Ideas

Dear K.,
Start camping with the family. I mean tent camping. It's inexpensive and we live is such a great area with plenty of wonderful places to camp and hike. The older kids will help out the younger ones and everyone will learn new things about themselves.

My son and I used to take old bread, crackers, chips, etc. and go to the Longview dock, and feed the fish. This is very inexpensive entertainment.

Have you run this by the kids. Let them give you some ideas then try a few of them. It will make them feel good that you asked AND it may even bring you all closer together.

I put together a list of "date" ideas years ago. It's pages & pages long though so I can really list it on here. I just went in pulled a few that I thought might get you thinking differently maybe. I don't know how to get the whole list to you, but here are just a few... ENJOY them all being home. They grow up WAY too fast!!!! I'm a grandma now & man, I miss having them all at home, all the hustle & bustle & just pure FUN! We still play a lot of games together. Yahtzee, Farkle, dominoes, Life, Monopoly. Or get everyone outside playing games like basketball, volleyball, sand volleyball, driveway tennis, take walks around home or at a park, frisbee.
Friday night pizza night & basketball, inviting friends.
Build a fire pit & just sit around the fire sharing time & stories.
Set up plastic pop bottles on the fence and have a contest to knock off the bottles with a super soaker gun. Be prepared for a water fight, which is inevitable. Water fights often!
Participate in a Church or community service project.
Go to a beach and build a sand city, complete with castle, mall, and houses. When you are ready to leave, jump into your beautiful creation and watch it crumble.
Plant a garden for someone. Make sure it’s okay with them first. Or do a family garden together.
Have a leaf fight on the lawn. Build leaf piles & jump in them.
Spend an evening putting together a puzzle. Put snacks in a bowl to munch on.
Have a family sing-a-long. Top off the evening with vanilla ice cream covered with whole strawberries.
Put together a model car. Depending on how much time you want to spend, you could build a snap together car (quick) or glue one together (requires more time).
Do a craft -- modge-podge, fingerpaint, tole painting, etc.
Pitch a frame tent inside your family room. Turn out the lights, light an electric lantern, then tell stories, play games, and have treats inside.
Lie on your backs on a grassy hill or meadow and pick out cloud formations. Roll down the hills.
Using an astronomy book from the library, pick out the constellations and star patterns.
Plant trees together.
Float on a raft together.
On a hot day, slip away to go wading in a stream. See who can find the smoothest stones. Skip stones.
The family that prays together & plays together, stays together. Have FUN!!!! I SO miss those days!!!

go on nature walks with them,
Take them to a Museum...
go on a pick nick with them even if it is the back yard.
I am sure that you will get more and better responses then mine...
Work on crafts with them have them make gifts for each other...
We use to take our boys on a Nice long drive and play games in the car like the ABC game finding things that start with the alphabet like what starts with a “A” and so on…
Or see how many type of cars there are. Now days there are a lot more then there was in the 1980’s
But with gas prices now that is hard to do...

being blessed with 7 children also, I know what you mean about not spending lots of money. We took up camping. We started out with tents, and quite honestly, the kids did alot of it out in the back yard at first. LOL But we started going out to the local lake cause tent camping is pretty inexpensive. 7 years later we have managed to scrimp up enough money for a 70's model popup camper and have started using it (leaving the tents to the kids, LOL)
It's fun and cheap. The kids love the lake, fishing, swimming and some playgrounds near where we camp.
Start small, use 2nd hand supplies from your own place or garage sales. through trial and error we have found some shortcuts too.
Have fun!!

You know I've watched a lot about the Duggar's (the family with some 17 kids). Every kid is in charge of another kid...big kid to small kid. That means making sure they get the help they need getting fed, bathed, dressed, etc. I also have gathered that they have a web site and encourage people to contact them...I bet they'd have a million and one ideas for you!

I agree on the quality time of doing jobs around the house, gardening, etc. What about a day at the park? Take a big jug of water and have a sandcastle contest. You could have make believe time...put on their own "American Idol." Lego building contest? Top Chef in the kitchen...pair them up and have one team in charge of appetizer, on main course, and one dessert...then judge.

