Family Holidays: Top 12 Fun Activities

Travelling is and will remain the most popular thing to do on a holiday. Be it a weekend trip or a longer vacation, it will break the routine and give you ample time to have fun together as a family. Once on vacation, you can plan for sight seeing, picnics or just simple relaxing around in the hotel. For day visits, you can just pack everyone into the car and go to the zoo, the beach, the botanical gardens or an easy choice, the local park.

Sports are a great way to bond with your loved ones and keep fit. Choose any game that your family enjoys such as football, baseball, tennis or cricket or for the more adventurous, rafting, surfing, rock climbing, paragliding, skiing or mountain biking. Let each of you choose the family fun sports for the holiday, turn by turn.

Volunteer for a community service in your neighbourhood. You can help out in a retirement home or a homeless shelter. You can also collect and donate useful stuff to needy people. These activities will teach your children the value of sharing and give them a sense of social responsibility.

Star gazing with your family is a cool way to learn exciting things about the sky as well as spend quality time together. On a clear night, you can look for the brightest stars and figure out the constellations. And, if you have a telescope, you can delve deeper. Look at the moon and search for the planets. Your kids will love it for sure.

Exercise as a family. This will make exercise fun. Yoga, aerobics, jogging or swimming, whatever it is that you can do and enjoy together, do it. All of you can lead the exercise routine, turn by turn, so that everyone remains involved. You know, even dancing at home is a great way to exercise and enjoy. Our little boy loves it when we go crazy sometimes, dancing wild on latest songs, together as a family.

This never goes out of style. Its fun to go shopping with family especially for stuff that you would use together at home. Maybe a new stereo system or a new computer. Good idea! Perhaps we'll go stereo system hunting this week. Actually, shopping for clothes together isn't all that bad too, though your kids may feel otherwise, especially if they are at the 'I am grown up now' age :)

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Though these might seem more like work, believe me, if you do it together in the right spirit, it will be fun!

>> Painting - Paint the children's room or the garden fence. Children running around in their paint-laden overalls..thats a 'Kodak' moment for sure!

>> Gardening - Plant new roses or attend to existing flowers. Let your children plant some seeds themselves. As their plant grows, watch their faces light up.

>> Cooking - Make your kids head chefs and assist them to cook a meal for all of you. Extra cookies for them if the meal turns out great! Dad dear can cook too, if he wants, or if Mom pushes him to :)

>> Arranging Photos - Bundles of photos piled up in no particular order.. No Siree, these memories need more respect. Gather together, sort them out, laugh at the old ones and arrange them in albums. Sure, you have many of them on your computer too. Its a digital age after all. But nothing beats the good ol' photo album, right?

Building something as a family is exciting and gives you a sense of achievement as a team. Be it a school project, an aeroplane model, a handicraft decoration for the living room or a family jigsaw puzzle, do it together and see how much fun you have. Reward yourselves with icecream when you successfully complete what you started.

Have a family reading session, at least, once every week. You can get together to read aloud stories or general stuff. Select different themes every week - entertainment, religious, spiritual or educational. Try to keep it interesting else kids won't stay :)

Watch movies on TV together. You can have a small home theatre show with comfy pillows and a big bowl of popcorn. Its really nice to watch old home movies together too: weddings, birthdays, the baby's first step, grandpa snoring and the like :) You can go out and watch movies in the theatre too, though watching at home is easier on the pocket :)

Who says the camera can come out of its case only on special occasions and when you go out? Any day can be 'snap' day. Photograph each other in jazzy costumes, funny poses and doing silly stuff. Dad dressed as Mom? Mom dressed as Dad? Well, why not?:) Fun to shoot and fun to watch!

Last but not the least, get together and gossip! Nothing mean, you know, just fun stuff about your relatives, neighbours or friends. Nothing like relaxing with a cup of coffee/tea or milk (for kids, I mean) and talking about others :)