whole family? Were you talking about your Great Aunt Suzy and your kids asked who? Then you’ll probably want to plan your next family reunion. 

However, coordinating the whole thing is a very daunting task. You need to get everyone to pitch in and delegate tasks. Here’s how to get everyone involved in planning your next big family reunion.

  • Start out by talking to your family. Send out a short questionnaire. Ask who is interested. When would be a good time to have a reunion (suggest dates that work)? What is a good location to have a reunion? Once you know what works for everyone you can start having people get their feelers out for a place that will be as centrally located as possible and the most cost effective for everyone.
  • Come up with a budget that everyone is comfortable with and stick with it. There’s nothing worse than getting everyone excited about a family reunion only to have someone unable to join because he can’t afford it. So always keep everyone in mind and what their ability to pay might be so no one has to be excluded for financial reasons.
  • Don’t be afraid to delegate tasks. Work to your family members’ strengths. If you have someone in your family who’s really great at hunting out bargains, put that person in charge of finding the location. Someone who’s creative can be put in charge of the games. A photographer in the family? See if he wouldn’t mind taking pictures at the reunion.
  • Have a clear schedule of events with expectations. This keeps everyone on the same page so they know what’s expected of them.
  • Get all ages of children involved by having them create decorative and crafty place settings so your family reunion guests will know where to sit.
  • Don’t over plan. While the idea of a family reunion is to get together with the family, also remember that too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing. So do encourage the family to go off and do things on their own or even break up into smaller groups.
  • Be open to others ideas and try to accommodate as many people as possible, but also keep in mind that you can’t please everyone all the time.
  • Remember to have fun. This is probably the most important. You have fun with it and you might even get people coming up to you offering to help without even having to ask. Don’t count on it happening that way, though. You most likely will still have to put requests out there, but people will be more inclined to help if you aren’t super bossy and are ready and willing to have fun.

Hosting a family reunion is a lot of work. But with the right attitude and a willingness to be flexible it will come together. You’ll create a great memory for the whole family and see people you haven’t seen in a very long time. So get to planning with these tips above in mind and you’ll have a wonderful time. What are your tips for hosting a family reunion?