I let my 4 year old  daughter stand on a chair and ''wash'' the plastic dishes and silverware. She really feels as if she is doing something impotant for me by helping and thinks it's fun. She also helps me fold towels and washcloths. For strength in her hands, I usually find a play-dough activity to help build muscle in her hands.(Lego's are great, too!) Good technique! They really feel important doing these ''job's'' and it improves their motor skills. My son is 10 and he absolutley loves lego's and has started a collection. He can build just about anything he imagines (cars, spacesip, star wars men, ect.). I believe ''hands-on'' jobs and things like like lego's help strenghten your mind and body by use of movement, thinking strategies and creativity.It beats video games!No offense to playing video games but finding hands-on projects minimizes so much time with the t.v.Thanks for the chance to win! My kids would love more legos!

I like to read to my kiddo, she loves it and is becoming a very good reader herself at the ripe old age of 5.

We read with our daughter, go bike riding or push her on the swing.

I make sure I get my kids in the kitchen with me as often as I can. It teaches them so much, even math

when my oldest was 12 he made thanksgiving all by himself

He is now in 2nd grade and doesnt like to learn his spelling words. We make a game of it with him. We do different activities on our trampoline and make up games . We call a spelling word out and he takes a bounce for each letter it he spells it correct he gets to advance to the next spot on the trampoline (Kind of like candyland). Silly games with words help him remember them. He has went from spelling basic words to spelling 12 letter words. I am so proud of him.

My kids love to play dress up!  One minute I have a fairy princess and dragon, the next fire fighters are hosing down the doll house!  My favorite dress up is Cinderella, where the big mean mom "makes" them scrub the floor.  They get to play, I get a clean floor!

My two-year old loves to be outside and active.  We go for walks and explore, collect leaves and acorns, rocks and sticks and dig in the dirt for bugs and worms.  She'd stay outside all day if I let her!

As a family we play board games, order pizza then read a book before bed

In one day we might play trains, read books, have music time, outside play or walks, build towers and always some hugging and kissing.

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Our first grader is crazy about words, so many nights after dinner, we have fun as a family writing our own silly Mad-Libs style stories on a big dry erase board in the livingroom. We also like to take photos and go on nature walks!

One activity both my sons and daughters love/d to do is to make "jewelry" out of red shoestring licorice, Fruit Loops, and Cheerios.  the kids really like seeing how creative they can be, and it's a fun activity for a rainy day.

My kids love to make any kind of crafts.  I have found that by saving odds & ends, like single serve water bottles, scraps of fabrics, buttons, etc., my kids let their imaginations go wild and they will be entertained for quite awhile. 

I love to play with Playdough with my grandson. We create animals, shapes, people, you name it. He always has a lot of fun and it is very creative.

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We read all of the time and play a lot of "pretend" play to get their imaginations going.

My daughter and I play board games, playdough and she also enjoys working on activity books. 

My kids love to play in the bath.  They grab a toy that represents which character they'll be, and we role play.

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we go bike riding as a family

My youngest son loves to tell the world he's an artist.  Personally, I think he's going to build things.  I often sit him down with a stack of plain paper and a box of crayons. He started to draw roller coasters.  We recently went to a restaurant that gives crayons to the kids and white butcher paper on the table.  He took the crayon and started designing a golf course - water traps and all.  This weekend while daddy was watching football he went to his room and came out with a football field made out of legos - he even made the goal posts and the score board.  

I always tell them they can do, be or create anything their mind can think of.  I hope I've done my job and given them the tools they need.

We love to play food and house. Thanks for the chance. mogrill@comcast.net

We have a lot of creativity going on! Five of my kids are boys so we play our share of legos. One thing I do when we all need something fresh and exciting to do is have the older kids set up obstacle courses outside. Then we all go out and time each other to see who can through it the fastest. Good exercise, good use of imagination, and fun family times!

Diane

lost 150 pounds and talks about it at:

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We like to read as a family. We take turns reading outloud and the older kids like to read to their younger siblings.

My son likes to help me make meals in the kitchen.  I give him easy little tasks to do.  He especially likes to deliver our finished product to Daddy!  He's so proud.

Our family loves the improv game where you take any object in the house and then have to come up with 25 different ways you could use that object.  For instance, we took a mop pole and suddenly it was a helicopter, a star wars light saber, etc.

My kids always have enjoyed doing things outdoors.  We love to take walks and look for animals and interesting plants and trees.  As they have gotten older ,they also enjoy taking picures of interesting things such as cloud formations and sunsets.  Both my boys are involved with Boy Scouts and love to camp.  We love the outdoors!

When my grandchildren were little we would play the color game...in the car, at the beach, anywhere we were.  We would name a color and they would have to find the object we had in mind.  It helped them with their colors and their observation and language skills.  They loved it.

We have art time on Saturday afternoons in fall and winter. We cover the dining room table and then pick an activity - whether it be painting or playdoh. The kids love it!

When my daughter and her cousin played together as toddlers, we never had to worry about fighting over toys when they played with Duplo -- there's enough to go around for everyone and their imaginations soared -- they played really well together with Duplo.

I know I'm one of the rare parents who is almost completely unplugged with my kids.  A movie night with Mommy is a rare treat -- as is computer time.  And they're totally cool with that.

I've made unplugged activities rewards, and they're so happy to spend time and do "grown up" things that going to the library is a major event.  They both love to help me cook, and my 4 and 6 year old are both able to crack their own eggs into the bowl (most of the time sans shell).  They even think helping me with laundry is fun -- and who am I to discourage that? :)

They both also are parents of their own stuffed animals, and watching them take care of the creatures is precious.  The books they read to them, the healthy "foods" they feed them, the wagon rides they take them on, etc really tell me that they're getting what's important in life.  I can only hope it stays that way!

Michelle

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go outside and play catch

 I love to play with my grandkids when they come to visit. I keep a wide variety of things to do. Favorite things to do include dot art and sand art, board games "Who am I", "Don't Wake Daddy" "Uno Rummy Up", fixing dessert, and things they can do by themself or with someone like building blocks and a train table