Keeping school-age children occupied during Christmas break can be challenging. This lull disrupts their day-to-day, forcing them to develop a new routine for a few weeks. Keep your little learners on break entertained with these five ideas.
Make Chores a Family Activity
Who said kids hate chores? Household chores can be fun and mentally stimulating when you gamify and do them together.
Create a chore chart to start this holiday-season-long activity on the right note. Colorful lists of tasks and prizes can motivate your children to help around the house. Increasing the reward for more challenging chores can be exciting even for teenagers, encouraging your young ones to learn new skills and be more responsible.
Including age-appropriate chores should go without saying. For example, preschoolers can safely do simple tasks such as cleaning their bedrooms and putting dirty clothes in the laundry basket. Incentivizing kids to brush their teeth, make their beds, get appropriately dressed and make somebody else’s meal can teach them to care for themselves and others.
Cure Boredom With Board Games
Playing board games — regardless of how simple or complex they are — is cognitively engaging because winning generally requires luck and strategy. This activity can also keep your children busy for hours in one place.
Moreover, playing educational games like Scrabble or Bananagrams can be helpful for development. However, those promoting cooperation instead of competition may be better. Examples include Max, Dinosaur Escape, First Orchard and Race to the Treasure. Cooperative games teach patience by introducing turn-taking and teamwork by having players work toward the same goal.
Set Up an Arts and Crafts Station
Art is an effective outlet for children to express their creativity. Making crafts can engross them for a long time, allowing you to do some chores undisturbed. Since it’s the holiday season, instruct them to create something in theme to decorate the house. Their artworks also make wonderful keepsakes.
Arts and crafts can be messy. To control the chaos, provide your little ones with a dedicated space and use organizers to keep the supplies in order.
Some items can be dangerous for kids, especially when those under 3 are part of the arts and crafts sessions. Anything that can fit inside a toilet paper tube is small enough to be a choking hazard.
Play Outside Together
Outdoor play can be an exhilarating experience in the winter in moderation and under parental supervision. Building a snowman, having mild snowball fights and sledding make memorable childhood memories.
Going outside to see changes in the landscape can be a nice change of pace for children with cabin fever. Winter strolls are perfect for collecting pine cones and needles, leaves, and rocks to replenish supplies for future arts and crafts sessions.
However, don’t forget about safety. Aside from proper winter clothing, sunscreen is a must. Although natural light appears weaker around the holiday season, prolonged exposure to the sun can still be harmful. Snow can reflect 10%-85% of ultraviolet rays, so use kid-friendly sunscreen to protect your children’s skin outside.
Hold Movie Days
Lazy days can occur often because of the cold. Watching TV is one of the best ways to entertain the kids, and thanks to streaming platforms, it’s easier than ever. Let everybody get the chance to pick the show once in a while, and check the rating before hitting play.
While sitting in front of the TV is sedentary, it can be productive. Educational content like wildlife documentaries is entertaining and enlightening, but you should still restrict screen time. Don’t let your children watch TV for more than two hours daily to safeguard their health. Avoid giving them screen time at night to help them get healthy, satisfactory sleep.
Increase Family Bonding Time During Winter Break
Winter break doesn’t have to be boring. Use these ideas to turn this interval into a season of love and togetherness the whole family can cherish forever.
