Family Activities & Games

Family Project
Make outlines (silhouettes) of different family members: mom, dad, brother, sisters, self, and even pets and the children make a family collage. You could send home a piece of paper with a note asking for each member of the family to trace or have traced their handprint on the paper. Each person could decorate any way they wanted to. The children enjoy talking about their family's handprints. Then hang them on the bulletin board.
 

Family Book
Each child is given a book at the beginning of the unit with a caption on each page. (Books can be made using newsprint and construction paper.) My mother is special because... My dad can... Grandparents are special because....The best part of being a brother/sister is... Each day the children are asked to draw a different picture and complete the sentence with you help. A wonderful book to bring home and 'read'.

Rock Families
Take a walk and have the children collect four or five different sized rocks to make a family. Bring them back and paint them. Then let the children play with their families. Encourage them to make up stories about their rock families. For example have them name their rocks and tell what each one likes to do. Help them expand their stories by asking questions.

Shaving Just Like Daddy (Needs parental supervision.!!!)
Materials: whipping cream, mixer, bowl, small cups, crafts sticks or tongue depressors, and mirror.
Procedure: Give each child a small cup full of 'shaving cream' (whipped cream) and a 'razor' (craft stick). Looking into a mirror, the children put the shaving cream on their faces, all over their imaginary beards and mustaches. Then, slowly and carefully, they 'shave' off their whiskers until they can feel their smooth faces. Next time they can give someone else a shave. Be sure the children understand that real razors are not to play with.

Poem:
Put on the cream.
You can have a taste,
Now shave it off carefully,
And make a funny face!

Three Bear Family
First get a refrigerator or wash machine box and cut off one of the sides. Then on the center piece cut a peaked roof and a window on each of the sides. It's no longer a complete box but an opened up "U" shape. The kids can get on both sides of it and paint it using bright colors. When this is dry, use it as kind of a back drop for the house. The kids build beds, chairs, and a table using the hollow blocks - good math activity trying to figure out the different size beds: if we use two blocks for the baby bed, how many for mom's and dad's? Same thing with the chairs. Provide pillows and blankets, and: a baby bonnet for baby bear, an apron and hat for mama bear, a tie and hat for papa bear, a dress and barrette with yellow curls for goldilocks, a giant bowl, middle sized bowl and baby bowl, a giant wooden spoon (the kind that hangs on the wall - a thrift store find), a tablespoon and a baby spoon. Then enact the play.

Food Experience
Have parents share favorite family recipe or tradition is a great experience for your children. Have parents come in and read to children and explain about fruit, vegetables, different culture foods and dishes will open their minds and expand their knowledge on different cultural foods.

Charting Families
Make a chart titled "How many people in your Family?" On a large poster board, list children's names. Glue small people cutouts next to each child corresponding with the number of people in the family. Line them up neatly so the children can compare size of family.

Grow Your Own Family Tree
You Need:
Large sheet of paper
Colored paper
Scissors
Paste
Crayons, markers, or colored pencils
1) Draw a tree on the large sheet of paper. Be sure to give your tree lots of branches!
2) Cut out a color paper shape to represent you -- a circle if you are a girl or a square if you are a boy. Write your name on the shape and paste it on the trunk of your tree.
3) Cut out shapes for all of your present family members and others important to you -- mothers, brothers, neighbors, pets. Write names on the shapes and paste them on the lower branches of your tree.
4) Cut out shapes for all your past family members and others important to you -- grandparents, great-aunts, friends. Write names on the shapes and paste them on the upper branches of your tree.
5) Draw a picture on each shape that tells something about that person.
6) Congratulations! You have started doing genealogy -- recording your family history!

More Family History Fun!
Take your tree to a family gathering! Ask if there are more family members to add to your tree. Remember to add pictures, too. Make a memory book! Have family members tell you their favorite family memory. Write them down in a notebook. Create a scrapbook! Collect photographs, postcards, souvenirs and other items from your favorite family activities. Save them in an album or box.