Family Night: Animal Charades

Tonight's Family Night activity is an old favorite at our place.  ANIMAL CHARADES!

But before we get into all that, I've been asked how family night really goes at our house, so I thought I'd give you the skinny.  Our kids all love it and can't wait to do their assignments because it's something that we've made a fun, weekly tradition for as long as they can remember.  In reality, it's not always Mom who does all the planning and presenting.  We have a little family night wheel that is hanging on the fridge, and we each have our own assignments that change week to week.

Every week we have someone in charge of conducting the family night.  They welcome everyone, make sure everyone knows their assignments, and keep the evening rolling.  We always start with a prayer, and then sing a song together.  Since we have really little ones they are usually very silly, active songs (like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with actions or Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree - if you don't know that one you're totally missing out!)  After that we take a few minutes and have family business.  That's our one chance during the week to coordinate our schedules and make sure everyone has rides to where they need to be and we're all on the same page!  Following business, someone shares a short scripture or spiritual thought, and then someone else gives the lesson.  Often it's the lesson part that we share here on the blog.  Sometimes Mom or Dad teach the lesson, but the kids get to teach just as often,  We keep several magazines with childrens' stories that teach morals, and have a few books with short stories that teach lessons as well.  They can choose from any of those, or they can get a story from our flannel board file.  We also keep scripture picture cards, and fairly often they choose one of those to hold up while they tell a scripture story they know.  The point is, when it's their turn, we let them decide and we let them have the floor.  Almost all of our lessons turn into little family discussions though.  After the lesson, someone is assigned to come up with a family game or activity, and someone else is in charge of treat.  

Does that seem like a lot?  Really it's not.  We're in such a habit that it all just goes smoothly and everyone (except the baby) pretty much takes care of their assignments on their own.  We usually finish dinner between 6 and 6:30, spend an hour and a half for family night, and then are ready to get the little ones to bed!

Ahem, back to animal charades!  This is one of those family activities that the kids can play over and over again.  They can choose an animal out of their head, or they can pick a card if they can't think of an animal they want to act out.  They act it out without talking or making any animal noises, and try to get everyone to guess which animal they are!  Here's a link to our printable little cards. You can color and laminate them if you're planning to use them over and over again like we do.