Activities and celebrations
Number of unique resources found: 71
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– General Information –
At the Heart of Their Art: Understanding Children through What They Create 
Author: Smith, Charles (28 more by this author)
Description: "Every child is born an artist. Activities such as drawing, painting, and sculpting
are a part of human nature, and every healthy human being experiences the urge to create and to communicate through their creations."
Description: This factsheet explores the value of mealtimes to the family unit and offers suggestions for making the most of this time spent together.
Children and Television: Using TV Sensibly
Author: Murray, John (2 more by this author); Barbara Lonnborg
Description: This fact sheet provides parents with suggested ways to manage their children's television viewing.
Diversity Activities for Youth and Adults
Description: This publications highlights diversity activities for youth and adults.
Divorced Dads- Making the Most of Visitation
Description: This fact sheet offers suggestion for making visitations of divorced fathers a positive experience for the children.
Families: Eating Smart and Moving More
Description: Offers suggestion on way to make healthier choices, exercise as a family, and spend time together.
Description: Family Night Out! is an experiential program for youth and their families that emphasizes fun, cooperation and family strengths.
Description: Traditions give the family stability and a feeling of belonging. Values and beliefs are often reinforced through our traditions. Through the passing of time, we learn the unspoken message of why traditions are created, FAMILY IS IMPORTANT. As you read through this newsletter, we hope you will reflect about what your family is doing to create meaningful rituals and traditions.
Family Time Series Fall: Child Age 2-3
Description: Family Time helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Geared to parents of children ages 2-3.
Family Time Series Fall: Child Age 4-6
Description: Family Time helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Geared to parents with children ages 4-6.
Family Time Series Spring: Child Age 2-3
Description: Family Time helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Geared to parents with children ages 2-3.
Family Time Series Spring: Child Age 4-6
Description: Family Time helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Geared to parents with children ages 4-6.
Family Time Series Spring: Child Age 7-8
Description: Every parent is busy. Family Time helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Ages 7-8
Family Time Series Summer: Child Age 2-3
Description: Every parent is busy. Family Time helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Ages 2-3
Family Time Series Summer: Child Age 4-6
Description: Family Time helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Geared to parents with children ages 4-6.
Family Time Series Summer: Child Age 7-8
Description: The Family Time Series helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Ages 7-8
Family Time Series Winter: Child Age 2-3
Description: Family Time helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Geared to parents with children ages 2-3.
Family Time Series Winter: Child Age 4-6
Description: Family Time helps busy parents develop the habit of putting their families first by setting aside time to be together. Geared to parents with children ages 4-6.
Family Time Series Winter: Child Age 7-8
Description: This fact sheet provides healthy, fun activities families can do in the winter and geared to family strengthening.
Description: A strong family has a commitment to one another and keeps increasing in strength because of the time they spend together. Traditions and rituals in a family can be the simplest of actions, but when recognized for the importance to strengthening the family, they become central to making memories.
Description: Whether it's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or solstice you celebrate, December often checks in with a hefty load of emotional and financial baggage. Expectations run high while energy - and bank accounts – seem to flow in the other direction. Here are some simple things for dealing with the challenges of the holidays.
Fun Things To Do Outside With Your Child
Description: This article provides ideas on how to play outside with your children.
Gift Ideas for Nursing Home Visits
Description: Provides low-cost or no-cost ideas for gifts, especially for loved ones in assisted care, hospital, or nursing homes.
Gift-giving Ideas to Link the Generations
Description: An article about how gifts can be used to help reconnect the generations by viewing it as an opportunity to enter into the rhythms and rhythms of another person's life experiences or a way of bringing people together across geographical and generational distances, instead of viewing it as a product.
Happy Holiday Season Depends on Family Financial Planning
Description: This resource provides ideas on how to reduce the risk of holiday gift disappointment as well as the risk of overwhelming bills.
