Does cold weather have your family stuck inside? It doesn’t mean you have to be bored. Instead, use the opportunity to create some family fun and memories without leaving your Georgia home. The Walton Gas team shares these 10 easy and inexpensive ideas for activities everyone can enjoy.
Create family fun and memories without leaving your Georgia home.
- Movie marathon. Get the popcorn (try a flavored popcorn recipe from the Food Network) and cozy up in front of your natural gas fireplace to watch a classic family movie. According to imdb.com, the top family film of all time is "The Goonies," the 1985 movie about a group of young misfits who set out to find pirate's treasure. Many public libraries, such as the Gwinnett County Public Library system and Grovetown Public Library, offer free access to classic movies for download and streaming. All you need is a valid library card to use these services. Check your local library's website for specific availability.
- Set up a dance party. Let everyone contribute some tunes for the playlist, then crank up the sound to wiggle, shake and move to your heart's content. Younger dancers will enjoy the variety of dance party games, such as Dance Freeze, available on YouTube.
- Eat an appetizer dinner. Let the kids be chef for a night. Allow them to make use of what’s on hand in the fridge, freezer and pantry to create a selection of appetizers. Then, serve only appetizers for dinner. Here are some kid-friendly app ideas to jumpstart the culinary creativity: https://www.cubbyathome.com/kid-friendly-appetizers-80042706.
- Play a board game. When was the last time you pulled out all those board games that are in the closet? Have a Monopoly marathon or crown a Clue champion. Need to get up and move? Then how about a game of Twister? If you’ve tired of all the games at home, your local library may have a different game available for checkout. Through its Library of Things section, the Athens Regional Library System, which includes the Oconee County Library and the Athens-Clarke County Library, have games available.
- Get your hands dirty. Start a small indoor herb, vegetable or flower garden that can be transplanted outdoors when temperatures climb. Use this tutorial from UGA Cooperative Extension to help you get started.
- Visit a museum. Visit a museum from home through a virtual tour. Everyone in the family will enjoy taking a peek at the dinosaur skeletons at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Art enthusiasts can see DaVinci’s Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum or Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel via the Vatican Museum’s virtual tour. Cybertravel to Amsterdam and explore the secret annex where Anne Frank and her family hid during World War II.
- Make New Year's resolutions. Anytime in January is OK for gathering everyone together and talking about family goals for the year ahead. Then, work together to create a vision board to help everyone remember the goals all year. FYI, the second Saturday of the month, Jan. 10, is National Vision Board Day. Use these free vision board templates from creately.com to craft a visual that will keep everyone motivated throughout the year.
- Host a hot cocoa bar. Use the precise heat of your natural gas stove to make fancy hot chocolate with milk and a milk chocolate bar. We like this recipe for Stove Top Hot Chocolate shared by cookbook author Danielle Rye at her Live Well Bake Often website. Set up whipped cream, marshmallows, sprinkles, cherries and other add-ins for a fun night of indoor sipping.
- Get moving. Download a free exercise video from GoNoodle or one of the series available on YouTube such as The Body Coach TV.
- Have a video game night. Want to try a new video game without having to buy it? Though they are limited, there are subscription-based options (https://www.online-tech-tips.com/best-options-for-video-game-rentals/) out there. Fans of classic arcade games can find over 60,000 video games to download and play for free from Internet Archive. Netflix has a limited number of games that are free with a regular membership. A few Georgia public libraries also offer video games for home use. Contact your local library directly to find out whether they loan games that are compatible with your system.