Families come in all shapes and sizes nowadays, however the one element that is consistent among every family dynamic is the ability to have “family time”. With work, school, homework, sports, housework, extracurricular activities, etc (the list could go on).. its not always easy to find time to get the WHOLE family together for QUALITY family play. The Active Family Project focuses on the challenges of having family play and provides resources to make memorable family moments.

The Active Family Project Roundtable had wonderful speakers including celebrity mom Elisabeth Hasslebeck. Each speaker brought a different perspective of family time and their own tips and ideas of what YOU can do to engage in family play. Topics included: (Fred Engh) moms becoming active in sports by COACHING, (Amy McCready) stepping away from screens and getting hands on in the family activity, and (Erin Gifford) suggestions for activities that are fun when you travel and have kids of various ages. Elisabeth even talked about engaging kids in some of YOUR activities such as working out. No matter what your style is of family play, it’s important to understand that family play consists of different elements and are all dependent on the age of your children. All of the stories shared by the speakers and guests had great ideas and tips for family play.

Making a connection with your children can primarily stem from something that is interesting to THEM. Now that the weather is nicer, my toddler ALWAYS wants to be outside. While I almost feel as if we’re constantly doing the same thing, he loves digging in his sandbox and going for walks. We look for different things every time we go for a walk- whether its flowers, animals, or the different tree leaves. At two years old, he is really developing his imagination, which is so much fun. We can be pirates searching or lost treasure or superheroes helping out our puppies all in our backyard! We play artist and finger paint different pictures (yes, even mommy dips her fingers in the paint).

A great excursion we like to do that isn’t too overwhelming for a toddler is checking out the trolleys. There is a local trolley museum in our area that provides trolley rides and a tour of different trolley cars of the 20^th century. We were at the Trolley Museum for a couple hours on his 2^nd birthday. He was able to walk through the different trolley cars and play with the gadgets without being overwhelmed.

As our family grows and our toddler turns into a big boy, our family play activities will change, but most importantly we will be doing them together. Our adventures always include Mom AND Dad and sometimes even grandparents! We will be participating in the first annual National Family Playdate on Sunday May 11^th by taking a trip to the circus! Not only will our toddler be enjoying the animals and acrobats, but mom and dad will too!

 

“I received product samples and a $100 gift card from Merck Consumer Care, and any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience. This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Merck Consumer Care.”