1) Making paper - dh has an aunt who love our handmade paper, so she's always requesting we do this. Paper making is a simple enough task that even the youngest kids can help out, for example by shredding paper. I have YouTube videos on how we did this: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
2) Making soap - melt and pour soaps are super duper easy! You can get high quality melt-and-pour soap bases and molds from Bramble Berry, or at your local craft store (e.g. Michael's, Hobby Lobby). Bramble Berry also has some excellent videos on how to make melt-and-pour soaps on YouTube.
3) Gardening - my kids have learned so much about growing, harvesting, and the different types of weeds and pests (plus organic pest control) by gardening with me and dh. Plus, they know now how hard it is to get food to the table, and will never be wasteful.
4) Playing board games - an oldie, but a goodie. We play all sorts of board games, from Rivers, Roads, and Rails, to Scrabble, to Pictionary. We don't play competitively - that is, we rarely keep score - but we play in such a way that the kids want to learn and excel.
5) Hiking - not only is it fun to learn tree identification and how to not get lost in the woods, but it's also great exercise. Plus, when we're not scaling mountainous trails that leave us out of breath, we are constantly talking, joking, and laughing together.
So that's it! Our 5 favorite family together time activities - hope you'll be trying some of them.
Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and LEGO blogging program, making me eligible to get a prize pack. For more information on how you can participate, click here.
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
