Crafts and Activities

The Ultimate List of Family Game Night Ideas

Our Family Fun Nights are memorable events. We are a game playing family and these evenings give us a chance to build memories together. I wanted to share some of our favourite family game night ideas. Family game nights create lasting memories because they foster a sense of belonging. In the busy hubbub of life, it is so nice to have tech-free, face to face time with your kids.

Creating a family game night tradition won’t be something you’ll regret. The years you have with your kids at home go by in a flash. Laughing together strengthens the bonds.

If you were to invite your kids to an evening of talking with their parents and tell them there were no phones allowed, you wouldn’t likely get a very positive response. But once you start regular family game nights, your kids will be asking you when the next one is!

Our Favourite Family Game Nights:

One of our most memorable Family Fun Nights was our original Minute to Win It party. We played Face the Cookie, Stack Attack, Movin’ on Up, Junk in the Trunk, Suck it Up, Penny Hose, Keep it Up, and Yank Me.

There was a lot of laughter. I challenge anyone to play Junk in the Trunk with a straight face!

We had so much fun on our Minute to Win it night that we decided to create another one. That time, we chose a Dollar Store Minute to Win It theme. We played Puddle Jumper, Chocolate Unicorn, Ponginator, Hanky Panky, Ball Drop, Breakfast Scramble, and Elephant March.

These games are funny and everyone can play. The supplies were so inexpensive and didn’t take long to set up. It was another memorable evening.

We also get a kick out of The Flour Game. This hilarious game requires only two items and one of them is probably already in your kitchen. This one is just plain old good clean fun. Well, clean may not be the best way to describe it! The messy faces are worth it though.

It’s a great time for all ages. If you’ve never tried it, this is a good one to start with. It’s easy to set up. The rules are easy to understand. And a face full of flour is universally funny!

Another classic at our house is called The Bag Game. For this one, you only need one item. In this game, the kids often have the advantage. That’s a good equalizer. On other family game nights when the older ones may have an easier time with whatever the activity is, this game evens those odds.

Our neighbour taught us this game. We have played it at everything from just a Sunday afternoon at home to my daughter’s Sweet 16 with over 25 people. It is always a hit.

Other Family Game Night Ideas:

I love this personalized version of the game 20 questions from Teach Mama. It gives a Headbands type of spin to it and allows you to use pictures of people you know or are familiar with. It would be easy to create themed versions of this game such as a Disney theme or famous families theme.

Not Consumed’s Lego Family Fun Night is clever. The ideas are easy. Chances are, you’ve got some lego pieces hanging around the house. Why not put them to good use?!

My kids would go crazy over this Nerf Target Prize Game from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls! You could mix it up by changing up the prizes.

How about making your own holiday themed twister game? You can find everything you need at Pint-Sized Treasures to make a Valentine’s Conversation Hearts Twister, a Snowman Twister, or a Pumpkin Twister for Thanksgiving, Hallowe’en or Fall.

Board Games the Whole Family Can Play:

Family game night ideas don’t have to be complicated. You can create lasting memories sitting around the kitchen table with a bowl of popcorn and a board game or puzzle.

I love how our family has a culture of playing board games together. Sunday afternoons, you can usually find us sitting at the table playing Settlers of Catan, Splendor, Sequence, Ticket to Ride, or some of our other favourites.

Here are some great games that you can play with people of multiple ages:

Watch Ya Mouth Family Edition Hasbro Pie Face Googly Eyes Game Qwirkle Ker Plunk Blokus Jenga Classic Game Trouble HedBanz 5 Second Rule Simon UNO Card Game Dutch Blitz Suspend Family Game Apples to Apples

Glow in the Dark Slime with Glitter

By Sharla Kostelyk Leave a Comment

Glow in the dark slime is easier to make than you may think. This particular slime doesn’t even need a black light to glow. Adult supervision should always be used when making slime.

Glow in the Dark Slime Recipe:

6 oz. Elmer’s washable clear school glue
10 drops vetiver essential oil
1 Tbsp. baking soda
2 tsp. glow in the dark paint or gel
1 Tbsp. glow in the dark powder
1-3 Tbsp. contact solution (be sure that the contact solution you use includes both boric acid and sodium borate in the ingredient list or it won’t work)
2-3 Tbsp. of neon glitter Instructions:

Add the glue and essential oil to a small glass bowl and stir.
Add the glow in the dark paint or gel, the glow in the dark powder, and the baking soda.
Mix everything together.
Add 1 Tablespoon of contact solution to the bowl. Mix well.
You know that the slime mixture is ready to come out of the bowl when it pulls away from the edges of the bowl. You may need to add another Tablespoon or two to the mixture for it to come away completely.
Remove the slime from the bowl* and knead it on a flat surface until it’s nice and smooth.
Add the glitter and continue to knead until it is incorporated into the slime.

