I love being silly with my kids. I think it creates the type of memories for me (and hopefully for them) that I think matter. It has plenty of other benefits too, like creating a strong family bond or more simply, getting them moving or creative. Recently my husband and I started a war with our kids. I know that sounds crazy, but in reality it was a blast.

We bought ourselves, and each of our kids, a silly string canister (they were about a dollar a can from my local dollar store). Then we went out into our back yard, everyone armed and dangerous, counted to three and went for it. We played kids against adults. There was tons of running, jumping, ducking, and most important lots of laughing. Sure, this activity only lasted about thirty minutes, but it was a really fun thirty minutes. Thirty minutes that my kids have been talking about non stop for over a week.

This is absolutely the type of thing that young kids adore. You can even spice things up by having water balloon fights, or Nerf gun fights. I can not deny that I am anxiously awaiting the time when my kids are able to aim a Nerf gun! For a minimum investment you could have years and years of fun or maybe even start a family tradition! You can even skip spending any money and go for a good old fashioned game of freeze tag. The most important thing is getting up and playing with your kids. Playing a game for half an hour can make their entire day, or maybe week.

-Stephanie Wright