Avoiding the B word

Teach your kids to enjoy simple, old-fashioned fun. You won't get trapped on the "I need a new toy every week" spending treadmill and your kids will be able to entertain themselves any place, any time (which means less whining, less fighting with siblings, and fewer discipline problems for you). Here are some activity ideas from Ann Douglas, author of The Mother of All Toddler Books and The Mother of All Parenting Books.

1.Design your own board game. If you’ve got a kid who’s a board game freak, toss him the ultimate challenge (along with a set of dice): ask him to design his own board game and to teach the rest of the family to play. He can borrow elements from existing board games or create his own game from scratch using materials you have around the house.

2.Start your own family blog. Keeping a web log (or “blog”) is the hottest online craze. Your family can get in on the fun for free by signing up for a blog with one of the free services like Blogger.com. You can use your blog to keep in touch with friends and family members across the country, share artwork and family recipes, swap photos, or keep a trip diary while you’re traveling.

3.Organize a treasure hunt. Encourage your kids to plan an indoor or outdoor treasure hunt for their friends, complete with a treasure map.Host a neighborhood fun day. Play it straight by sticking to tried-and-true picnic games like the wheelbarrow race, the egg toss, x's and o'x beanbag toss, and the three-legged race or go a little crazy by coming up with your own wacky events—like playing a game of road hockey using pool noodles and a beach ball. Let the games begin!

4.Start your own parent-child book club. Pick a book that both parents and kids would enjoy and send out book-shaped invitations to your book club guests. If you want to get really fancy, bake a book-shaped cake, too. It's a great way to keep the kids on track with reading during the summer months (and to get through some of the books on their summer reading lists, if they were assigned a long list of "must reads" at the end of the school year).

5.Help your preteens to plan their own murder mystery party. They’ll have fun planning everything from the menu to the “murder.”

6.Schedule a neighbourhood movie night. Rent a few kid-friendly flicks and make a smorgasbord of healthy snacks, keeping allergy and choking hazards in mind. Then get ready to enjoy some great movies together.

7.Make a fort—indoors or outdoors. It's a childhood rite-of-passage that every kid should experience.

8.Plan a progressive dinner with other families on your block. Have veggies and dip at one house, pizza at another house, and a fresh fruit buffet at a third house. (It’s kind of like playing follow the leader, except you’re playing follow the food!)

9.Make your own jigsaw puzzle out of a thick piece of cardboard. Or buy a pre-cut jigsaw puzzle kit at your local craft store. You can also find puzzle template online that turn your photos into puzzles. Your child's favorite stuffed animal can become a puzzle in a flash.

10.Decorate clay flowerpots. To keep the paint from rubbing off, finish the flowerpot by spraying on a layer of spray-on acrylic. Or leave it "au naturel," if you prefer.

11.Make hand puppets out of a pair of oven mitts. Glue or sew on fabric, felt, hair, buttons, sequins, and other materials to finish your puppet. Then have your own puppet show.