As for movies...I would highly recommend Netflix...you can do as many movies as you want for a fixed price (usually under $20/mo) and it's as quickly as you send them back you get new ones...you can cancel anytime, there are no late fees and best of all...if you have them in your que right you can get the new releases the day they come out! Nothing wrong with having family movie night...great way to learn to accept peoples differences and learn about different movies (oldies, cartoons, drama, comedy, etc.) ANother great thing you could do is read the book then watch the movie and use the discussion to talk about how they were different, which one was better...this all helps them better analyze, remember, critique, learn forshadowing, etc. for school and later in life...never underestimate the value of a good movie...plus you could compare and contrast, for example watch both versions of "Father of the Bride" and discuss how the times have changed. Is it for the better or worse? How? How would you like to see it in our family? If X were to get married what would you like? Would any of your brothers/sisters be in the wedding?...TONS of conversation, make belief and good times there.

I would also check with your local parents as teachers organization and see if they are offering any classes...I've been to quite a few in my area (all free and with free childcare) (Love and Logic, 1-2-3 Magic, and another sponsored by Boys town). I'd really recommend some of the older ones perhaps attend with you, or get the books from the internet/local library. I think it would be good to have a family discussion about pushing parimeters...sometimes people just need their space, but also small children don't know when to stop...learning how to respect eachother will help significantly. I think this would really bring your family together and help it work more harmoniously PLUS give the older children the know how of how to deal with small, nagging and needy children when they have their own! :)

Hi K.- how about cooking together, yardwork and gardening together, picnics can be a great time. I hope that when you plan some of these activities that you would encourage the older ones to help/instruct the younger ones. They feel important that way and the younger ones (look up to their older siblings) and would benefit greatly from the one on one time. Stay away from the commercialized type of activities-too much emphasis on money spent and not time spent.
Hope your family enjoys each other in all their activities!
Have Fun!

K.,

50 yr. old mother of 8 ranging from 28 to 11 here. Life lessons abound with the # of children and age range you have. The spiritual lesson of "dying to one's self" is right in your face most of the time. I have found it emotionally challenging, but necessary, to encourage the children to enjoy someone else's enjoyment of different activities. Emphasize "submitting one to another" and "in as much as it depends on you, be at peace with all." Many of the activities suggested by the responses can be enjoyed by a wide age range, but if your family is anything like mine, there is a wide range of interests and strong opinions and wills to deal with as well. Some don't like outdoor activities, some don't like cooking, some don't like games, some don't like music, etc. Whatever you do, don't give up-your children are a blessing and learning to give and take is a very important life lesson.

You can all go out to dinner together as a family. You could also put together a barque for the whole family. You could also pick one of your favorite family movies that whole family likes and watch the movie. You could also play a game as family.

My parents always had us work around the house together. Each of us had a job that was made into a big deal about each of us being important to the family. It became a big fun thing to do with my brothers and we are very close. My oldest brother is 27 and my youngest brother is 9.
Have ya'll been to Deanna Rose Farmstead in Olathe? It's free and fun for every age. Going for walks together was always important to us, it allows for excercise and forced you to talk. It's funny that that was how I dated in later life. I loved going for walks with my husband to be, we got to know each other a lot faster than all the other dating couples. I'm still crazy about him and we still love to talk together:o)

On another note, I noticed you are working on a product to sell. Have you heard of Gypsybug.com? Gypsybug.com is a rising site to addvertise on. It's completely family safe and FREE! You can pay $20 a month do be able to run a better add OR they will pay you $40 a month for you to advertise for them with a sticker in the back window of your vehicle.

More info and/or to sign up:
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You can also call Alexx Coley - MO Rep.
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He will be able to tell you all the information you will want and need.

Keep up the wonderful work you are doing as a mother and leading your blessings to heaven!

Hi K., your family sounds like mine, we have 6 kids from ages 19-5 also. My oldest the 19 yr. old isn't home much between work and friends so we don't see him as often as I would like. I just wanted to say hi and I know what kind of chaos you get to go through on a daily basis and how big that grocery bill can get (whew). I'm looking at the other moms suggestions to help me as well. Thanks for asking such a good question!!
M. B.

