Get Up and Move Ideas and Serving Your Family

Too often in our attempt to serve others, we overlook our own family. Why? Well, because cleaning the kitchen doesn’t feel like serving, it feels like a chore, and you loathe chores. Plus, creating fun activities for your kids doesn’t seem like serving, it seems like crafting, and crafting takes talent, glue, and multicolored buttons.

Right? Wrong.

This month’s Get Up and Move focus? Inexpensive and fun ideas to bring you and your kids together. It doesn't matter if you have an hour on the weekend or the whole month of July, pick an idea to fit your needs and increase the amount of intentional time you spend with your kids (or invest in kids that are not your own!).

• Create a book club with your kids. Nope, this isn’t just about academics. It’s about spending quiet time together, relaxing on the porch, and being face-to-face close. Let your child choose a couple friends to “join", pick a fun place to discuss, and get reading.

• Cook Together. Depending on age, assign your kids various cooking duties, or for the tweens and teens, handover one day of the week and allow them to prepare meals.

• Build your own mini-water park. “H2-Ohhhh” discusses do-it-yourself ideas ranging from simple, water noodle sprinklers to more complex, PVC pipe towers, but all involve one thing, water!

• Turn into a candy maker. Maybe my kids don’t find my healthy food ideas exciting, but once I lead a lollipop making session, I will finally earn that coveted Fun Mama crown. Click here for easy lollies.

• Watch a movie. Yes, I said it. Get your busy self in front of the TV and watch a movie that teaches and stirs conversation. Need some ideas?

• Make your own play dough. This easy how-to video explains it all.

• Create and write postcards to far away family. Use up things you would normally toss, keep in touch with loved ones, and practice writing skills. Yep, click here for the details.

• Go outside and grow something. Grow anything! Discover flowers you can eat and grow something you can wear.

What about you? How will you serve your children by intentionally spending time with them? Have you tried any of the above listed ideas? Favorites? Things that bombed?

Watch for more ideas.

July: Serving Your Community and August: Serving the World

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Linking with Jen and other sweet, encouraging, creative-types over at Finding Heaven.

Image credit.