Want to take family time beyond the dinner table? Enjoy these fun and simple suggestions:

Get kids involved in preparing dinner.

It’ll teach them great skills and get the conversation flowing before you’re at the table. And don’t be afraid to postpone dinner until later if family members are stuck at a class, practice or the office. Just serve veggies or fruit early to take the edge off hunger.

Have a backyard Olympics.

Have the kids develop the list of “events.” Perhaps join with other families in the neighborhood to have different “countries” participate.

Make spring cleaning into a competition.

Select a “prize” your kids will like — a night’s control of the remote, a favorite meal or first selection at the video store. Then set a time limit, turn on some music and sic the kids on their dressers and closets. Together, bag the clothes and drop them at Goodwill, the Salvation Army or some other charity. They’ll feel good about giving. And you’ll have less to tidy up.

Host an after-school snack hunt.

This activity is fun and can help improve reading skills. Give each child a slip of paper with instructions such as: “Look on the fourth shelf of the pantry.” Place additional notes directing them throughout the house. After about five notes, the kids will find their treats in the last place they look.

Plant a mini-herb garden.

Use painted paper cups as pots, and plant rosemary or mint seeds from your garden store. Water daily, leaving on a window sill to sprout. When they sprout, add a mini-garden marker with each child’s name on it and use as table settings.