Helping Your Children Succeed at Learning
Author: Goddard, H. (29 more by this author)
Description: A publication that guides you through your childs learning through four steps: Making your home a learning environment, planning family learning activities, starting early and adapt to the needs of your children, and work with other people who will help your children learn and develop.
Description: Provides tips on reducing stress from the holidays, whether it is physical, emotional or financial.
Holiday Stress Busters for Big and Little People
Description: Holidays are supposed to be a time of enjoyment and happiness, but too often we feel stressed. This fact sheet provides ideas families can use to work together to reduce holiday stress and enjoy one another without spending a lot of money.
Description: This factsheet explores the value of mealtimes to the family unit and offers suggestions for making the most of this time spent together.
Let Your Infant of Toddler Teach You About Play
Description: A fact sheet containing suggestions on how parents can learn from their children through simple play activities.
Managing the Holiday Excitement
Author: Direnfeld, Gary (34 more by this author)
Description: This article make suggestions on how parents can help their children manage holiday expectations and excitement.
Author: Notari-Syverson, Angela (3 more by this author)
Description: The “On the Go” materials include 14 activities designed to be used outside the home: in the car, while walking, during bus rides, etc. The activities help parents encourage early language and literacy development from birth through preschool. They are appropriate for children with disabilities as well as children who are developing typically. Resources available in English, Spanish, Somali, Russian, Vietnamese, Mandarian, and Burmese.
Description: An analysis of what happens when you pay bills early or on time.
Play TAG with Your Kids: Tips to Ensure Positive Competitive Experience
Author: Andrews, David
Description: This is a fact sheet on making competition a positive experience for kids by letting them understand that the core of competition is to have fun no matter who wins.
Purdue Expert: Nice Holiday Gifts for Kids Don't Require Big Spending
Description: This news article shares suggestions from Judith Myers-Walls, Purdue University, on giving inexpensive gifts, less expensive toys, shopping for used items, making your own toys and giving certificates for activities with the family.
Author: Direnfeld, Gary (34 more by this author)
Description: This article discusses family traditions.
Author: CYFERnet Program Editors, (12 more by this author)
Description: Don't let the hustle and bustle of the holidays overwhelm you. And don't miss precious opportunities to connect with family members, loved ones and friends during this special time of the year. Check out some ideas for "Sane Celebrations" and find ways to really enjoy this holiday season with less stress.
School Age Children and Physical Activity
Description: Offers suggestions on ways to plan family exercise activities so that parents and children can exercise together and have fun.
Spending Time with Your Children
Description: This fact sheet, aimed at parents, provides suggestions for spending "quality" time with the family. It focuses on how the many informal situations in daily life provide occasions for learning important life lessons and building important skills.
Author: Davis, Louise (1 more by this author)
Description: Provides tips on developing an enjoyment of books early in life. From the moment an infant is born, he or she needs to be read to. Reading helps babies understand language and helps their language develop appropriately.
Supporting Early Literacy in Natural Environments
Author: Notari-Syverson, Angela (3 more by this author); Kristin Rytter, Ph.D
Description: These materials include 46 home and community activities for adults and children that encourage early language and literacy development in young children. They are appropriate for children with disabilities as well as children who are developing typically. The materials are specifically designed to address the three key skills of 1) language development, 2) phonological awareness, and 3) general print awareness.
Television goes to School: The Impact of Video on Student Learning in Formal Education
Author: Saltrick, Susan; Shelley Pasnik; Margaret Honey
Description: This resource describes the effect of television in the classroom. It also includes tips for teachers on how to include television in a positive manner.
Description: This article provides ideas on appropriate chores for child age groups.
Description: The Communicator is a monthly research update in the areas of food safety, family development, nutrition education and family economics from the University of Idaho School of Family and Consumer Sciences.
Author: Direnfeld, Gary (34 more by this author)
Description: At heart, all men know dads are important. We just have to remember to act that way for our kids.
Waiting? Have Some Family Fun Times
Author: Mader, Sharon (3 more by this author)
Description: This fact sheet provides tips on heping children wait, during family trips, in the supermarket, in restaurants and for appointments.
