The imagination of kids is fascinating, especially the way it can turn something ordinary into something extraordinary. If you adopt this mindset of seeing things in a different light, you’ll find that making tweaks to popular indoor and outdoor activities can open up a whole new world of fun.

• Simplified Scavenger Hunt
  With the usual scavenger hunt, you need to find objects. Since you’ll be using your own property or home, be a little more creative with your list. For example, it can have ten to fifteen colors on it, and participants are tasked with finding an example of each. For a little more of a challenge, try objects that begin with the twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

• Totally Terrific Toss Games
  Most of us have enjoyed toss games as a summertime activity, whether it was Toss Across, cornhole, lawn darts, or horseshoes. But if none of these are readily available, make your own toss game! All it takes are things to toss and a few household objects. For indoor play, use sturdy bowls to catch the bean bags; smaller bowls would be worth more points. If you prefer outside tossing fun, consider setting up a ladder or leaning it against a wall, with each opening between rungs having a different point value. Or you can place laundry baskets in the yard at different distances and try to get Frisbees in them.



• Jengamania!
  There are many ways you can get creative with this popular game. For example, before setting up the tower, everyone can add questions or prompts on the face of random blocks. (Write them on clear tape if you don’t want them to be permanent.) Whoever removes them from the tower must respond before continuing. Or, as a separate activity, you can take several Jenga blocks, line them up to make a square or rectangle, and then draw something on the entire piece. Separate them and mix them up, and—voilà!—you have your own Jenga jigsaw puzzle.

• Storytelling Relay Race
  In general, people either love writing or hate writing—but it’s fun for everyone as a shared exercise. In this group activity, choose a topic, the writing order, the amount of writing per turn (one sentence or one paragraph), and, if you wish, a time limit for each writer. Then take turns writing a story from start to finish. To make it even more exciting, limit what each writer can see of the story before continuing it. (So if everyone writes a paragraph, perhaps you can only see the last sentence of the previous paragraph before continuing the story.) A bonus: depending on how long you want the story to be, this collaborative writing activity could go on for days!

These are just a few examples of how much fun you can have as a family when you put your mind to it. All you need are readily available objects, a little ingenuity, and most importantly, each other.