Green Moms Weekly: Playing With Your Kids

This week’s Green Moms Weekly post is all about play.

What are some fun, simple and interactive activities that you engage your children with?

I have to admit, that play was once a difficult thing for me as a mom. I remember when my oldest was a toddler, I would often scratch my head trying to remember how to play.

But as they got older and now that I have several more, it’s much easier for me to play, and I enjoy just being with my kids. Often I simply join in their fun, whether the girls are playing Princess or Tea Party or the boys are suggesting a board game. It’s rare that I get anything started anymore. Which is nice! There’s always a party going on when you have several children.

Here are some of my favorite things to do with my kids for fun.

Outside Time

I make it a point to get outside with my kids a couple of times a day. It’s so good for them, and it’s good for me too.

We don’t do anything special. Sometimes we jump on the trampoline, take walks, or just kick a ball around.

Board Games

With little kids, there’s the standard Go Fish and Candy Land, and those are fun. The 6 year old and I play those. We recently discovered two more games that we enjoy playing as a family: HeadBanz and Wits and Wagers.* Even the 6 year old enjoys these. The older kids often play Life, Clue and Monopoly. We love Scrabble. (Even though I usually win.)

Music

I like to think we’re a musical family.

My husband and our oldest girl play guitar. Our oldest boy is teaching himself piano. Even the baby loves to “play” the piano or guitar.

Since the kids were little I have tried to expose them to different kinds of music. I’ll often put something fun like Buddy Holly on Pandora, or maybe an old Raffi tape and dance around with the younger ones. They love it.

Read Aloud

Have you ever heard me mention this one? Nah, I didn’t think so.

I love reading aloud to the kids. It’s scheduled into our homeschool day.

Recently I’ve noticed that my 8 year old daughter often reads aloud to her younger sisters.

Storytelling

I used to think I wasn’t a good storyteller. But that’s because I had never really tried it! The girls started asking me to make up a story at bedtime recently instead of reading one, and I’ve found that it’s not as difficult as I thought. Sometimes I base my story loosely on a book I’ve read (changing it up enough that they won’t notice), and sometimes I make something up completely.

(Here’s a pic of Julien when he was picked out of the crowd by a storyteller at the HIGH museum.)

Like the one about the orphan puppy who wanted most of all to be adopted by a family. Only he had to learn some lessons first about not judging people based on appearances. (He ended up being adopted by a little girl in a wheelchair.)

The girls will sometimes hand me a couple of stuffed animals to use as props. I name the animals and go from there. It’s fun!

Check out what the other Green Moms had to say about play:

• Rachel at HappyGreenBabies
• Tiffany at NatureMoms

What are some fun things you do with your kids? Do you find that it’s hard to play? How did you overcome this?

* Amazon affiliate links, yo.