– Programming Resource –
100 Ways to Celebrate Your Family
Description: This fact sheet provides a list of 100 ways to celebrate and strengthen families.
Activities to Celebrate Your Family
Description: This fact sheet is aimed at families and people who work with families and includes suggestions on activities, outings, and celebrations to build family strengths.
Description: The American Camp Association is a national community of camp professionals dedicated to enriching the lives of children and adults through the camp experience. ACA is the only organization that accredits all types of camps, based upon 300 national standards for health and safety.
American Camp Association (Spanish)
Description: CampParents.org es un recurso completo para las familias que ofrece consejo profesional de expertos en campamentos sobre la selección de campamento, el momento preciso, el desarrollo infantil y juvenil, y asuntos importantes para las familias.
At Your Doorstep: A Family Fact Sheet on Outdoor Play and Learning
Author: DeBord, Karen (59 more by this author); Lucy Bradley, Liz Driscoll
Description: This fact sheet from North Carolina State University provides information about the research on the benefits of outdoor play and provides tips for families on ways to spend time together, enjoy nature and the outdoors.
Being Involved with Your School-Age Child
Author: Ferrer, Millie (29 more by this author); Anne M. Fugate
Description: Parental involvement means being genuinely involved in every part of your child's life. This fact sheet offers suggestions for increasing time together with your children, how to establish family traditions and activities.
Description: This website from Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, offers teachers and parents suggestions, games and other resources for celebrating Latinos in history.
Description: Tip sheet on helping families to become involved in their communities and their children lives. Volunteering gives families a unique way to spend time together; teaches children values like kindness, empathy, and the importance of community service; and introduces everyone in the family to new skills and experiences.
Author: Strauss, Kevin
Description: Family eJournal is an interactive website that promotes family closeness by providing a
simple way for family members to express their thoughts and feelings to one another. Family eJournal's goal is to improve family connectedness by allowing parents and their children to share their thoughts and feelings through online, guided communication. Provides links to other resources and news articles related to family communication.
Description: Like other forms of parental involvement, research shows a positive relationship between frequent family dinners and positive teen behavioral outcomes. Teens who regularly have meals with their family are less likely to get into fights, think about suicide, smoke, drink, use drugs, and are more likely to have later initiation of sexual activity, and better academic performance than teens who do not. Research differences by race and ethnicity are addressed.
Description: Family Night Out! is a family enrichment program with an educational component that attracts an audience who otherwise would not participate in traditional programs. It is a strength-based, not deficit-based, program. Its non-threatening "hands-on" experiential activities attract and encourage the participation of all family members. The Family Night Out! model utilizes 4-H Portable Challenge or experiential/adventure based learning with families. Family Night Out! has helped to build more resilient families and communities by bringing area families together to meet and play, often for the first time.
Description: Traditions give the family stability and a feeling of belonging. Values and beliefs are often reinforced through our traditions. Through the passing of time, we learn the unspoken message of why traditions are created, FAMILY IS IMPORTANT. As you read through this newsletter, we hope you will reflect about what your family is doing to create meaningful rituals and traditions.
Family Rituals that Build Strength
Author: Silliman, Benjamin (6 more by this author)
Description: A brochure for parents about the benefits of family rituals and how to develop them.
Description: This fact sheet contains suggestions on fun activities for families with young children. The activities are geared to summer and outdoor activities.
Family Time Series Fall: Child Age 7-8
Description: This fact sheet provides examples, ideas and suggestions for ways for families to spend time together, with a focus on healthy, low-cost activities.
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Fun Learning Activities for You and Your Grandchildren
Author: Bales, Diane (20 more by this author)
Description: This fact sheet provides a brief overview for grandparents raising grandchildren, the importance of play, simple toys appropriate for young children, as well as suggestions for outside the home activities.
Helping Children Grow: Learning Through Play and Fantasy
Author: Bailey, Cindee (18 more by this author)
Description: This fact sheet provides suggestions and tips to help parents use play and fantasy as healthy developmental tools.
