Activity Guides
Activities for your family to help your kids develop grow and develop wisdom.
Adopt a Family
Over the years, our family’s sense of connection with the various churches we’ve been part of has varied widely. We have moved from state to state several times during our marriage, which always requires a new round of exhausting “church shopping” and new attempts to begin to plug into that new body of believers in a way you hope will eventually feel more natural—like an extended family itself.
One of the quickest ways to start to feel connected to the folks at your church—and to help kids to begin to understand what it means to be part of that family—is…
Continue reading this family activity.
ThanksBook
This quick and easy exercise is a fun way for kids and parents to practice the fine art of gratitude. It couldn’t be more simple, but the results are surprisingly powerful for the whole family.
One of the most often heard complaints from parents about kids is that they are ungrateful. As parents, we know how much effort goes into providing for a family. Beyond the hours of work involved in generating an income to make ends meet, most parents willingly go the extra mile to give their kids the time, stuff, and foods they really enjoy. Parents like giving…
Continue reading this family activity.
Show Us Your Day
Do your kids like to take pictures with a digital camera or with their phones? It’s often surprising—at least to me—when a child first starts taking pictures of things in their normal, everyday environment.
It reminds us again that they see their world through a different perspective from our own. The angles are different (especially if they’re still young and short); what they see as noteworthy is different; how they frame their shots is different.
This month’s family activity is all about using digital cameras or camera phones to get the members of your family to show each…
Continue reading this family activity.
Worst Possible Scenario Game
How often do you or members of your family find yourselves asking, “What’s the worst that could happen?” Some people ask the question from a positive point of view: “How bad could it be? We can handle whatever comes of this. It’s not a big deal. Even the worst isn’t the end of the world.”
Others of us feel compelled to imagine the worst possible scenario in hopes of somehow preparing ourselves and our families for all of the awful, terrible things that might happen next.
It’s a ridiculous impulse, isn’t it? It’s based on the illusion that…
Continue reading this family activity.
King or Queen for a Day
Everybody likes to feel special, but that’s not really what this activity is about. It’s about practicing servanthood. Choosing to “consider others better than” ourselves, as Philippians says, does not come naturally to anyone. It’s a daily choice, and it takes ongoing practice.
Our culture—our world, as defined by the Bible—encourages us to do exactly the opposite. The successful contestants on nearly every reality TV show find a way to use each other to get to the top. Even being nice is often seen as a strategy for manipulating and stepping over lesser contestants.
Obviously, that approach to…
Continue reading this family activity.
Weekly Top 5
Most kids, when they’re young, love to have mom and dad sit down and really appreciate play and media with them. They naturally want to share their love for TV shows, toys, music, superheroes, and outdoor discoveries. They might even start out by loving some of your music or sports or cable channels. My niece shared an avid interest in the Food Network with her parents until she approached middle school.
Eventually, though, many kids begin to express their independence by becoming fans of media and hobbies far removed from their parents’ interests. Sometimes, it’s about rebellion. Often, though, it’s…
Continue reading this family activity.
Progressive Kindness Dinner
The season of Valentine’s Day is not always a healthy one for students. For teens in a dating relationship, the romantic big event can sometimes lead to unwise emotional commitment or a reason to cross the next barrier toward sexual activity. On the other side, teens who want to be dating but aren’t might feel discouraged or rejected or unlovable.
One idea for moderating the relationship pressure the season can place on your students is to claim a day this month as a family celebration. Specifically, you can think about designating one afternoon or evening to have fun together and communicate what you like about each other.
The stability that comes from being part of a family that clearly likes each other goes a long way toward giving students the strength and wisdom to stand up against the manipulative romantic messages of February.
Try this: Let your family know that you’re all going to go out to eat at several different restaurants on the same day or night. Each family member gets to pick one place for one part of the meal.
So you might hit one restaurant for salad, another for fries or smoothies, another for sandwiches, and maybe a final one for dessert. Or maybe you’ll just end up at a whole bunch of dessert places. You’ll have to set the ground rules for what kinds of restaurants are in play to keep the costs reasonable (and to compensate for large families), but make it clear that each person’s choice is his or her own.
There’s a catch: While you’re eating together at each restaurant, the person who picked the place has to describe two things they genuinely appreciate about each of their other family members. You’ll need to encourage them to work on their lists ahead of time. Ask them to try to be specific and encouraging. And don’t forget to do the same with your own list.
You might explain that this is a chance to practice Proverbs 12:25 together—while pigging out a little. That verse says: “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.”
Continue reading this family activity.
