Most areas have some sort of historic areas that you can take your family to for free. It may be a memorial, an Old Town section, old homes, etc.

Take advantage of these and teach your kids a bit about the history of the area they live in. It’s a bit more immediate than what they learn most of the time in school, and that makes it more interesting. And have fun doing it!

Playing hangman can be a really great family activity, especially as kids start learning to spell. You can take turns deciding who picks the words and who guesses the letters. Both are good for young spellers.

According to Wikipedia, those who don’t like the concept of drawing a hanging man sometimes switch to drawing apples on a tree, then erasing them as guesses are missed.

There are online versions of hangman as well, but I really prefer the interactive side of playing it in person.

Do you have a box of dominoes? Pulled it out lately? It might be time to build a dominoes course and let one of the kids knock it over.

Building a course without knocking it down is pretty challenging itself. Kids love to help build them, but of course aren’t always careful enough. Be ready to just laugh off the frustration if things fall down at the wrong time.

Make sure you aren’t building it someplace where someone is going to knock a domino over just accidentally, and that the surface is pretty stable. Accidents happen but you probably want to minimize the frustration when you’re trying to just have fun.

Get creative in your building process.  You can make the dominoes course go over steps, drop from a height onto a lower track, and of course go all over the place.

Building a card tower is challenging, but it can also be a good way for kids to work with their fine motor skills and just plain have fun. One deck of cards is plenty for most purposes, but if you really get into it all you need is more decks!

Building a card tower takes a lot of patience, especially if a family pet or sibling comes and accidentally knocks the whole thing down just as you’re getting things going or are almost done. You want to pick the place you start working very carefully.

If you’ve never built a card tower, there are plenty of tips online. Just do a search and you’ll soon have a pretty good idea for how to get started.

While cooking isn’t strictly a free activity, odds are it’s money you would have spent otherwise, so this one at least doesn’t cost anything extra.

Pick out a new recipe that is age appropriate for you to make with your children. You can get a kids’ cookbook from the library if you want, or buy one if this is something you’ll do regularly enough. And of course there are plenty of kid friendly recipes to make online.

Make it fun or make it part of  a regular meal, whatever you want.

Cooking is a great way to teach kids about fractions and other bits of math, in a way that isn’t so intimidating. It can also teach them about responsibility, especially if your child is old enough to start cooking on the stove with you.

Tea parties these days are the classic territory of the little girl. She dresses up and serves a beverage to her favorite toys and maybe a friend or two.

Nothing wrong with doing this as a family, though.

Take some time and make it a little fun. Maybe make some cupcakes or another treat. If the kids don’t like tea, serve lemonade. Just relax and have fun.

What do you know about your family’s history? Have you discussed your family history with your children?

This can be a fun thing to do together, especially if grandparents or other relatives are visiting. Talk about things that each family member has done in their lifetime. Talk about family stories they know.

Many families have one or more members who really get into genealogy for a time. I had an uncle write a book on our family history, including plenty of stories about those ancestors he could find such information on. That book is a great resource for talking about my side of the family.

If you get into this one, it can last for years, and you can easily take notes and make your own family history book. There are tons of online resources to help you learn about your family history. It might just be your new hobby.

No, don’t catch a cold. That’s the wrong kind of bug to catch no matter how easy cold bugs are to find this time of year.

Depending on where you live you may find a variety of bugs that are really fun for kids to catch. It might be fireflies, ladybugs, pill bugs… whatever’s available.

Of course you may have to wait for appropriate weather if things aren’t looking good for bug hunting in your area. But I’d still suggest dodging those cold bugs.

At this time of year there are many homes and neighborhoods that have gone to great pains with outdoor Christmas and other holiday decorations. Take an evening with the family and check them out.

You can stick to your local neighborhood and often see some pretty nice displays, but in many cities there will be particular neighborhoods where most of the homes go to great lengths to create amazing displays. These may be listed in the newspaper or on local websites.

If it’s cold, bundle up and maybe plan to have some hot chocolate when you get home.

Turn off that TV! It may not sound like a favorite activity to the kids, but it’s a good one for the whole family.

Taking a break from watching television gives you more time to do things as a family. You can talk, play games, go special places… just have fun.

Yes, it’s hard missing favorite shows. But give yourself a little time and that might feel just a little less important to you. There’s a lot more to life than just seeing what happens to characters on a screen.