Screen Free Week

I found this great website with 50 ideas you can do as a family instead of watching tv!  Check it out:

Screen Free Week is May 5 – 11!
 
This annual, international initiative was created in 1994 to encourage families, schools, and communities to embrace screen-free entertainment for a week. Hundreds of organizations such as the American Medical Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and the YMCA, support the movement.
Here are some fun ways to shut off the screens and have a blast — outside or inside — with your family.  These ideas are also good to think about as we all begin planning for summer! 

1. Get the imagination going by helping your kids write & illustrate their own book.
2. Take a ride and ask the kids to paint what they saw.
3. Go for a family bike ride.
4. Gather some yummy goodies and take the family on a picnic.
5. Take your kids to read to patients at nursing homes.
6. Visit the local humane society to give love and attention to the animals waiting for new homes.
7. Draw out your family tree.
8. Spend an afternoon sorting through old clothes and toys that can be donated to a shelter.
9. Play cards! 
10. Prepare and plant a garden – even if it’s just in pots! 
11. Go on a nature hike & have your kids journal what they see.
12. Learn about your local culture and history.
13. Attend a local event, play, or musical performance.
14. Spend some time at a local bookstore.
15. Visit a new restaurant.
16. Visit a museum.
17. Create costumes out of old clothes and craft scraps. 
18. Build a blanket fort and tell camp-style stories.
19. Play hopscotch or freeze-tag.
20. Draw portraits of each other.
21. Go on a nature scavenger hunt.
22. Play in a creek and discover what lives there.
23. Help your child complete random acts of kindness.
24. Go tree climbing.
25. Visit a “pick your own” farm.
26. Visit a local farmers market and get to know the farmers.
27. Go bowling.
28. Visit a local park and help pick up trash if you see any.
29. Put on a play.
30. Help the kids plan a meal that they can make.
31. Play board games.
32. Take an art class.
33. Plan a living room ball and dance the afternoon away.
34. Make mud pies.
35. Create crafts from upcycled items like toilet paper rolls, milk cartons, etc.
36. Go camping. 
37. Blow bubbles.
38. Build a sandbox.
39. Explore local landmarks.
40. Spend an afternoon picking wildflowers.
41. Grab a blanket and watch the clouds – what shapes do they see?
42. Get up early, grab a cup of tea, and watch the sun rise.
43. Prepare a freezer meal for a neighbor, new mother, or pantry in your area. 
44. Jump rope (and teach your kids the classic songs and rhymes).
45. Rearrange the furniture.
46. Build a town with blocks or Legos.
47. Roll down a hill.
48. Organize a classic neighborhood game like tag, capture the flag, or Red Rover.
49. Take a boat ride.
50. Go on a nature / critter walk before bedtime with a flash light.