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Put a blank sheet of paper on your fridge low
enough for every family member can see it. Leave it there for
a couple of weeks. Let every member of the family write one
thing your family can do together outside in your yard. Then.....take
the ideas, one at a time and do them as a family. Your children
will feel a real investment in this activity, because they were
involved from the beginning. |
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Go for a walk around your neighborhood as a family.
Along the way, each member of the family picks up something
and puts it in his/her pockets. (Some guidelines are necessary
here: to ensure safety; no broken bottles, nothing moist or
wet, nothing with sharp edges, no pins, needles, or wrappers,
etc.) Good suggestions are small pretty round rocks, twigs,
etc. After your walk, everyone sits outside and gets a bottle
of water to drink. As the family drinks their water, they guess
what the other member of the family has gathered. The important
thing is the walk, not what is gathered. |
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If your children are grown and have their own
vehicle, have them all come and park their cars together. Have
a family car wash day. |
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Sit outside in your yard. Everyone gets an opportunity
to think up something goofy (but safe) they would like to do. Then everybody gets to do the goofy activity.
Examples: Jumping up and down, leapfrog, run fast and touch
the gate, run around the tree three times, each time doing something
different, etc. |
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Have a barbecue. The family sits and eats in a
corner furthest away from the barbecue. Assign every family
member duties they have to walk back in the house for, and they
can only carry one thing at a time. For example, one family
member brings out the forks, but they can only bring out one
fork at a time. Another family member brings out the condiments,
mustard, ketchup, etc. But, they can only bring out one item
at a time. Have another family member bring out bottles of water.
Again, only one bottle of water at a time. The idea here is
to keep your family members up moving around. |
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Have a hide and seek game. Each family member
gets to hide an object somewhere in the yard, then everyone
has to find it. But, they have to run from place to place to
find it. For example, one of your children hides a penny under
a rock. Family members have to run from a tree to a bench to
whatever, looking for the object. The sweatiest person wins. |
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Have a contest to see which member of your family
can climb a set of stairs the most times. This really gets your
family active. |
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Have your children set the table for dinner. They
have to do two jumping jacks before and after putting items
on the table. Do the same thing for clean up. |
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If you have a tree which you could mount a tire
swing on, do so. Then take turns pushing each other in the swing.
Great for muscle building in the arms and legs! |
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Go roller skating. |
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Go for a bike ride. |
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Go for a family walk. |
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Sit outside as a family and talk about the benefits
of an active life. |
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Get a dog! Then everybody gets to go together
and walk the dog. Take the time to notice what your dog notices
and talk about it as a family. Dogs can really do some silly things which make you laugh! Be sure to take 2 plastic bags to pick up dog droppings.
Put one plastic bag over your hand. Scoop up the dog dropping
with the plastic gloved hand and drop it in the other plastic bag. Seal
it, take it home and drop it in your own garbage can. Many communities have
rules against leaving your dog droppings to be disposed of by others. (You could receive a ticket and a fine.) Use this as
a good education tool about obeying the law. |
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As a family, go on the
Gold Medal Mile walk. |
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Drive the family up to the Settlement Canyon toll
booth. Park the vehicle. Get out and walk over the hill to the
right, or down the hill into the canyon. You might even find
another Gold Medal Mile there! |
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Take your family to the park. Throw frisbies.
Toss a ball to each other. Go swimming. Play in the park. There are so many in
Tooele to choose from! |
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Let each family member write on a piece of paper
their favorite type of exercise. Put all slips of paper in a
box. Then, each day, pull a different slip of paper and do the
activity as a family. |
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Let your imagination carry on from here! |
oday's familes are so busy going in separate
directions they forget what a family is all about. Busy schedules
prohibit spending large blocks of family fun together. Family
time enhances the Gold Medal School project. In our busy society
families need to really take the time for family meetings and
find innovative ways of spending time together. Following are
some ideas on how you can preserve precious family time.
