Sometimes school work and extracurricular activities can seem overwhelming and make family time difficult.However, taking breaks to participate in recreational activities with your family not only will help you focus better during your academic work but also will give you the opportunity to have fun, relax, and make memories with those who matter most in your life. Here are some suggestions of low-cost pretty simple activities you can do with your family:
Trivia
- Trivia can be a great way to test your knowledge and learn something new while having fun. You can find trivia questions online or you can make up your own.
- You can find or create questions tailored to a family interest. For example if your family likes to watch baseball, you can play baseball trivia. Or, you can play a round of trivia composed of a few questions from many different categories such as science, pop culture, history, geography, movies and songs.
- You can also try to stump your parents with questions on topics you are learning in school. If they aren’t able to answer you might enjoy trying to teach them. Likewise, your parents can try to stump you with questions. You can keep score to add some friendly competition.
Knit a scarf
- The only materials you need are needles (2 per person) and yarn which you can find for a low price at a local craft store or on Amazon. (You’ll want straight needles; circular ones won’t be helpful.) If your entire family is working together it will be easier to work through problems and find solutions. A scarf is one of the easiest things to knit. Once you get the hang of it your family can knit scarves for yourselves or can gift them to someone else!
- Check out this tutorial on how to knit a scarf:
Ping Pong
- This can be a fun competitive activity to do with your parents or your siblings. You can also set up a family ping pong tournament.
- No need for an actual ping pong table! If you have a rectangular shaped table (even if it is your kitchen table) you can use that as your ping pong table. To make a net take two cups with handles and tie a string to each handle. Make sure the string is as long as the width of your table. Then put coffee filters over the string and tape them at the bottom. If you don’t have two paddles or a ball you can find them online for a low price.
Jenga
- This fun game comes in table sizes as well as bigger sizes. This game involves pulling blocks out of a tower in such a way that the tower doesn’t fall.
Hiking and Outdoor Games
- Walking on a nearby trail or at a park can be a relaxing way to spend time with family while enjoying the beauty of the outdoors and getting a little exercise.
- If you go to a park you can also play some outdoor games. You can throw a frisbee, play monkey in the middle, or play catch (if not everyone in your family has a baseball or softball glove you can use a tennis ball instead). You can play many variations of the game of catch to make things more fun: stand on one foot or only play with your left hand or throw behind your back.
Baking
- You can find all sorts of recipes online. If you want to bake something new here is a simple recipe for fudge.
- You can make fudge in whatever shape you want. If it is close to Valentine’s day maybe make hearts. If you want to celebrate a good grade on a calc test you can make it in the shape of an integral: cut the fudge in thin strips and mold the corners.
Movie Night
- Be open to watching an older movie your parents enjoyed when they were growing up. They might appreciate watching it again and you taking an interest in their childhood/teenage years. Also, you might enjoy watching something new. Alternatively, of course you can watch a modern movie.
- Renting movies from a local library is a great option because it is free. Alternatively, movies are available to rent or buy on multiple streaming sites.
Whether you choose to do one of the activities mentioned above or something else, meaningful time spent with family will no doubt be worth it. You might even want to invite your friends’ families to participate too (or your boyfriend and/or his family.)