50 things to do with kids.. while kids are kids

Sand Bucket List

Seemingly, we lucky members of the Parent’s Club need only blink our eyes and before we can say “sleep is for the weak” our precious newborn babies have grown into mud covered mess makers, who suddenly want to dress themselves without our input. Blink again and they’re hitching a ride on the attitude train careering towards eye rolling impatience, awful black hair & high school.

Between those blinks, however, it’s imperative that we nurture our precious kidlets. It’s our job as parents to open doors, create experiences and evoke wonder during their all too brief early years. Those precious early years that are so rich in love, learning, innocence and exploration. Ultimately, we must fill their memory buckets ‘till they’re almost bursting with magnificent memories, which they’ll not only treasure forever but will draw on down the track too.

Let me be clear, to avoid any confusion – magnificent memories do not need to be big.
They do need to be: adventurous, in nature, family orientated, funny, educational, creative, carefree and most importantly… FUN!

51 Things You Should Do With Your Kids Before They Turn 11 ¾

1. Have family wrestles on a big bed. Pillows the only weapons allowed.

2. Toboggan down a steep, grass hill on a piece of cardboard.

3. Let your child choose a ‘gift’ for a child in need. World Vision sells goats and flushing toilets for communities in need.

4. Measure their height on the same date every year and mark the progress on a wall.

5. Dance like mad fools together in your lounge room.

6. Discover somewhere new and name it – follow a path or waterway you’ve never taken before.

7. Lie down side by side on a patch of green grass. Make shapes from clouds. Imagine where people on planes are travelling to. Discuss where each of you would like to go.

8. Rake up fallen leaves in autumn or winter. Grab a handful and throw them up high.

9. Have a picnic inside complete with picnic blanket, basket, thermos – the works.

10. Pitch a tent in the backyard and camp out overnight.

11. Climb a tree together.

12. Watch the sunset.

13. Make paper airplanes and fly them off a balcony on a really windy day.

14. Make a kite together.

15. Befriend a wild backyard animal.

16. Find an enchanted climbing tree.

17. Race boats made from leaves.

18. Catch each others bounce on a trampoline.

19. Go walking with ‘listening ears’ on.

20. Toast marshmallows in a campfire.

21. Climb to the top of a lookout or lighthouse.

22. Take turns to guess what colour the next car driving past will be.

23. Stargaze.

24. Watch an eclipse.

25. Go boating.

26. Read a favourite book with great enthusiasm.

27. Skim stones.

28. Stand barefoot in a really cold stream or creek.

29. Teach them to pogo. Have pogo stick competitions.

30. Plant seeds, watch them grow and eat the produce.

31. Learn about endangered species. Take a zoo trip to witness them firsthand.

32. Play spotlight in summer with neighbourhood kids.

33. Paint a canvas with each family member’s handprint.

34. Rocket to the moon (under a doona, with torches)

35. Do something with them that scares you.

36. Investigate backyard flora & fauna with a magnifying glass.

37. Bake them a special birthday cake.

38. Perform random acts of kindness in their company and explain why.

39. Make handmade cards and wrapping paper.

40. Build a massive sandcastle.

41. Plan a snow trip

42. Let them experience another culture.

43. Personalise songs on the radio with lyrics about them. The sillier the better

44. Make a new Christmas (or any significant holiday) bauble/decoration every year.

45. Hide a surprise note in luggage for school camps / sleepovers.

46. Launch a rocket.

47. Practise cartwheeling together.

48. Let them just eat the icing.

49. Feed horses in a paddock.

50. Track your family tree.

Things to do with kids is about time..your time.

So you see, magnificent memories can be created by the simplest of acts. There’s no excuse not to be filling their memory buckets with treasured times really, is there?

Your enthusiasm, honesty, interest, silliness, cleverness, encouragement, imagination and communication help make the little things in your kidlet’s life in fact the most valuable & cherished.