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In honor of National Turn off the TV Week, what are some suggestions for family time with the kids?

What are your ideas for entertaining the children without electronic devices of any kind? For those of us who use the TV as a babysitter, what are we to do? Help!

Question applies to ages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

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avatarBridgette
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Top 5 in: Discipline, Families and Relationships, Growth and Development, Learning Styles, Manners and Values, Parenting Support, Parents and SchoolsTop 5 in 7 Topics		 Oooh! I like this question.

We haven't had a television in our house for nearly 20 years now. However, we are guilty of playing video games on the computer and our son has a Nintendo DS. So we try to limit what we call "screen time."

What do we do instead? Lots of things.

Board games. I came from a family of board gamers and we've continued the tradition in our family. Your community probably has a local game store that is independently owned. Most of them will have games that you can try out before you buy--either any time or on a particular day of the month. Call them and ask and then try some of the games to see what your family would like. In addition to the traditional games from the major toy companies (Monopoly, Clue, Chutes and Ladders, etc.) there are a lot of fun family board and card games from smaller companies (Settlers of Catan, Fluxx, Once Upon a Time).

Imagination play. Our family also does a lot of story games. One person gets to be the lead storyteller and the others take on "characters." For example, a recent one we played while taking a walk had my son playing a character who lived in a community underground. They'd heard fairy tales of a land where there was no ceiling, but few people really believed in such a thing. One day, he discovered a new tunnel and decided to take his two friends (Amber and Emmett) to explore it. And the adventure wound from there. He'd tell me what he wanted to do and then I'd make things up based on the actions he took.

Reading. Curl up on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn and read books together. Or take turns reading out loud. This can be especially fun with drama scripts.

Go outside. Take walks, go on a bike ride, or hang out at the park.

Build things. Pull out the Legos or the blocks and create a scene. You'll be amazed at how engrossed kids can become when they start using their imagination with building toys.

Dance. This may be cheating a little because the radio/CD player is an electronic device, but stick in some music and make up silly dances in the living room.

Puppet shows. Use stuffed animals, socks, paper bags, or popsicle sticks to create puppets and put on a show.

20 Questions. We call this the "what am I thinking about" game because we don't limit it to 20 questions or even count. It's a great game for teaching kids to observe details, use logic, and figure out how to classify things.

Go somewhere. Field trips aren't just for school. Go to a play, a concert, a dance. Visit a library or a museum. Browse the local art gallery. Go to the zoo. Take a nature hike at a nearby nature center. Go to a high school ball game. I'm especially fond of live performances and have found that when you teach kids how to behave at them, they make for a great way to spend time together. We don't get to movies much, but my son has been attending plays since he was three days old and joins me at shows at least once a month, sometimes more.

You may even find that life is a lot more fun without a television and that you end up enjoying each other's company more because you know each other better through shared experiences.

References:
Mom to a television-free family
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