8 Family Building Ideas To Do This Summer
Need a few ideas for building family memories and strengthening heartstrings? Here are a few of our favorite ways:
1. Plan a media fast. You’ll be amazed how many distractions this eliminates.
2. Plan to read and learn. Read a book aloud, or for parents of teens, read a chapter in sync and talk about it at night. For moms of young children, listen to free audiobooks together from booksshouldbefree.com. Your kids get smarter and you get a brain break. Need a place to start? Try Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children. It’s a charming story! Learn a new skill. Paint an old dresser and give it new life. Try your hand at calligraphy. Learn about local herbs and their uses. Go strawberry picking and make homemade jam.
3. Plan evening fun after dinner: light the firepit, make smores, have a water fight with water guns or balloons, make a giant slip and slide using a long painters tarp, play four square, card games, or show an outdoor movie. Whatever it is, be creative and do it together.
4. Plan to memorize scripture as a family. Choose a passage of praise and “race” your kids to memorize it. Um, disclaimer: you’re gonna lose, because OLD BRAIN, but kids memorize really quickly and it’s great to get God’s Word in their minds.
5. Serve another family as a family. Whether you are delivering a meal to the sick, helping a single mom babysit, inviting friends in for dinner or having a family stay in your home for a week, do it together. Tell your kids what jobs need to be done, and let them pick which one they’d like to be responsible to oversee.
6. Support a missionary. This can be through prayer, letters, email or money, but give to a specific family. This helps the kids think outside of themselves and praying for anything as a family is a great way to build unity.
7. Read a devotional together each night. For younger kids I recommend Exploring Grace Together: 40 Devotionals for the Family
For older girls, I would choose Made For More: An Invitation to Live in God’s Image
8. Plan day trips. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but day trips can be like a mini-vacation. We love visiting coastal towns in New England.
What would you add to this list? What are your favorite ways to strengthen family ties?
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So many great books and ideas…So little time. Then you Sarah
These are all great ideas! Thank you for sharing. My favorites are #4-7. Even though it is work, we spend a lot of time in our garden and harvesting firewood on our property. It is wonderful family time and conversation. Thanks, again, for the post.
Yes, gardening is wonderful. I don’t have much of a green thumb, but always wished I did! 🙂