Spending fun time with your family shouldn’t feel like a chore. But with everyone being so busy, the kids involved in different activities across town from each other, and no one home for dinner at the same time, it can start to feel like one. That’s a shame.

Don’t let that happen to your family. Set aside some time every week for fun family time, you’ll be happy you did. Here are some reasons why it is so important:

Emotional development: Children who spend unstructured, fun time with their parents, who see their parents having fun, and who feel safe to explore and expand their horizons are enhancing their emotional development. They are bonding with their parents and siblings when they are playing in ways that the don’t when families are eating meals together, or engaged in other activities.

Physical development: When your kids see you engaging in active, physical play, getting exercise and taking care of yourself, they’ll learn that those values are important in your family. They’ll strive to incorporate those values into their choices. And, they’ll grow up with better habits that will make them healthier, less-sedentary adults.

Family bonding: In addition to the benefits for your children, spending this time together helps you get to know them better, and in many cases, brings you closer to your spouse. Stronger family bonds can definitely translate into stronger marriage bonds.

Ideas for Family Play Time

Every family is different. Your family may like indoor activities. Others might be fans of the outdoors. Don’t ever feel like you have to try to be someone you aren’t. There are all kinds of ways to grow up. As long as you are including family play time, of any kind, into your parenting strategy, you are doing a lot to help your children grow up more healthy and more happy.

Of course, we think that spending time together at Rebounderz in Grand Rapids is a great idea for your family. But there are a lot of great ways for your family to spend time together. You don’t have to spend a lot of time planning or spend a lot of money to make your time together special. Here are a few ideas:

Put on a family play: This doesn’t mean let the kids put on a play that you just watch. It means everyone plays a role. Maybe one child is an actor, another paints the sets, another directs, while mom and dad can either act in the play or let the kids assign them a special role. The key is that everyone participates. Need an audience? Perform for grandparents, pets or even an audience of stuffed animals.

Go on a bike ride and a picnic: You don’t have to load the bikes into the car and drive five miles to a local park. If you’ve got little ones, a leisurely ride around the neighborhood, followed by a special picnic in the backyard, can be a great way to spend an afternoon together. You can even add board games or other activities into the mix after you eat. Sounds like a great day to us.

Have a family slumber party or backyard camp out: This works for outdoor lovers and families that prefer to stay inside. That makes it great for any time of year too! In the winter, everyone can huddle together in the living room in sleeping bags, playing games, doing puzzles and eating popcorn. In the summer, a backyard campout can include stargazing, scary stories and other fun activities.

Family Play Time at Rebounderz

We saved the best for last. Here’s why we think the best place for family fun is here at the trampoline arena.

There’s Something for Everyone: If your family is competitive, you can compete on the Ninja Warrior course, play a game of trampoline dodge ball, have your own basketball dunk competition or come up with your own trampoline-based game or competition.

If having fun without keeping score is more your speed, you can jump all day long on the trampoline, test your skills on all of the games and laugh your way to a great day.

You can also have some one-on-one time in the arcade, pitting mom vs son and dad vs daughter at a bunch of whirring, beeping and roaring videogames.

All Ages Welcome: Your little ones will have a ball in the foam pit and in the open jump area, while teens and tweens have their choice of more than a dozen different trampoline-related activities. Mom and dad, pick and choose whatever looks the most fun!

Active Minds and Bodies: Especially for the littlest ones in your family, jumping on the trampoline, climbing out of the form pit and participating in air dodgeball, helps them build strong bones and muscles. They’ll also be exercising their problem-solving skills, and it is never too early to start working on those!

Come by and see us soon! We are looking forward to meeting the whole family.