With it being winter and (brrrr!) cold outside, I thought I would suggest the activity of puzzling.  The coolest thing about puzzling is that it can be fun for both kids and adults.

Last Christmas my family was visiting family back in Michigan for Christmas.  We’ll we busted out a nice semi difficult puzzle and the entire family worked on it off and on for 4 days.  Its was a ton of fun, it brought the entire family (all 6 of us) together with a mutual goal.

So I know for sure we will be doing that again this Christmas.  It was so much fun that we are all already talking about the family puzzle.

Now my family is actually pretty good at puzzles so we pick a one heck of a difficult one.  But the nice thing about puzzles is they make them for all skills and ages.

Most puzzle boxes you will find in the store will have a age range on them.  Just pick one that is either in the range of the youngest one doing the puzzle or step it up one level of difficulty if there will be several people working on the puzzle together.

Or you could get several puzzles of different age recommendations to help accommodate everyone that way.  Any way you slice it, it’s high quality family time that everyone can enjoy.  Plus if you do decide to do it over the holidays then it can be something you can work on and when you get tired or frustrated, then just take a break and come back later…no big deal.

For those who want something really cool, they make 3D puzzles!  I’ve been a part of finishing a couple 3D puzzles and they are a unique puzzling experience.  The puzzle pieces are made of foam and they interlock together in order to create a 3D item.  I’ve seen the white house in 3D puzzle form and castles.

Anyways, I can honestly say that puzzles have brought my family closer together time and time again.  I recommend you give team puzzling a try with your little ones.