You said not movies but movie night is something we do as a whole family & we get movies for everyone to enjoy..it's cheap & you can be in the comfort of your own home. We also have game night which consist of card games, memory, candyland, chuttes & ladders, junior scrabble (for the young ones) & for the older ones scrabble, chess/checkers, monopoly, upwords, bingo & some type of game where you can act it out. This promotes family fun time, counting money, word building skills & so on. We also go out bowling once a month as a family as well. I see you said your doing odd jobs to try & make ends meet & trying to come up with something that will sell.....WELL I have the perfect thing for you! Have you ever considered Mary Kay? It's my own home based business, wonderful tax write offs (mortgage, utilities, pc..etc) & a GRRRREAT way to earn some extra money. You can work it around your family, home or what ever you choose...it's totally up to you. We have a lot of SAHM that love it because they do everything around the children/family. The income that you can generate in NO time at all...you'll be wondering why you hadn't done it sooner! It's NOT very expensive to get into & you'll be glad you did...I sure am. I work full-time outside of the home but I also want my son to be in a private school & to ensure that I make that happen I do facials, meet people, have girlfriend time (with my sister consultants) at our training studio & the support I get from these women is priceless. It's a christian based company that stands on the Golden Rule. If you think this might be of interest to you, let me know & I'll get some information out to you. I hope some IF not all of this has been most helpful to you. Good luck & God Bless!

I have 4 kids ages 13-4 and we all love to go letterboxing. Check out letterboxing.org
If you haven't heard of it, it's basically hiking with a treasure hunt. Unlike Geocaching, you do not need to purchase any expensive equipment. Just a notebook and a stamp.
We have really gotten to know our area parks this way. Also, when we go on road trips we can look up any letterboxes that might be on the way and explore parks across the country.
It really has given my kids respect for nature and a sense of adventure. Now we are doing even more county park activities like biking on the trails and volunteering for park clean up days. The very best part is that we get to spend the day together, everyone is having fun and it is absolutely free!

Have fun with your kids!

How about kite flying, going to the lake and letting the kids run around and pick up rocks, etc.

We have "parlor time" at night. The kids get a big runway and take turns doing gymnastic type stunts.

Maybe decorating and making stuff for holidays.

Have family game nights. We just got a new game called WHOONU from Cranium. It was like $20 at Target. There is no "skill level." It is just based on how well you know the people you are playing with. And it is hilarious!!
We also play tons of Sorry, Clue, Clue Jr., Mancala, Yahtzee, Uno, Monopoly Jr., Blokus, Landlock...the list is enless! Let each member pick out a game they like. And rotate them all. We look for games by GameWright or MENSA Select or Game/Toy of the Year(educational and fun). Whoever wins in our house gets to pick the next game we play. And we are ALWAYS on the lookout for new games that we can all enjoy together!

If you need rules, descriptions or directions to any of the games I mentioned, please email me.

We play UNO and Phase 10 together. Going to the Nature Center and walking is fun. We read stories out loud or listen to them on tape. The older kids need to learn patience with the younger ones as they will soon have little ones of their own. It's really very good to have such a span of kids as they all learn so much from each other.
D.- mom of 9 ages 3 to 31 and grandma of 8

Well, one thing you could all do together is cook. The smaller ones could do easy things like dumping the ingredients in the bowl/pan/mix, craching eggs, or fetching things. And the older ones could do the heavy work like mixing, measuring, cutting, etc. I have no idea if any of them are interested ni cooking, but even if they're not, they could still have fun. And, the plus side is, if you're making a dessert, the kids can lick the batter!! I don't care how old you are, licking the batter is fun!

Hi! I have four childern and what I did was I asigned a certain day for each child liked one of my sons on Tuesday
for one hour I would spend with him and no one could bother us
and he got to pick what we did.I would asign the other kids
a different day and time and the same rules applied to them
they enjoyed this so much.We might play a game or read a story or just talk or go for a walk. And my husband would
take them out for their birthday and they got to pick where
they wanted to eat and what they wanted to do. This was a
way he could spend special times with them sence I was home
with them all the time.
Have a great week BarbK

Fishing fishing fishing! find a river and buy a tent at walmart and go camping. Or just plain take a day and go sit by a river and throw a line out bring a cooler and food. It is sooo much fun. Bring hand held nets for them to catch crawdads minnows etc wear water shoes to get in with. That is our best times! Don't forget life jackets too! If they whine about it make them go and watch how fast they change their mind. They can't help but wander around and look at rocks or dig in the sand. The older ones can take a blanket and sun bathe too. Have fun
J.

