Top 5 Family Alternatives to Watching TV

Spring is most definitely here (even in New England), yet I am still stuck in my winter habit of after-dinner TV watching. Blame it on the current season of The Voice or our recent acquisition of HGTV. It all seemed harmless until, when asked for her opinion on how to organize our basement, my six-year-old daughter says, “Let’s ask designer Hillary.”

Hmmm… Might have to tear myself away from addictive design shows. Time to lead my daughter into alternative activities that don’t find us blob-like on the sofa every evening.

Under the Rhododendrons:
Sofie and Mike built a fairy house using ivy and fallen branches on a cracked flower pot.

1. Outdoor Games

   As a kid, we played hide-n-seek, freeze tag and Kick the Can until it got dark and our parents hollered for us to come inside. While there are quite a few kids on our current block, the atmosphere just isn’t the same. When we take neighborhood walks, we often see closed doors and the blue flicker of the television through windows. (Is everybody watching HGTV?)

   Fortunately, our house has ideal placement across from a cemetery. I say ‘ideal’ because it provides lovely green views and makes for a good game of graveyard hide-n-seek. Its paths are also a good place to teach Sofie to ride her bike without the training wheels. Perhaps if I leave some items outside (sidewalk chalk, bubbles, sports balls, gardening tools, etc.), we might be inspired to engage outdoors more frequently.

2. Art Projects

   I used to cringe (and still do) at the amount of time it took to set up a space for painting or some other messy art activity. But art doesn’t have to be limited to paint. Lately, Sofie’s been interested in constructing from recycled items around the house: toilet paper tubes, fabric, pencils, straws, etc. She’s at the stage where she thinks Scotch tape can hold anything together.

   This kind of art is a more portable and less messy activity. Often, it’s even eco-friendly (except for the Scotch tape, I suppose). We can combine this with #1 by making art outdoors like when Sofie and her dad built a fairy house last weekend (featured in the photo above), although my personal favorite is her three-dimensional eagle nest complete with dead fish.

   

   Sofie’s paper eagles nest with mom, pop, babies and dead fish.

3. A Trip to the Library

   When I suggest this to Sofie, I always get an excited response. I hope that doesn’t change. I’ve loved making trips to the library since I was a kid. It’s like shopping for free stuff. At our local library, I get a few books for myself, Sofie chooses some for her, then we meet up and read a few together. Sometimes we run into people we know, so it becomes a social outing. A library trip is also a nice, mellow pre-bedtime activity. You feel like you got out and did something, but it doesn’t get the kids all riled up.

4. Imaginary Play

   This starts to fade as we get older, which is a shame because the imaginary world can be quite delicious. Sofie still loves to make up stories, poems, songs, dances, anything really. At age two, she made her orange slices talk. My husband continues a DeGuzman family tradition of making his hands become crawling, talking creatures called Vin-Vins (I don’t know why) that we all engage in.

   After a day of creating professionally through writing and design, the prospect of being more creative sometimes seems exhausting to me. But this kind of imaginary play is much more organic than adults creating a finished product. All I really need to do is make a stuffed animal start talking to Sofie and she’s off and running with some storyline, and she loves, loves, LOVES it… whether we banter aimlessly or engage in a more structured storyline around playing school or doctor. It may seem silly on the outside, but imaginary play is linked to many benefits in child development.

5. Writing Letters

   This may seem odd in the time of email, but it can be fun for kids ages 4-7 who are fascinated with letters and how they connect to make words. Sofie sees me sending emails to my friends, and has expressed a desire to connect with her friends outside of school. Remembering how I loved the idea of pen pals as a kid, I’m thinking she may enjoy writing letters and mailing them to her friends. Drawings, notes, tiny care packages of love. And when they write back, she gets the joy of receiving actual mail – something of an anomaly these days.

   I also found this site for pen pals from around the world. Kids can take part electronically or via snail mail. I have to research it a bit more to check out its safety factor, but I know Sofie would be thrilled to exchange letters and stories with a little girl in Paris, France.

Here are some other ideas for family fun that don’t involve the TV:

Research and draw out your family tree. Go stargazing. Face paint each other. Do origami. Plant something. Cut paper dolls from magazines and catalogs. Have a treasure hunt. Camp in the backyard. Have a drum circle or family jam session. Do yoga together. Put on a play. Bake something.