To make the slime glow, hold it under a light or take it into the sunlight for about 30 seconds. Then, bring it into a completely dark room and it will glow! Store the glow in the dark slime in an airtight container or plastic bag. If stored properly, this slime will keep for a long time.

*Pro slime making tip: Squeeze a drop of the saline solution onto your finger and rub gently onto both hands before handling the slime. This will prevent the slime from sticking to you.

This slime would be cool to make for Halloween or for a sleepover party. The kids could enjoy its glow after dark. If you want to give it out as party favours, you can use baby food jars as containers wrapped with purple ribbon around the top.

Check out some of our other awesome slime recipes:

Creepy Spider Web Slime

Peppermint Ribbon Scented Slime

Rainbow Confetti Party Slime

Peppermint Scented Slime Recipe

By Sharla Kostelyk 1 Comment

I’ve been wanting to try to make a scented slime for awhile now. This peppermint scented slime is just the kind I was hoping to make.

Slime is already such an intense sensory experience. It engages the visual, tactile and proprioception sensory systems. Adding scent to it engages the olfactory sense as well.

Be aware that peppermint is an alerting scent, so this is not a good pre-bedtime activity! Alerting scents can be extremely useful though.

If you find that your child is in a state of their “engine running low”, an alerting scent combined with the proprioceptive input of playing with slime can “wake” them up. This can help them maintain attention and be more engaged.

Peppermint Scented Slime:

16 oz. Elmer’s washable school glue
1 cup liquid starch
3-5 drops of peppermint essential oil
lime green acrylic paint
raspberry pink acrylic paint
light pink acrylic paint

Mix together the white glue and drops of peppermint essential oil in a large bowl. Add the liquid starch slowly, a bit at a time and stir as you add. When it starts to pull away from the sides, divide it in equal parts into three smaller bowls.

In one bowl, stir in a few squirts of the green paint. In another bowl, stir in a few quirts of the darker pink paint. In the last bowl, mix in the lighter pink paint. Knead each one separately until it becomes the consistency of slime.

The cool thing is that if you set the colours next to each other in thin strips, it looks like peppermint ribbon candy! Just a little note to add: once you start playing with all three colours together, they will eventually mix. The colours don’t stay magically separated!

When not in use, store the slime(s) in airtight containers or sealed bags at room temperature.

Check out these other scented sensory play activities:

Calming Lavender Scented Bubble Recipe

Peppermint Scented Christmas Playdough

Creepy Spider Web Slime

By Sharla Kostelyk 1 Comment

This spider web slime is great for Hallowe’en parties. You can make a sensory play station and include this as an activity or use it as a party favour. This slime would also work well at a Spiderman birthday party. You know that spider web in a bag stuff that you can buy around Hallowe’en time? Well, I thought I could use that to make a really cool slime. I was very wrong! Do not make the same mistake I did and use the spider web stuff that comes in a bag to try to make a slime. It will be disastrous and messy.

I was able to discover that there is a way to make slime that has a spider web look to it and still work.

Spider Web Slime Recipe:

5 oz. bottle of Elmer’s washable white school glue
½ cup water
1 tsp. borax
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. Instant Snow
plastic spiders or black polymer clay to make your own

How to Make Spider Web Slime:

Pour 1/2 cup glue in a bowl.
Add in 1/2 cup of water and stir them together.
In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of water and 1 tsp. of borax.
Slowly pour the borax mixture into the glue mixture, stirring until it has reached slime consistently.
Knead the slime with your hands for a few minutes.
Add 1 Tbsp. Instant Snow to the slime.
Work the Instant Snow in by kneading until it is fully mixed into the slime.
Slowly add up to 1 tsp. more Instant Snow until you reach the texture and look you’re looking for. Continue to knead.
The slime will be stiff at first, but as you continue kneading, it will get better and better. It takes a bit for the Instant Snow to expand.
Add in a few plastic spiders or some polymer ones. (Directions for making your own spiders are below.)

Store the spider web slime in an airtight container.

Instant Snow Powder Plastic Spiders, 3 Sizes Elmer’s Liquid School Glue

For the spiders, only a small amount of polymer clay is needed. Roll 2 small balls of black polymer clay for the spider’s body. Then make a long snakelike piece and cut out the legs. Shape together. Bake on wax paper at 275° for a few minutes.

The polymer spiders will not stick very well, but they are great for imaginative play! They are fun for kids to make and they can use them for other Hallowe’en decorating or play as well.The little beads created with the Instant Snow make playing with this spider web slime a very tactile sensory experience.

