A list of things to do with no tv

[Athena]

Here is the brutally honest truth about my house. We watch tv. More tv then the American Academy of Pediatrics says you should watch. So much tv that we are the poster children for the 'you're overweight because you watch too much tv" campaign.

Last night our tv died. Our big screen. The one with the matching tv stand. Its dead.

And we are broke. As in there is no way to afford to fix the tv or buy another. My family thinks the sky has just fallen. The end is near. I do not agree.

SO I am making a list of things to do that do not involve the tv. Please help me. Anything you can think of. I need a huge list! I am going to laminate it and stick it to the fridge. I need stuff to fill the time between dinner and bed especially!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You guys really are lifesavers!
Christy

[Plaid Dad]

Read.
Play cards or board games.
Draw.
Go outside.
Take a walk.
Listen to or make music.
Read some more.
Go to the gym.
Go to the library.
Write.
Socialize with friends.
Do crafts.
Did I mention reading? LOL!

[Scarlett]

Same thing happened to our family when I was about 12 and my brother was 8. TV died and Mom used it as an incentive to just not have one. So she didn't buy another one. And we didn't die. It was the greatest 5 years of my childhood. :) Then somone felt 'sorry' for us and gave us a TV.

I keep the tv off in this house until I'm cooking supper. Then dh comes home and it doesn't go off until bedtime. I wish we watched less of it in the evenings too.

Plaid Dad's list is pretty much what I would suggest. The kids will get used to it. You and dh may not. :)

[GreenKitty]

play games
make cookies
read
make a tent with blankets
play outside
listen to music and dance
put together a play and act it out
puppet show
put together puzzles
walk around a mall
go to the library
paint
clean all the toys out to give to charity or get all the toys out to play with:)

[mellifera]

Read.
Play cards or board games.
Draw.
Go outside.
Take a walk.
Listen to or make music.
Read some more.
Go to the gym.
Go to the library.
Write.
Socialize with friends.
Do crafts.
Did I mention reading? LOL!

What he said.:) My kids also do a lot of pretending. They make up "shows" and do dress-up and that kind of thing.

[Lorna]

Our children have no tv and they read, play and then play and read!
It probably costs us a bit more (in books and craft materials) and the house is certainly more messy but I don't ever need to suggest things to them.
At first you might need a few ideas however. Plaid Dad's are pretty much I would suggest. I would add:
Audio books
Lego or Kapla
Learn to knit or sew
Sudoku (highly addictive!)
Crossword puzzles (we love to do these together)
Chess
Uno
Monopoly (if you can bear it)
Go to the museum
Make paper dolls/soldiers
Get a Klutz book
Browse in a book store
Cooking
Take a look at Jessica's blog about nature walks
Try one of the crafts on this site (http://www.jamboree.freedom-in-education.co.uk/) (they always work well!)
These companies have excellent educational yet fun paper crafts:
Tarquin Books (http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-keywords=&field-author=&field-title=&field-isbn=&field-publisher=tarquin+&node=&url=&field-binding=&field-subject=&field-language=&field-dateop=&field-datemod=&field-dateyear=&sort=relevancerank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=50&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=12)
Bellerophon Books (http://www.bellerophonbooks.com/shopsys/)
Learn origami (http://www.origami-club.com/en/) at this site; they have animated step-by-step films and some of the things you can make are toys in themselves. You can also print out your origami paper.
Have fun!

[T Baer]

books on tapes or old radio drama's. You might be able to get them free from the library.
We chose XM Radio rather than cable and listen to Old Time Radio classics. This was really nice esp when I was in the hospital for 2 days. My roommate was an elderly lady and while she had alzheimer's, I am sure she appreciated listening to the different radio drama's which included Burns and Alley, Bob Hope, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, The Whistler, Escape just to name a few.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Make up an obstacle course in the living room (unless your living room is already an obstacle course like mine is!)
Sing - remember the old books where the family would gather around the piano and sing?
Play charades
Work on the "to do" list with dad
look at the stars

[JenneinAZ]

If your kids are involved in scouts or something like that, this would be an excellent time to work on whatever advancements they need for the year.

[Athena]

I've got a great list going here!

Now tell me what do the adults do? We can read, maybe play a board game? Ok, actually when I announced we would be playing Monoply tonight I got a look that could kill..but we have to do something and I refuse to sit around here and mope over the tv!

This might be harder then I thought. But no I will carry on!:D I am such a dork. I really need to get a life!

Thanks again!
Christy

[Alice]

My husband and I read, talk, watch movies (if you have a computer you might be able to do this without a TV...we have no TV but watch DVD's on the computer occasionally), and have "special time" if you kwim. We have very little time together as we both work part-time and stay home part-time so our schedules are a little crazy. Just sitting and talking is what I like the most.

For the kids...the lists given have been great. One thing I did last summer was create a "bored" jar for my son. I wrote simple things on pieces of paper and then he could draw out of it when he was bored. The rule was he had to do whatever it said (and I had to too...some of them were things for us to do together like bake cookies, play a board game, etc) He loved it and sometimes I could tell he was pretending to be bored so he could pick. :). Something about it made it more exciting than me just giving him suggestions. One funny story was that I called home from work one day and asked what they were doing. My husband said "Baking cookies. We pulled it out of the jar and so we had to do it." They were good cookies too.

[j.griff]

How about jigsaw puzzles? Those are great time wasters (er...time spenders, LOL). :D

[Dot]

have a big puzzle in progress on the kitchen table, some nights we play penny poker, or other card games like ueker(sp?) or okinawa, sometimes charades, and if we're really in need of giggles- we take a category- say movies, then try to name as many as we can-but substitute a silly word like "poop" for one word in the title. Then the best one wins a prize. For example, my dd won for her Crouching Tiger Hidden Poop title.