I know you said money was an issue, but how about every other month go out and go bowling or play miniature golf or go ice or rolling skating. Eat dinner or lunch at home and then go out and have some fun and come home for dessert. It would be fun for all age groups in your family. And to see mom and dad on the ice or in the skating rink is a blast for all your kids (if they have their own skates then that cost is already taken care of). I remember doing stuff like that with my family as a kid and love having my dad help me bowl and to see my mom and dad on rollerskates. Schedule that every other month or every quarter, then the other times of the month do some of the other suggestions that were listed. Good luck and God bless.

games are great. Uno Attack is one of our favorites and most young kids can play it too. The UNO spin is fun too. Skip-Bo is another game younger kids can catch on to if they can count to 12. Cranium, Catch phrase and other group games are fun but probably more for the older kids at least 8 years and up. I have 3 kids ages 15, 12, and 8 so i don't have as many and as big of an age range as you but we do have a lot of big family get togethers with over 30 people and games are a big hit and we are building a lot of fun memories from these games that my children can remember having with their aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. If you have some that aren't into playing games then maybe one night you have game night and another night have each person in the family pick something they would like to do as a family.

There is a free petting zoo in Olathe called Deanna Rose Farmstead. It is off of 135th and Switzer. That is also a nice place to take a family day. there is a nice park with tennis courts, baseball fields, soccer fields and big playground across the street so maybe walk around the zoo for a while and then play a sport activity together. You will want to take some quarters to feed the animals with and they also have a donation box at the beginning if you want to donate some money to help support the zoo. It is a nice place to go and they also have a few things like the hayride, fishing, pony rides, and mining that cost some money and you can buy a card that has several of these choices on it for I think 5.00 each. I take my kids at least a few times a year and most of the time we don't do the extra cost things but do have plenty of quarters to feed the animals. you want to go before 2 pm though because some of the places on the walking trail are closed like the schoolhouse, and the Indian area which is one of my favorite things to see.

K. pallor games are still a good family night together. have each child pick one each week,but you have to be sure it is fitted for all ages. Like UNO, Sorry. You can play GO fish, Candy land, Chutes and ladders. Work on jig saw puzzles. They too come for all age groups.Hope this helps. You can find some of these at resale shops, flea markets etc. Which cuts down on the cost if you do not have them. With the youngest of my brothers at 5 years my dad taught us all how to play pinnacle, so get the book on card games and learn a lot of them
A. B

A couple of ideas off the top of my head:

Gardening
Voluneering, library, food bank (even a 5 year old can sort), adopt a highway,
Hiking, biking some trails that might challenge the older ones, but not exclude the younger ones
When we lived in the country, we had bonfires, talked, toasted marshmallows, in town now we use our bar b q. Not quite the same affect, but it's still nice.

Sounds like you guys can have a pretty good kickball game when the weather is nice. Two small teams. We try to play with two teams of two (at least until my other two get bigger 1 & 3). Maybe volleyball or batmitten. If the 5 yr old buddies up with a parent, Scrabble sounds like fun too. Also, everybody likes to decorate cookies or paint bird feeders. I know a lot of this sounds 'cheesy' but sometimes life calls for 'cheesy'. When I was young, my family of 8 and I would fish a lot. Hope I helped some. Good Luck. *Play together, Pray together, Stay together!

Game night, picnic at the park, fishing...?

We have family game night. We play everything from Cooties to Apples to Apples. The older kids help the non-readers. Often we have special treats too (junk food - pizza, popcorn and soda). My friend who has children ranging from 2 to 20 does a family game night too. Our families have combined game nights and its been fun too.

K.

You already have great ideas from everyone for family night. I might also suggest that you spend times with the teens playing games while little ones entertain themselves with toys or legos or something. Im a firm believer...if tho they protest sometimes or bug to play at others....that this is a good relationship builder with the teens and older kids. They really like the attention and the laughs that you can have ( for us Uno is especially fun because we talk so much we have to try and figure out whos turn it is sometimes.) Just lay down the ground rules that there is to be no fussing or fighting its all in fun and I really bet you can have a great time.

Have Fun
M.