Check out some of our other Hallowe’en slime experiences:

Easy Hallowe’en Slime Hallowe’en Sensory Slime Game

Colour Mixing Sensory Science

By Sharla Kostelyk 3 Comments

Learning about colours doesn’t have to be boring. Our colour mixing sensory science made for a very fun few days! We were inspired by our Rainbow theme last week and decided to extent our learning about colors into this week. There is a song that we sang (to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”):

“When you hug blue and yellow, it makes green; when you hug blue and yellow, it makes green; when you hug these two you’ll see a new color magically; when you hug blue and yellow, it makes green.”

Of course, for the next two versus, you make orange by “hugging” red and yellow and make purple by “hugging” red and blue.

We did a few easy color mixing experiments.

Colour Mixing Sensory Bags:

Supplies needed:

resealable plastic sandwich bags
red paint
blue paint
yellow paint

Instructions:

Squirt some blue paint and red paint into one bag, ensuring that the paints are on opposite sides of the bag. Do the same in other bags with blue paint and yellow paint in one and red paint and yellow paint in another.

Seal the bags, removing as much of the excess air as you can.

Discuss primary and secondary colors.

Have the child hypothesize what colours will be created when the paint is mixed.

Have the child mix the paints together with their fingers by moving the paint around through the bag. This is a great sensory activity too. The kids are able to create other colours by squishing the primary colours into each other.

You can hang the bags on the window using clear packing tape and have the child observe how the sun shining through affects the appearance of the colours.

This experiment is one of many included in the first volume of our Sensory Science Book. It is full of engaging hands-on learning designed to help kids retain what they learn because of using their senses in the process.

Colour Mixing Mini Volcanos:

Supplies needed:

baking soda
cake pan
vinegar
food colouring
droppers

Instructions:

Place a layer of baking soda in a cake pan. Fill three cups a third of the way with vinegar and add about five drops of food colouring to each cup.

Fill the droppers with the coloured vinegar and squeeze it out onto the baking soda. By adding another colour on top, you can create little volcanos of new colour in mixing them.

They loved this activity!The kids learned:

-that the best way to form a new colour was to have a person with one dropper of one colour and another person with another colour squeeze at the same time in the same area. Once left on the baking soda, the colours did not mix as easily.

-that mini volcanos are fun.

-that when you pour the three glasses of color into each other, you end up with almost black.

Mommy learned that when you do this activity, you should put newsprint down to protect your counters!!! (note that in the early picture, there was none underneath!)

The kids especially liked the look of the bottom of the cake plate after we were done and wished we could hang it like artwork. Unfortunately, a picture of it will have to do!

Some of the books that we read that were related to colour:

The kids also completed a great colour mixing worksheet (find it here) and had fun with some Mandala coloring pages that I printed for free from here.

They also had plenty of opportunity for hands-on learning on colour mixing with paint.

Check out these other great sensory science activities:

Jello Science Experiments

Sensory Smell Bottles

Simple Hallowe’en Slime

By Sharla Kostelyk Leave a Comment

Any excuse is a good excuse to make slime (according to my girls anyway!). With the leaves changing, I guess it’s time for Hallowe’en Slime! The thing that makes this particular slime so simple is the glitter glue. You don’t have to mess with food colouring or paint or glitter because the glitter and colours are already in the glue. Super easy!

Simple Hallowe’en Slime Recipe:

6 oz. bottle of Elmer’s black glitter glue
6 oz. bottle of Elmer’s orange glitter glue
about 3/4 cup liquid starch

In one bowl, slowly mix the black glitter glue with about half of the liquid starch. Add 1 Tbsp. at a time and continue to mix. You’ll know you have the right amount of liquid starch when the mixture starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a clump. Take out the mixture and knead by hand about five minutes, pulling, stretching, and pushing it until slime consistency is formed and it’s no longer sticking to your hands.

In another bowl, repeat the exact same process using the orange glitter glue.

Once both mixtures are slime-like, you can make alternate strips of each colour to create a really cool look.

Please be aware that once you start to play with the colours together, they will mix and a black slime with orange and black glitter will form.

This slime will also look like it fits in with the season as the orange will still be visible in the glitter.

Homemade slime tip: When I make slime, I like to use wide craft sticks rather than spoons when I stir. That way, I don’t have to wash glue off the spoons later!

This Hallowe’en slime recipe is fun to play with and would make such cute favours to hand out at a party or at the door to little Trick or Treaters. You can buy small plastic containers with lids to hand this slime out in.

If you’re using it for play at home or at school, store it in an airtight plastic or glass container or resealable plastic bag.

Check out some of our other Hallowe’en slime ideas:

Creepy Spider Web Slime Hallowe’en Sensory Game with Slime