[nancypants]

This happened to my hubby's family when he was about 5. They didn't have a t.v. for nine years! Me? I would have lived out in a tree at that time since that is what I generally did whenever I was not watching t.v. I was up in my tree. :D (no... really, I did other things too). I had pets and rode bikes and played with my brother and with my neighbor. My hubby, read encyclopedias for fun. Whole encyclopedias. He would read the "year in review" one that they received in the mail every year too! LOL Do NOT watch Jeopardy with that man... it's painful to think of the things we could pay off with his winnings! LOL


drawing
4H
ride bikes
ride bikes as a family
go for evening walks
Don't shoot me... but... computer games?
new hobbies

[Lorna]

I've got a great list going here!

Now tell me what do the adults do? We can read, maybe play a board game? Ok, actually when I announced we would be playing Monoply tonight I got a look that could kill..but we have to do something and I refuse to sit around here and mope over the tv!

This might be harder then I thought. But no I will carry on!:D I am such a dork. I really need to get a life!

Thanks again!
Christy

We have incredibly silly conversations and do really silly stuff and then reflect on the question friends always put to us when they find out we have no tv,
'What do you with your time?' :rolleyes:

We also read; listen to far too much radio; I like to knit; do sudoku; we try and get extra practice in French and Danish (which we are both continually learning). We make plans. We do play games such as cribbage, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble and cards sometimes. We also watch the occasional film on the computer. It is a bit rubbish on the screen so we have to be desperate! I write a lot of letters to friends. Only one replies regularly (she doesn't have a tv either!) the rest I continue to write to, despite the infrequent replies, for pleasure. I do a blog and post on this forum!

[battlemaiden]

Don't expect change overnight!

It takes a while to develop the imagination if they have been watching a lot of TV for entertainment. It happens even when TV is generally rare in a home but for some reason (illness, mom's on bedrest, etc.) the TV has been running more often.

I find that my children need some kickstarts into imagination.

I let them build forts in their rooms with tons of spare sheets.

I play charades with them.

I let them prepare an entire picnic banquet in the middle of the family room floor using all the dishes they wish. (clean up stinks, but the imaginative, thought provoking fun are worth it).

We start a family story: I make a story story like, "once upon a time there was a naughty little prince that lived in an enormous castle in the middle of a forrest. All he ever wanted was...." And then I pass the story on to one of the children. My naughty prince stories are family favorites!


I guess I'm just trying to warn you that all the ideas given are wonderful, but many of them will take some time working towards. Your attitude will go a long way!

Jo

[Athena]

This was awesome! Thank you so much!

I got 3 pages of ideas of things to do! I decided to make a list for the fridge but not with everything on it. I make a second copy but cut it up & made a bored jar. It has loads of stuff now.

I hope this helps ease them all out of our old lifestyle.

Thank you again,
Christy

[yvonne]

Marble run races (We have Quadrilla & Skyrail sets. They both take some practice learning to set up, but then they're lots of fun.)

Kapla block challenges (How high a tower can we build? Taller than you? To the ceiling? Can we build a structure strong enough to set an egg/a book/a brick... on? etc. My boys are only 7, so we opt for cooperative challenges at the moment....)

[JWSJ]

We haven't had a TV for over 5 years. We gave it away.

We love it. I can't imagine getting anything done if we had The Tube around.

What do we do with our kids? They help with the household: cleaning, cooking, fixing, etc.

My 6yo son can wash his own clothes, clean the house & yard, organize a small army, and fix small things. But for some reason his room is always a mess...

We do lots of playing, exercise (biking and YMCA), and HSing...

They love to learn and we make sure everything can be part of that.

[RoughCollie]

There are a lot of things adults can do.

Reading is what we gravitate to first.

Here are a few suggestions:

Bake bread or try a new recipe that looks hard to do, for the challenge
Woodworking
Refinish furniture
Paint a room
Sewing, needlepoint, crafts
Painting, drawing
Change all the burned out light bulbs in ceiling fixtures
Rearrange furniture
Learn something new (bridge, chess, photoshop, build a website)
Build a model of something - a building, a train, a car
Fill photo albums
Make a scrapbook
Plan a garden
Work on a project to improve your home (decorating, maintenance, repairs)
Teach your dog a new trick
Pick a topic and learn about it in depth






Now tell me what do the adults do? We can read, maybe play a board game?

[Tami]

*JUST KIDDING!*

I am not a big tv person. My husband reads to us each night for about an hour - and it is usually a "fun" book.

I would suggest getting out a bunch of new or old pictures and working on a family scrapbook album together! Or, do some new hobby together like crocheting or sewing. Kids love that type of thing. I am clueless in many of those areas, and that's what Michael's classes and the Library are for! ;)

We not huge board game people, but we all love cards. It's fun to play Poker with real money. :cool: Rummy is a hit as well.

Use this as an opportunity to learn a new hobby, pick up an old one, and fold your kids into it.

[Tami]

[QUOTE=Athena;65265]I've got a great list going here!

Now tell me what do the adults do? We can read, maybe play a board game? Ok, actually when I announced we would be playing Monoply tonight I got a look that could kill..but we have to do something and I refuse to sit around here and mope over the tv!
QUOTE]


Monopoly it a torture in and of itself. :eek::eek:

How about a Casino Night? Play a myriad of card games or short games of chance with change from around the house. Maybe the jackpot could be a day off of chores!