Family Activities

Family Collage
MATERIALS: family photos, posterboard or sturdy paper, magazines or newspapers, glue or tape.

First, gather pictures of your family members that children can sort through. Help your child glue or tape the photos to the posterboard or paper. Then talk to your child about each of your family member’s hobbies or interests. Then look through old magazines or newspapers to find images of each family member’s hobby. For example, if Grandpa really loves golf, search for a picture of a golf club or a photo of a golf course. Once you and your child have found pictures that represent each family member’s favorite things, glue them onto the posterboard.

This collage will make a great gift for a family member during the holiday season.

Family Cookbook
MATERIALS: File cards, file box, pens, paper, black pen, stapler

First have children solicit their favorite family recipes. Then, the children file the cards by menu categories: appetizers, soups, main dishes, side dishes, desserts, snacks, and so on. After organizing the recipes, they will need to check spelling on the ingredients lists, clarify any confusing directions, and credit the contributors.

There are many ways to assemble the recipes into a book:

A parent can volunteer to type up the collection. If you have access to a photocopier, make enough copies so that your children can collate and staple a booklet for each person who contributed a recipe.
Do you have a computer? Your children can use a word processing program to organize and edit the recipes, then print out copies for everyone in their family.
Your children can copy the recipes neatly on sheets of notebook paper. Insert the pages in a binder behind subject dividers labeled with the different menu categories.
The recipes can be copied into a spiral-bound deck of index cards. Children can design a paper cover to paste over the original cover. Suggest that they number or alphabetize the recipes and include a contents card listing the names and corresponding numbers.

Perhaps next year your children can fry the latkes for the family’s annual Hanukkah party or bake the hot cross buns for Easter brunch!

Family Newsletter

Keep far-away relatives up-to-date on what's going on when you write a family newsletter.

If you have a computer:

Your child can use a standard word processing program to write stories about family events from the past year: weddings, vacations, births, parties, and more.
Import photos into the document. Or narrow the margins to make a column of text, print, and glue photos onto the paper.
Make copies of the newsletter and mail to relatives.

If you don't have a computer:

Work with your child to handwrite stories about recent family events.
Cut out photos or images and paste or glue them onto your letter for decoration.
Find a copy machine (most public libraries have one) and make copies to mail to relatives.