Description: This fact sheet offers tips for successfully juggling the stress of holiday preparations.
Include Your Child in Activities With All Children
Description: All children learn by playing. It is important that children with special needs take part in activities with all children, including those who do not have special needs. All children can learn from one another.
Let Your Infant of Toddler Teach You About Play
Description: A fact sheet containing suggestions on how parents can learn from their children through simple play activities.
Description: This article discusses how children like playing with their parents as well as other children.
Author: Spencer, Marnie (2 more by this author); Laura Sant, MS, RD; and Rhea Lanting, MS
Description: Meal Time in Less Time is a University of Idaho Extension curriculum that teaches individuals how to plan meals, shop to save time and money, and prepare healthy meals using time-saving procedures. It is designed to be taught in three 1-hour sessions. Meal Time in Less Time consists of a CD with PowerPoint slides, script, handouts, instructor's advertising materials, and participant evaluations. Information on ordering the curriculum is provided.
National Summer Learning Association
Description: The National Summer Learning Association is a national organization devoted to making summer learning available to all children, but especially those children trapped in poverty without access to high quality summer learning resources, such as lessons, summer camps, educational vacations, and other enrichment opportunities.
Nutrition and Physical Activity Fair Planning Guide
Description: This planning guide consists of four PDF files regarding: Nutrition and Physical Activity Fair Planning.
Author: Notari-Syverson, Angela (3 more by this author)
Description: The “On the Go” materials include 14 activities designed to be used outside the home: in the car, while walking, during bus rides, etc. The activities help parents encourage early language and literacy development from birth through preschool. They are appropriate for children with disabilities as well as children who are developing typically. Resources available in English, Spanish, Somali, Russian, Vietnamese, Mandarian, and Burmese.
Description: This is a fact sheet on how the "kitchen" can be used in educational foods and nutrition programs and transported by bus or car, or used in a kitchen where storage space is at a minimum or for camping.
Sharing Family Strengths Activity Booklet
Description: This activity booklet provides easy activities to help families stay strong, celebrate their strengths, set new goals, find support/advice and have fun as a family. From the Family & Children’s Service, Minnesota.
Author: Davis, Louise (1 more by this author)
Description: Provides tips on developing an enjoyment of books early in life. From the moment an infant is born, he or she needs to be read to. Reading helps babies understand language and helps their language develop appropriately.
Supporting Early Literacy in Natural Environments
Author: Notari-Syverson, Angela (3 more by this author); Kristin Rytter, Ph.D
Description: These materials include 46 home and community activities for adults and children that encourage early language and literacy development in young children. They are appropriate for children with disabilities as well as children who are developing typically. The materials are specifically designed to address the three key skills of 1) language development, 2) phonological awareness, and 3) general print awareness.
– Research –
Author: Palan, Kay; Cheryl O. Hausafus; Jennifer Paff Ogle; Mary Lynn Damhorst
Description: This paper addresses an issue that has received little attention within the literature: the role that parents play in shaping childrens nutrition and exercise beliefs and behaviors. Of particular interest was the influence of parental style and the quality of parent-child communication upon childrens nutrition and exercise beliefs and behaviors. Twenty family units with a child in middle school were studied during home visits. Data were collected with a survey instrument, including measures related to parent-adolescent communication quality, warm and restrictive parenting styles, adolescent nutrition concern, adolescent weight loss behaviors, and adolescent exercise commitment and satisfaction. Results suggest that adolescents nutrition concerns were positively related to good communication quality and restrictive parenting behaviors, and they support the significance of parental communication on adolescents nutrition and exercise attitudes and behaviors. Implications for education and intervention are identified.
Description: Like other forms of parental involvement, research shows a positive relationship between frequent family dinners and positive teen behavioral outcomes. Teens who regularly have meals with their family are less likely to get into fights, think about suicide, smoke, drink, use drugs, and are more likely to have later initiation of sexual activity, and better academic performance than teens who do not. Research differences by race and ethnicity are addressed.