Great Activities for Your Kids
Discover new opportunities in your area for some family-friendly fun.
Cherylyn Feierabend
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Great Activities for Your Kids
Is it just me or is this year whizzing by at an alarmingly fast pace? I can’t believe it’s already spring. Pretty soon, summer will be upon us. The kids will have more free time and that gives us more time, as parents, to spend with them. If you are looking for things to do with the kids, now might be a great time to consider some new ideas. Without school, their schedules will have a little more free time, so take some time to map out a daily or weekly plan of events. You don’t have to do EVERYTHING, but fill up your calendar, pick and choose some activities, recharge your digital camera batteries, and create some new adventures!
Ideas for Great Activities for Your Kids
When you start planning your activities you might wonder where to even begin looking for new things. I’m a creature of habit, so every year at summertime I sign my kids up for the local movie fun plan. One of the theaters offers 10 movies for seven dollars. They are all kid-friendly and on the same day each week. I also look into local summer day camps which aren’t as economical as the movies. These two items alone take up a lot of our schedule, but this year, I want to try something new. I made a list of events I know happen in our area frequently and I’ll be looking for new and different ideas as time goes on. Some of the things you can look for are
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Cultural Festivals
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Birdwalks
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Stargazes
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Plays or Musicals
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Puppet Shows
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Kid-friendly Conventions
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Artwalks
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Farmers Markets
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Craft Shows
I’m sure you can think of more creative and different ideas besides those I’ve listed. You can find more ideas by doing searches on parenting websites, checking with church groups, or looking in local newspapers, magazines, and community bulletin boards. Don’t forget to sign up for mailing lists from your local museums, libraries, theaters, and bookstores. These are great sources for information as well. Another idea is to gather a group of friends and get on a group email list or calendar and share ideas.
The Benefits of Trying New Thing with Your Kids
Some of the great ideas for new activities you’ll come up with may seem challenging, but think of the activities as ways to offer a learning experience or other benefit to your child. The more obvious outings like museums, libraries, or artwalks offer culture and education. What you may not realize is that activities like that also help to teach your child patience, tolerance, and appreciation. Actually, I think just about anything you do with your child that doesn’t involve constant hands-on or physical activity is a lesson in patience for both of you. Though you may think you don’t want to deal with teaching or learning patience, consider this: the more you practice, the better you’ll both become at it. Patience is very often a learned skill.
Some other benefits of new activities will be the learning of new cultures, listening to new types of music, and finding new great photo opportunities. By attending conventions and story times, you give your children great opportunities to run into some of their favorite characters. If you try to find something new to do each week, you’ll also grow in your own knowledge, culture, and ability to plan.
Check out a Con in Your Area
This year I’m actually volunteering at the Phoenix Comicon which is taking place May 27th through the 30th. This will be the third year that I’ve taken my children to this event. They love it! Their favorites part of the con are seeing the people dressed up as video game characters like Mario and Princess Peach or movie characters like Darth Vader. My son loves Darth Vader. Both of my kids absolutely love the Jedi Training they have each year too! Of course, I love seeing all the science fiction authors and guest stars. If you have a con in your area, I highly recommend that you check it out. If you are going to be in the Phoenix area in May, drop me a line and let me know if you’ll be attending Phoenix Comicon. I’d love to meet you!
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Kids Outside image courtesy of Shutterstock