Ideas for Family Activities with Teenagers.

Hi C.,

A friend of mine told me about Geocaching and after reading a little more about it (www.geocaching.com) I bought a GPS device—handheld—and my 2 teenaged boys and I started Geocaching. It's kind of like a treasure hunt and it got us out of the house, cooperating for a common goal (to find the cache) and it was just fun. It also took us to some previously unknown and/or unappreciated areas around Champaign-Urbana. Not only was it fun to hunt for the caches, but it was great seeing new things and areas in this city that we thought we knew so well. The biggest expense was the GPS unit, but you can find them on e-bay, or if you know someone who has one, maybe you could just borrow it now and then.
Good luck!

Hi C.! Making a bonfire and roasting hotdogs, making smores, etc or just gathering around it and having some together time is fun if you have a place to do it in the backyard(in the fall). We just did it last night with our son and grandson, we made some great memories! I'm sure others will have some great ideas! I think it's wonderful that you are trying to find things for your family to do together! Good for you!! (and them!) B.

Have you tried:

1. Picnic in the park
2. Batting cages, go-carts, and mini golf
3. Renting a movie
4. Camping (cheaper vacation if you have the equipment)
5. Playing tennis
6. Shopping with your daughters only
7. Guys and girls night out
8. Game night (monopoly, clue, connect 4, uno, skipbo)
9. Poker night for the older children
10. Try cooking or baking cookies together (they might get excited about cookies or brownies b/c those are sweet and they get to eat them right away)

It's kinda hard because you have an age gap between your 3year old daughter and teenagers. You'd have to find something that includes everyone.

The weather is perfect right now for a bike ride or even a walk. There are some great paths around town.

Grab a football, tennis ball, volleyball.... throw it around in the back yard or at a park.

C.,

What about having each child choose something that they want to on a specific night? Give each a night that is "theirs" and let them choose an activity that they like the most. Hope this helps. Let me know how it turns out. :) T.

I have a similar situation with 5 kids ranging in age from nearly 2 years to 18 years. We do like board games a lot. There are some more unusual ones at Just For Fun, a games shop on the corner of Sheridan and Lake. My kids also like to watch movies - we rent movies with netflix. We recently all went bowling and that was a lot of fun. Mini-golf was a hit too.

Hope this helps!

J.