Family fun can take many forms, from staying in for family game night to heading out to a local attraction. No matter what activity a family most enjoys, the benefits of having fun together are undeniable. Spending time enjoying each other’s company helps to reduce stress, increases family bonding and makes memories that last a lifetime.
Our February Question of the Month asked our readers to share their family’s favorite fun activity. Nearly half of readers who responded (45 percent) said their family shares a love of movies, games, books or music and they spend time together enjoying these mutual interests. Nearly one-third said they travel and explore new places to pump up their family fun quotient. Attending or participating in sporting events tied for third with cooking/sharing meals together, each garnering seven percent of responses. Lastly, nine percent of readers who responded said they seek out other ways of having fun, such as playing outdoors, making crafts, or—as many responded—“we do all of the above!”
Our readers shared more about their favorite family fun activities:
- Shyla H. of Moore says her family fun can’t be contained in just one category. “We love to be active as a family and just have fun! This includes going to the park, museums, zoo, movies, out of town and restaurants!”
- For Marae B. of Midwest City, sports hit a home run with her family. “We are big sports fans! Each of our kids has a sport they love and excel in, from tennis to soccer to baseball, and we love them all! Plus we love going to local events. We support the Barons and the Thunder and we love have a national team here in OKC!”
- Moore’s Hannah P. cooks up family fun in the kitchen. “We have a very close family. Nearly every weekend the grandparents come over and we cook a big meal and eat, chat and sometimes play board games. We love to eat and entertain and our kids really enjoy it, too.”
- Natasha R. of Oklahoma City loves to take her family on the road. “When the weather is nice, we take a road trip to wherever! I just jump on the freeway and drive. We have found some of the best places to go to by just getting lost. Other times we know where we want to go, but either way it is always a great family experience.”
- Family game and movie nights equal fun for Lacy P. of Yukon. “We love playing games together. From Hullabaloo (my 2 year old’s favorite) to Scrabble or UNO (my 5 year old’s favorites) we spend a lot of time playing games. My 2 year old’s favorite thing is watching movies, and he wants us to sit with him to watch. It’s fun to bond in that way as well, and not just use the TV as a babysitter, but spend that time enjoying a movie together.”
Other reader feedback:
- Kristi D., Bethany — We love to play games and watch movies together, and the kids love to help cook and we always eat dinner together. Now that the kids are older, we've been enjoying doing a little traveling, taking day trips or overnight trips to spots across the state. The kids love it!
- Christina T., Edmond — Even on a weekend we will get in the car and find a fun place to go…most of the time its someplace we have never been and its wonderful making new memories!
- Hayley C., Choctaw — Every weekend we always watch at least two movies, we love doing that as a family! Games are even more fun for us, it gives us really fun, memorable family time!
- Shena P., Oklahoma City — Going somewhere new, my son is so alert and likes to see all the different things!
- Rosanna R., Midwest City —My oldest just started playing team sports last fall. He joined a soccer team and loved it! He is now on a basketball team and my husband is actually the team coach!!! His little brother can't wait to be able to play sports with his big brother. We attend every game to cheer for him and his team!!! We spend a lot of eveings and weekends playing basketball at home or the YMCA or anything that will keep us busy outdoors. We also enjoy traveling to lake Eufaula and cooking together!
- Christi M., Oklahoma City — My daughter and I spend time together reading, playing games or sometimes turning up the stereo and dancing and singing around the house for hours. I introduced her at a young age to the Beatles and their music has become some of her favorite to listen to. Sometimes, we'll even just listen to them for hours snuggled up on the couch. Reading, games and definitely music can bring a family together in unexpected ways.
- Tara W., Edmond — My daughter's doing a lot of things, more than what I did when I was her age. She made her 1st cake (of course, with the help of her mother) on Saturday at 7. I'm proud of her determination of wanting to learn and pray it will continue on as she grows older.
- Vickie W., Oklahokma City — My grandson is 2 and 5 months, so we do not travel a lot except to see each other as we are two hours away from each other. My grandson enjoys movies and games and also for me to read him books. I spend a lot of my time with family at the movies as I share time with my husband, son and friends.
- Cindy B., Edmond — My husband loves traveling, so a few times a year we load up the kids and go explore some place new. it isn't always easy, especially with little ones, but the memories are worth the hassle.
- Lyndal L., Enid — My son likes to do different things with his son. He takes him to the movies and new places. He even reads books, plays music, and even helps cook. My grandson enjoys doing the different things and always eager to learn.
- Kathy R., Oklahoma City — Our family is a part of four or five different soccer teams most of the year. We coach, manage, recruit, watch, and PLAY soccer.
- Kelley C., Newalla — Plotting a new town on the map is just the start of fun! Keeping it simple is the best. Get a location, go, get a room, then find out what the locals do for fun! We have walked into a Cannon Ball run before, awesome cars! Garage sales, country road drives, flea markets, swimming holes, whaterever count us in!
- Melissa B., Oklahoma City — We all love movies and rent movies at least twice a week.
- Wendy W., Choctaw — We attend rodeos and bullridings and enjoy watching my two sons ride. We go and support them and have fun traveling to the different towns where they ride.
- Breea C., Norman — We do crafts, work on workbooks, watch movies, and visit the Norman Public Library often.
- Rachel G., Del City — We don't necessarily travel a lot- but we love to get out and explore places like the zoo and our local parks!
- Karla N., Newcastle — We follow my son's chess "career" by travelling with his to tournaments all over the country.
- Kami M., Oklahoma City — We have a blast at Thunder games!
- Dianna S., Edmond — We have family game night every Sunday night, we but a large blanket out on the floor and play games, have popcorn and have so much fun together!
- Tamara F., Newalla — We just started doing a once a month family fun night…Its been a big hit with my boys! I got the idea from this website…Thanks!
- Judy S., Choctaw — We like day trips in Oklahoma
- Rebecca W., Moore — We live in a country where there is so much to see and do, what an adventure.
- Amanda D., Edmond — We love an adventure!
- Floris R., Norman — We LOVE the outdoors and LOVE exploring new places. We watch Discover Oklahoma and we really get some neat ideas on some great places to go around our great state! The state parks here are beautiful! And also love the city parks, such as Turner Falls. Great excuse to get out there into nature!
- Jessica K., Oklahoma City — We love to do all the things mentioned above…whatever the budget will allow! 🙂
- Robin W., Edmond — We love to learn new things–gather information on internet, library, field trips. We try to pick a new topic every couple of weeks and plan a few things around each topic.
- Kelly T., Edmond — We love to listen to dvd's or music cd's or watch programs on the TV or Apple TV that involve good music that we all love.
- Jennifer S., Yukon — We love to play outside whenever we possibly can!
- Jamie B., Moore — We love to play together at places like Andy Alligator's. We love to laugh and just have a lot of fun.
- Traci M., Moore — We love to travel. We would probably do it more by funds, school, and work seem to interfere.
- Rachel T., Edmond — We love watching movies together, at home or the theater when possible. We also love playing games together, cards, life, monopoly, and Backgammon!
- Anna C., Norman — We try to have one family movie night each week, complete with blankets and popcorn. Our kids look forward to relaxing and being comfortable and together as a family!
- Karen M., Moore — We're a military family & we get moved around a lot – and we love all the new adventures it brings us!
- Rebecca M., Edmond — When we travel, I feel it just brings our family closer together.
