100 Ways to Love the Moment

Since I started the Love the Moments Challenges back in January 2011, I have found many ways to enjoy moments both with, and without my kids.  It’s less about doing things and more about being aware; weaving moments into to the day as it happens creates a rich texture to life that brings much enjoyment and satisfaction.  When I put this list of 100 love the moment moments together, many of them seemed so small, even too small to include.  But then, these little things do matter and they add up.  In a way, putting these small joys in a list gives them a voice which helps me to recognise and look for them so they don’t get drowned out in the loudness of…busyness, stuff, things.

100 Love the Moment Moments

1. Smell a flower
2. Take 1 min to look in your child’s eyes to see all the different colours
3. Hold hands and jump around the kitchen
4. Get down on your child’s level and smile for no reason
5. Kiss your child between their eyes
6. Hit two spoons together to make a song
7. Run outside together
8. Have a family group hug
9. Read a favourite book
10. Snuggle your child on your lap
11. Listen to the birds for 1 minute
12. Watch for where the wind touches
13. Kiss your child on the nose and eyelids
14. Look at the stars
15. Tell your child a story from your childhood
16. Sit on the floor and watch your child play for 5 minutes
17. Find a special rock
18. Go outside and look at the sky
19. Feel the bark of a tree
20. Stroke your child’s hair
21. Laugh
22. Peel and cut up an apple and eat it together outside
23. Rub noses with your child
24. Pick your child up and just hold him/her
25. Breathe deeply
26. Skip to the letterbox
27. Say “I love you” just one more time
28. Look at the reflection in a window
29. Make up a new word
30. Look at bugs
31. Do butterfly kisses
32. Listen for animal sounds at night
33. Crouch down and stroke your child’s cheek
34. Twirl
35. Shake hands
36. Walk outside in bare feet for a minute
37. Throw a little water in the air and watch the drops fall
38. Tickle
39. Role play with your child for 5 minutes
40. Lie down on your child’s bed with them and talk or sing
41. Hold hands and make a family circle
42. Collect leaves
43. Eat ice from a cup
44. Draw colourful squiggles on a page
45. Make pictures in the dirt with a stick
46. Chase a butterfly
47. Trace your child’s eyebrows with your fingertips
48. Put a flower in your hair
49. Write a special note to someone
50. Eat fresh bread, butter and honey
51. Start a sentence: “I like____ about you.”
52. Have a race
53. Throw a pebble in a bucket of water
54. Sit your child on the kitchen bench and kiss their knees
55. Get 3 stories and read a different line of each to make up your own
56. Squeeze oranges to make a cup of juice
57. Help your child swing on a tree branch
58. Look up the name meaning for the members of your family
59. Do a piggy back
60. Blow up 5 balloons
61. Look at the moon
62. Go outside when the sun sets
63. Leave a bit of honey bread for the ants
64. Colour in together
65. Make a cubby under the table
66. Write your child’s name 5 times on a piece of paper
67. Be still and listen for 2 minutes
68. Find an interesting looking stick
69. Sprinkle flower petals in a bowl of water
70. Walk on tippy toes
71. Read a book outside
72. Pick wild flowers
73. Draw a rainbow
74. Look at the clouds
75. Watch moths on an outside light
76. Light a candle
77. Study raindrops or dew
78. Visit a garden
79. Take an umbrella outside, rain or shine
80. Find a bendy road
81. Watch your child sleep
82. Stand in the sun and feel the warmth for a few minutes
83. Draw a heart: one for each of your children and leave it on their bed
84. Draw a picture with different colours of blue and green to represent the sea
85. Wear a necklace
86. Walk hand in hand with your child
87. Collect shells or pebbles and put in a glass of water
88. Play peek-a-boo or hide and seek
89. Look at the shadows
90. Have a picnic on the grass outside your house
91. Do something out of the ordinary
92. Greet your loved ones exuberantly
93. Tell a story while you are driving in the car
94. Make a rhythm with two sticks
95. Smile
96. Look at my child directly for 10 seconds when they speak
97. End a sentence: “______ makes me happy.”
98. Use expression
99. Do a High-Five
100. Stand under a large tree (and look up)

I have found many of the items in the list can be turned into a longer activity, but the idea is not to be overwhelmed; most only take a minute, or even just seconds. It’s all about embracing what each day brings and having ideas up your sleeve to make the most of the moments.

{you can print this list in PDF form if you like}

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