Fun Activities to Try with Your Kids

Family time is valuable. Kids grow up in the blink of an eye, and we want to take advantage of the opportunity to spend time with them while we can. You want to do things with your kids that they will enjoy but how can you really figure out what young people are doing these days? You would rather not resort to your childhood activities, of course, which your kids will roll their eyes at and swiftly walk away from.

Fear not. There are plenty of resources online to help you plan fun family activities to do with kids that you and they will enjoy. Let’s take a look at some new and popular options.

Lemonade stand!

Every kid dreams of having his or her own homemade lemonade stand. That feeling the kids get from having their very own “business.” The memories that you’ll have of the kids sitting proudly before their money jar. The steps to making lemonade are a snap:

• Get a juicing machine, or simple juicers, and juice your lemons. You’ll want to get a good number of them – at least 100 – because you never know how many customers the kids will get, and the rind takes up a deceptively large portion of the lemon.
• Create a simple syrup. You can do this easily by boiling sugar and water together. You can also find simple syrup in the store if you don’t want to do this part yourself.
• Combine both with a good amount of water – you’ll probably want to test the portions to see how strong and sweet you want your lemonade to be. Then add ice. You can also add some lemon slices to the jug to make your creation even prettier.

Once you’re done, be sure the kids have lots of cups and a place to put their profit. You can even create a fun, decorative jar for the money so that customers notice it and are inclined to give tips!

Try some online jigsaw puzzles

Do you love putting together jigsaw puzzles, but hate the mess you have to clean up afterward? Well, modern technology has an answer to this, too. You can now test your visual skills digitally with a whole range of clever online puzzles that will challenge you in the same way that traditional ones would, but not require any lengthy cleanup.

Simply choose a puzzle that you and the kids like, and you’ll be presented with “pieces” scattered throughout your screen. All you have to do is drag and drop, and hopefully, before too long you’ll have completed the puzzle. You can take a screenshot for memory!

Make your own music video

Everyone wants to be a rock star, right? Well, believe it or not, making a music video isn’t that hard. There are plenty of software options out there that will allow you to create and record a video with little effort. Once you’ve found your free video editing software for Mac or Windows, the steps you’ll need to take are the following:

• Find a song that you and your kids like (and you know the words too!) and save it to your computer as an audio file.
• Think of a “script” for your video. Consider the parts of your song that you want to accentuate visually, and how you might act them out with your kids. Consider different aspects of the video – your background, what everyone will be wearing, what colors would match the tone of the song, etc.
• Conduct some trial shoots of the song on video. You’ll probably want to do it several times as you’ll notice subtle things along the way that you’ll most likely need to adjust. As you’ll already have an audio file of the song, you won’t have to worry about the actual singing part at this point; you can just lip-sync and focus on the visuals.
• Import the video segment of your piece to your PC. Now you can begin editing. You’ll be able to do this by selecting clips of the video and dragging and dropping them into the right place.
• With the right program, you’ll be given the option of adding special effects. Text, pop-up graphics…with the right program, you’ll find lots of fun options that you and the kids can choose from together.

Put it all together and you’ll have your video! Something you’ll be able to hold on to through the years. This is a great way to take advantage of today’s technological advancements while the kids are young; it’ll give you a gem of a memory that you’ll be able to look back at when they’re older. If you’re seeking fun things to do with kids, you won’t find much that beats this in terms of a good time.

DIY stickers

What kid isn’t nuts about stickers? Well, now you can make your own DIY stickers with a few simple materials. All you’ll need is some wax paper and parcel tape. The steps are simple:

• Use the wax paper to create drawings of your favorite items that you’d like to make stickers out of. Be sure to find markers of different sizes so that the kids can be as detailed as they want.
• Cut out the pictures and place them between two pieces of parcel tape. Then cut around each picture, leaving a rim to bind it together.
• Remove the wax paper and voila! You’ll have your stickers.

Once you’re done, you can have a photo session to preserve the memories of your creation.

Science experiments

Whoa, you’re probably thinking. Although you may be filled with images of exploding household items upon hearing the words “science experiment,” don’t worry. There are plenty of simple experiments you can conduct at home with relative ease that won’t leave your heart palpitating at the thought of your house burning down.

In fact, science experiments for kids can be some of the most memorable and educational things that you’ll do while your kids are young. And they will stay with the kids, too. Everyone remembers their first experiment making a battery or a magnet, or experimenting with liquid compounds. Some of the many experiments you can try with the kids include:

• Racing balloon-powered cars
• Combining dish soap with a few other ingredients to blow giant-sized bubbles
• Creating a mini roller coaster using drinking straws

Tons of possibilities are out there if you look around online. And many of them don’t run the risk of destroying your house. It will be a family event to remember for sure.

Remember, kids are only young once

You want to have valuable quality time with your kids while you can. Average experiences will fade into the background as kids grow up, but exceptional ones will stay with you and them forever. Find fun things to do with family among the many useful online resources today.

Your kids deserve the best when it comes to their childhood experiences. And fortunately, modern technology has made it easy for you to do even more fabulous things than when you were a kid. Get started now!