• Visit a small airport  

Watch the planes landing and taking off, talk about your dream vacation, talk to a pilot if you see one, bring a book about planes and try to find them on the airfield, find out how planes can fly if they are so heavy? They may even let you see the tower!)

• Treasure Hunt/Scavenger Hunt  

In the woods, at the beach, at yard sales, at the park, almost anywhere.  Lists can be something you find, something you see or something you hear while you are out together.

• Go to a body of water - lake, river, pond, bay, ocean  

Skip rocks, look for crayfish, frogs or salamanders, go fishing, wade for minnows, check out the plant life

• Sledding  

On cardboard in the summer, on a sled in the winter

• Leaves  

Collect them, compare them, identify them, preserve them, rake them, jump in them

• Visit a farm  

Do whatever they let you do. Try a specialty farms w/horses, turkeys, chickens, ducks, goats, llamas, buffalo, etc. Pick your own fruit farms are fun and tasty.

• Blow Bubbles  

Play bubble tag, bubble basketball (up into the hoop), biggest bubble contest, catch without breaking, make the bubble solution instead of buying it

• Build a fort  

It can be made of branches in the woods or cardboard and duct tape.

• Visit a gardening center  

The smaller the better.  A lot of gardeners love to talk about their plants, ask questions.

• Take a tour  

Firehouse (Oct is Fire Safety Month), Police station or Police Museum, television station, radio station, go see Christmas lights/decorations (use listing of best displays in LI)

• Go to the park  

Playground, tennis courts, bball courts, baseball field, boat rides, feeding the ducks, picnic or a bbq, roll down a hill, lay in the grass & look at the clouds, blow bubbles & chase them, have a catch, create an obstacle course and do it, have races (backwards, crabwalk, etc), play Frisbee, learn how to use a boomerang, kick a soccer ball, fly a kite, do chin ups, skateboard/scooter, roller blade, bike riding, stick ball, hand ball, tree climbing, etc…

• Go to the beach  

Build sandcastles or sand sculptures, watch the sunset, collect stuff, play football or volleyball in the sand, visit a lighthouse, dig for clams, fly a kite

• Attend a sporting event  

Little league, high school, a pick up game or professional team

• Go to a festival  

Try foods you never had before, learn a song specific to the culture represented, participate in the activities if possible

• Grow something  

Herbs, flowers, veggies, a Chia pet, terrarium, an avocado plant

• Take a walk  

In the woods, through a town (discover one together), on the shoreline, at the marina, at the mall (window shopping only), at a vineyard, at a farm, the ecology center, a refuge or a preserve, take a seal walk 

• Water balloon toss  

On a hot day use really big balloons or use the balloons for batting practice!

• Wash your car  

Hand wash, do it yourself or go in the drive through.

• Car & Bike Maintenance  

Change the oil, check and fill the fluids, oil the bike chain, replace the bike brakes, check tire pressure & fill if needed, change the wipers, rotate the tires

• Go to a play or recital  

Community playhouse, school performance, dance school recital, at the library, theater matinee

• Firepit/Campfire  

Cook something – from wieners to smores, drink cocoa, just enjoy the fire and a nice conversation, tell stories, sing songs, word games

• Discover Long Island Towns & Villages

Stroll main street, locate city hall, find cemeteries and monuments, visit local museums

• Visit an Art Gallery

College campuses, libraries, art shows

• Hiking  

Orienteering, geo caching or letterboxing, use a hiking app to find trails

• Sports

Catch (baseball, football), soccer, hoops, tennis, pickle ball, hockey, skating (ice/roller), bowling, run/trot/walk the track, golf/mini/driving range 

• Fishing/Crabbing

Pole, net, trap, drop line

• Long Island Adventure Park

• Jumping rope

      Single, double Dutch, speed jumping, rope tricks, Chinese jump rope

• Random fun  

Play with a remote control car, boat or plane, spin tops, jump rope games, ladder ball, horseshoes, make a rope or tire swing, build a go cart, look through a telescope, anything Nerf (play with it wet on a hot day), make a book of jokes and riddles, how many licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop?, bubble blowing contest, pitching pennies, use binoculars, go to a parade