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.

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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.

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I know it’s Black Friday, and it’s just about impossible to think about doing free things when there are so many great sales out there. I prefer avoiding the crowds, and so I’m sticking with the Free Fun Friday thing.

This week my suggestion is to make a family cook book. Figure out what everyone’s favorite recipes are. Type them up and print them out.

I like to use a 3 ring binder and sheet protectors so that I can organize my recipes as I like and not worry about the inevitable splashing that happens when I cook.

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Get the box of chalk out and start drawing on the sidewalk with the kids. You don’t have to be a great artist to do this one. The kids sure won’t care. You can always sweep it away if you don’t like how your work turned out.

If you’re in an area without sidewalks, you may have a driveway or walkway up to your home that can be used.

You could also just try drawing a game on the ground. Kids love hopscotch, and what’s more classic than a chalk hopscotch game?

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You probably enjoyed making paper airplanes as a kid. Why not go at it again with the whole family?

If you don’t remember how to fold a paper airplanes, there are online instructions to make a variety of planes, from simple to more complex.

It’s also a great way to reuse paper, so long as it’s still in good shape. Or the kids can decorate the paper before or after folding.

Kids are likely to enjoy competing with their planes, seeing whose plane can fly the longest, highest or whatever. If you’re worried about things being knocked over by paper airplanes or (more likely) over exuberant children chasing after their planes, make sure you send them outside to fly the planes.

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It’s that time of year again. The kids are heading back to school, or maybe off to school for the very first time.

Rather than suggest a new activity this week, I’m going to say look at the things you meant to get done as a family over the summer. The fun stuff. Get going while there’s still time!

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Free Fun Fridays are back!

Plan a family treasure hunt. The parents or one of the older kids can write clues or draw a map, and set things up. Everyone else gets to try to find the treasure.

If one of the kids is hiding the remote control, you might just get some desperate treasure hunters!

Kidding, folks, kidding. The house gnomes are really the ones who hid the remote. Kids, don’t hide the remote. Not only does it annoy parents, it makes it harder for you to watch TV!

Depending on ages and interest level, each clue can lead to a prize and a new clue or just a new clue. The early, easier to find prizes should be pretty basic.

Treasure hunts can be indoors or outdoors, although pirate-loving children may well want to be allowed to dig for the final treasure… or at least mine would.

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I just realized that I’ve been doing this Free Fun Fridays thing for over a year now. Not quite 52 posts of it, as I wasn’t too regular at first, but still quite a number of posts.

This week’s suggestion I can’t believe I haven’t made before. Read together.

With younger kids, you can read to them. If they know the story from having it read so often, encourage them to fill in the lines by pausing at points you think they know.

Take turns reading with older kids. It can be sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph or page by page, depending on what you think will work for your child’s skills.

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One of the fun things about taking a family walk is all the leaves and such you can find. Take advantage and make a collage when you get home.

You can think of different themes or just do a “stuff we found” collage. Maybe look for seeds, or different kinds of leaves.

This can be a great way to encourage the entire family to pay attention to what’s around them as you walk. Not to mention that younger children in particular love making crafts.

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Cultural centers and festivals are available in most cities and can be quite a bit of fun. While it’s easy to spend money at some events, there’s generally things you can do for free as well.

You may get to listen to the music of a particular culture or see traditional dances. You could learn a traditional art or craft.

This can be a great chance to talk about your own family’s cultural heritage or introduce the kids to a new one.

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