While holidays and celebrations continue to look different for at least the first part of 2021, that doesn’t mean we can’t get excited about them. It just means we need to think about creative ways to plan these a little differently. With Family Day coming up for many of us, we’ve put together some suggestions for fun ways – with a little learning folded in – to boost your family time.

Go wild on a virtual game reserve drive.

While we can’t travel just yet, we can still experience the world virtually. Join Diuma Private Game Reserve on their live virtual game drives through the reserve to spot animals each day.  Morning drives are from 5:30 am until 8:30 am daily; afternoon drives are from 3:30 pm until 6:30 pm. There’s a live chat where you can ask the rangers questions and learn about the wildlife, flora and fauna.

Boost your brain with a fascinating Ted Talk.

Expand perspectives, stir curiosity and spark passion while learning from expert educators and TED speakers from around the world. TedEd is a deep resource for a vast array of videos that are organized age-appropriately and by subject matter.  Explore What happens if you don’t drink water,  What makes muscles grow?, The World’s Most Stolen Painting, The Monster Duel Riddle and hundreds more. Talks are fascinating and guaranteed to pique even the most jaded teen’s interest!

Amp up the spy factor.

Send the family on a secret mission and sharpen those deductive and reasoning skills.  Create your own secret decoder and send family members on a scavenger hunt for items around the house, or grab your mask and take a family hike. Create clues in code; turn these into riddles to make things more difficult for older kids. The winner decides what the family eats for dinner or the evening’s movie choice.

Plan a family yoga session.

Mindfulness plays a huge role in decreasing anxieties and stresses that kids are feeling. This organization offers age-appropriate resources to help parents incorporate more mindful activities into daily life. Kickstart mindfulness on Family Day with a family yoga session: Cosmickids Yoga lets you try their app for free for 14-days; superheroes and other characters lead fun theme-based sessions to help parents get kids focused, calm and more centred.

Get cooking together.

Give the “chef” the night off and make cooking a family affair. Pick a destination and then make a meal in honour of it. Older kids can research the menu, compile the ingredient list and lead the cooking process; littles ones can measure, chop and set the table. “Dine with” a relative who may be living alone by inviting them to the table by Zoom or FaceTime. Remember, some of the best conversations happen around the dinner table!

Host a DIY family game show.

We just can’t say enough about the fun Kahoot! app! This DIY game lets you create quizzes for your tv or laptop that family members answer via their smartphones. See much you really know about each other, test memories – the possibilities are endless and laughs are guaranteed. Best of all, there’s a 7-day free trial.

However you decide to spend Family Day, be sure to spend it together. Statutory holidays don’t come along that often, so make the most that your family time. From the CST family to yours, Happy Family Day!