How many family day-long weekend escape games do you have in your head? It’s surprising just how many people leave this task to the kids. I’m talking about escape rooms. Escape rooms are a lot of fun and if you play right, they can provide some very rewarding family days long weekend activities!
If you’re having a family day-long weekend with children of all ages, an escape room is a perfect way to pass the time and bond with family members. This can be a great activity because it allows you to work together and also work on skills. Here are some great escape room family day celebration ideas that will get your creative juices flowing.
Family game night is a great escape room activity. This game requires that you use up all your escape cards before the game night starts. A good way to accomplish this is by making sure that you have a good variety of games available. There are card and board games for you to choose from. Card games are a good choice because you and your family can spend a lot of time trying to figure out the different patterns and pictures on the cards. Board games like Uno or dominoes are better choices if you want to play more hands-on games.
A few ideas for family day activities and events are to:
- Collect the leaves that have fallen in your yard (you can create an Autumn scrapbook or a leaf collage)
- Go for a walk in nature, identify trees and plants, build a fort out of branches,
- Put together a puzzle
- Build something together, like play dough, origami or paper mache
- Make a cake, cookies or other sweet treats
- Brainstorm together to come up with several ideas of things you could do together, and then pick one. Discuss the choices using the democratic process (vote), and then agree on what to do as a family. Have everyone share their thoughts and ideas about what would make this fun and enjoyable for the whole family.
- Learn to play a card game, board game or other game that you can all play and enjoy together.
- Play musical instruments together
- Visit an elderly relative who might appreciate your visit – go on a nursing home visit and create some art with them
- Have a picnic together in the park
- Cook a big meal together, something different from what you usually eat. Everyone can help out to prepare the food for dinner so it’s all ready when you are done
- Learn more about your family history – do this online or search through some old photos or documents.
- Go on a scavenger hunt together looking for things in nature that are the same color, shape, size etc.
- Have everyone help out with making dinner then sit down to enjoy it together
- Play outdoor games like ball hockey, soccer, tag touch football, flashlight tag etc .
- Have everyone help out to make dinner together, and sit down to enjoy it together as a family.
- Visit the zoo
A few games that can be played at home are:
- Board Games – Chess, Sorry, Monopoly etc. or board games online
- Card Games like Solitaire (this is a great one to play online) or Hearts.
- Board Games Online – there are lots of board games online you can play against each other, including Solitaire which is fun (I also enjoy chess online).
Games outside:
- Pick the scabs off your knees after a fall, see how many you can get at once and compare with others in your family.
- Play a game of tag and kick the can at dusk when it’s darker outside – see how many you can get (instead of tagging one person, try to tag everyone possible)
- Go camping as a family, or even just go for an overnight hike together
- Go for a bike ride with your family, go on a scavenger hunt together. Ride bikes at dusk when it is darker outside.
Here are some more ideas for the things you can do with your kids:
- Go camping as a family, or even just go for an overnight hike together
- Play flashlight tag – this is so much fun, and you don’t need to be in sports to enjoy it. It’s also fun if you are camping or have a flashlight in the dark – remember what it was like to be scared of the monsters lurking under your bed when you were little?
- Go for bike rides together as a family
- Play hide and seek outside – go for a walk, and try to spot one another hiding behind trees, under bushes etc. or you can play inside with a flashlight (this is lots of fun if you are camping)
- Play tag touch football or other games that require running. Tag touch football is also called Rock Paper Scissors. It is played like regular tag touch football, but instead of tagging someone with your hand to get them out, you have to tag them using one of the three things: rock (hand), paper (foot) or scissors (hand). The person who is “it” closes their eyes and points towards a player. If they choose rock, then that player has to shut their eyes also. The person who is “it” then points to another player and says either paper, scissors or open. If they choose paper, that person has to shut their eyes also. The person who is “it” then closes their eyes and throws one of the three items towards the other players without them knowing which one it will be. If he chooses rock, then the other player who chose paper would have to say that they are open. If he chooses scissors it is the same – if someone opens, they lose. If they choose paper then he will have said scissors and whoever was chosen has to close their eyes. The person who is “it” continues until there is only one person left who hasn’t been tagged.
Here are some fun things to do with your family that don’t cost anything at all! And they may not work as well if you try to make money off of them, so why not just share the ‘profit’ with everyone?
- Bake cookies together and eat them after dinner on a family night.
- Rent a fun movie together and watch it as a family.
- Have your kids draw a picture for you or each other, then display the pictures so everyone can see them (this is also a great way to get your kids’ artwork all over your house).
- Plan an event with friends – picnic, BBQ, water fight etc.
- Plan a family outing – maybe go to the park, or for an afternoon walk together.
- Have an appreciation dinner and talk about all of your favorite things as a family and how you feel about them.
These are the fun things to do with your family that don’t cost anything at all! And they may not work as well if you try to make money off of them, so why not just share the ‘profit’ with everyone?
You can also find many ideas for family fun at home. For instance, you can create an activity kit that includes everything you need to create a fun activity for the entire family. For example, you can make an activity kit out of paper, crayons, construction paper, balloons, and stamps. You would need to put together all of these supplies and send them out to everyone for their family fun day. You can also take the kids to the local toy store and pick up some toys that they would enjoy playing with. After that, the kids can spend the day playing and having fun.
