Have some silly good times with your kids

Sometimes you just need to cut loose and have some silly fun with your kids. Look what these parents did and take it as an example of what we mean.

Granted, these parents are dedicated pranksters who took the time needed to have this kind of fun. Can you just imagine the fun they had as they concocted these dinosaur scenes? Probably more fun even than the kids had discovering it.

10 Favorite silly-fun things

We asked friends on Facebook to tell us about silly-fun times with their kids. Here are 10 of our favorites.

1. Treat hunt: “When our kids were little sometimes I would put a sign on the front door that they would see when they got home from school that said ‘It's a Hunt,’ and they all knew they had to wait for all of them to get home before coming into the house. When they did they would find the first clue to their treasure hunt and charge through the house from one clue to another to find an after-school treat. They loved the hunts. We have done it for the grandkids recently, also.”

2. Fake passed out: “Our carbon monoxide detector had gone off one morning, but it wasn't a dangerous level when we checked it. So the kids went off to school, but when our daughter came home I pretended to be passed out and was lying on the steps. Needless to say she freaked out. What was funny was that she had friends with her. We all had a good laugh.”

3. Marshmallow madness: “We play ‘Chubby Bunny’. Whoever can stuff the most marshmallows in one's mouth (one at a time) and still be able to say ‘Chubby Bunny’ wins! The best part of the game is watching the marshmallow drool running down the chins of those trying to win the game.”

4. Indoor tents: “We used to build a tent with sheets in the living room and watch movies all night while ‘camping’.”

5. Mud fights: “My kids and I LOVE to have mud fights when we go to a friend’s cabin. We get everyone to join in and then have to hose off with freezing cold water to go back inside the cabin. It's a blast to play in the mud.”

6. Shark attack: “In order to make chores fun for my kids, I made them into games. Their favorite was what I called ‘Shark Attack’. The vacuum was a hungry shark and needed to be fed. All of his food was on the carpet. As I was vacuuming, the shark would unexpectedly attack and chase the kids because he was super hungry and needed something bigger to eat. The excitement and giggles that ensued was so much fun. Each child had a turn to be the shark, and we never knew when, or if it was going to attack.”

7. Rainbow laundry: “I taught my kids how to do laundry at a very young age. On laundry days, everyone would bring their hampers to the family room, where we'd sort the clothes by color, making a rainbow in the process. We'd use the whites as clouds at the each end of the rainbows. I taught them how to wash the clothes by lights, darks and whites and what temperature the water needed to be for each set of colors, to make the rainbow shine pretty. That made doing laundry lots of fun.”

8. Silly wrapping: “My husband let his silliness shine when he helped Santa wrap some of the kids’ Christmas presents. One year, the kids got jeans. He stuffed them with crinkled newspaper so it looked like a person was in them, but only from the waist down. Then he would place them in fun positions, like sitting in the chair with legs crossed, or other funny poses, with the child’s name on it. He wrapped other gifts to look like rockets or space ships. One jogging outfit was stuffed and had a balloon head with a funny expression drawn on its face. The kids loved this Christmas tradition.”

9. Sleigh bells: “An old set of sleigh bells rang for me as a child all the month of December if I went to bed on time. Oh, it was so thrilling to listen for Santa's bells. I knew he was checking to see if I was naughty or nice. We used the sleigh bells for our children. Oh, what fun to lay beside them and pretend to be asleep. So exciting to hear those bells and giggle and whisper with each other the excitements of Christmas. Of course, if we saw a red light go past the window we just knew it was Rudolph. Stories and fun lying there in the dark. Traditions.”

10. Sardines hiding: “We played ‘sardines’. That's hide and go seek in the house. One person hides and the others go to look. When you find the one hiding, you hide with them until the whole family is together. The shower or a closet can become really cozy. Lots of fun.”

Make it happen

A little silliness mixed into a child’s life can make the hard stuff easier to take. So lighten up and have some silly good times with your kids.

Gary Lundberg is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Joy is a writer and lyricist. Together they present seminars and author books on relationships. Their website is garyjoylundberg.com, email gjlundberg@gmail.com