Christmas Break Activities for Kids
Here we are - the holiday season is upon us, our shopping is (hopefully) finished and wrapping is (I certainly hope) complete. Cookies are baked and our kids are…home. Now, while this time of year is filled with wonder, excitement, sugar and much more what do we do with all the downtime once the kids are now bored of their new toys and ready to be entertained? Our amazing kiddos are used to going through the motions at school - gym time, music class, math, science etc. and depending on their grade they may be used to different teachers, different rooms and possibly different students. What do we as working parents, stay at home parents and just parents who aren’t teachers do to entertain them with all of this extra holiday time?
I have come up with some ideas - some may be obvious to you, but these are activities I highly recommend doing during this winter break! Something as simple as putting up a couple of sheets and a string of lights to make a fort can totally turn a day around. Making a craft can kill hours and baking together can create amazing memories around food! I have listed some game ideas for different ages below and will also attach the link to my ongoing Pinterest page where I will be continually pinning game and craft ideas for kiddos so make sure you click that follow button to follow along!
Ideas to Entertain
Again, some of these may seem simple and obvious but you can dress these ideas up or down, depending on your creativity level or time spent!
Scavenger hunt or treasure hunt - This is one activity our boys love to do on repeat! You can do this once a day for a week and do a theme with it to find an item for the day AKA: Pirate theme week with pirate crafts, Craft week so they find a craft at the end of each hunt etc. The hunt adds an extra fun element and can swallow up some major time as well! Somehow my hubby is INCREDIBLY talented at writing these so here are a few examples of ones you are welcome to copy-paste and print for your own use!
2. Science experiments - There are so many library books filled with experiment ideas, they are all through magazines and all over Pinterest! I will link my science experiment board here:
3. Sledding or other snow activities - This is an obvious one if you have the weather for it, but there are so many activities you can do outdoors! Snow painting, snow fort building, snowball fights, snow castle building, ice skating, build your own rink, snowball throwing contest etc.
4. Nerf gun target practice - If you are anything like us you probably have Nerf guns that sit collecting dust on the top shelf of the closet. Hidden away to stop fights between your kids from happening. Nerf guns are one of those fun for kids but not fun for a parent type of toy that grandparents and uncles love to give your kids. We have loved either printing off paper targets, drawing our own (another extra time killer activity) or creating them with objects and using the guns to shoot those items and making a game out of it instead of shooting each other (which you can do if you feel so included)! This is also a fun thing to do outdoors with snowballs.
5. Glow light party - This is can also be incorporated with a scavenger hunt where they have to find all of the glow sticks, or you can do a scavenger hunt to find out about the glow stick party! This one just requires a quick dollar store run, a couple dollars and some music. I think there has never been a better season for it with it getting dark here around 4pm!
6. Build a fort - Some of our best memories have been when we build a fort and the kids eat snacks or lunch in it, read and play pretend! You can even go the extra mile and set it up in the TV room, throw on some PJs and have a PJ movie night!
7. Theme party - This one is easy! All it takes is an idea and a trip to your local dollar store and tada! I would suggest googling what holidays or national days are approaching and choosing one or two to focus on. You could pick national donut day and spend the day making donuts, decorating the house in the confetti colours you decorate your donuts with sprinkles, etc. You can get totally creative with this one!
8. Tape car mat - My kids have literally spent HOURS playing with little hot wheel cars on our play mat but even more exciting - a custom-made car track! You can get REALLY creative with this one and save up some toilet and paper towel cardboard rounds, even better get your kids to paint them, and tape those down as tunnels etc. You can make them as big or as small as you’d like!
9. Bake - This one is a no-brainer but I had to add this in as this is an activity we are doing CONSTANTLY! I know having a bunch of sweets and baked goods in the house may not fit in with your New Year's resolution goals but you can always gift them to friends and family you won't be seeing over the holidays which helps them feel connected and less alone so win-win-win! It is also fun to bake things kids can decorate - it kills twice the time!
10. Take a day trip - Make those amazing memories and take a day trip to somewhere special but local! We in Calgary have the beautiful Rocky Mountains in our backyard so taking day trips to the mountains to skate, sled or explore can be refreshing physically and mentally. Find a local spot that would be fun for the whole family, for example, finding the best ice cream shop in the next city over.
Games
I'm leaving a link to my Pinterest board here that I will constantly be adding to (so follow along) but I will also list ideas below!
The Floor is Lava - This one is a blast! You can play in any room and you can add your own paper safety spots on the floor to add a bit of extra fun! They do make games like this in stores but you don’t really need them in my opinion. If your weather cooperates this can also be played in your backyard or at your local playground!
Indoor bowling - I love having a stack of plastic cups on hand for crafts and games because there is so much you can do with them! I highly suggest this - bowling with a ball(or any object you want) seeing who can knock down the most cups is a blast. You can even stack them for an extra fun crashing experience!
Target practice with a ball or Nerf gun - We have taken the time to draw targets on pieces of paper or you can print images off and tape them up around the house! You can either do this glow in the dark style with glow sticks!
Board games - OBVIOUSLY. But actually - I will link our top favourites here!
5. Egg races - Hard-boil a few eggs or use leftover plastic Easter egg cases and do egg races around your house. Think curling or mini-golf with eggs indoors! You could even set up an obstacle course and try to roll the eggs through it.
6. Obstacle courses - Speaking of obstacle courses, this is a great one! You can make this outside or inside using furniture, toys, sheets, taped off areas, you name it!
7. Guess what's in the bag - This is a great quiet game that kids will get so excited to win! Grab 5-10 of their toys, stuffies or just things from around the house and hide them in bags. Get your kid to reach inside the bag and give them 5 seconds to feel the item inside and guess what it is!
8. Draw on the back Pictionary - This game is a blast for all ages! Tape a piece of paper to someone's back and give them a piece of paper and pen for themselves. Begin to draw a picture on the paper on their back and as you draw they have to draw on their paper what they feel you drawing. At the end compare the two drawings and see how close they were!
9. Hallway "Laser" maze - Another couple items to put on your dollar store list - streamers and tape! Find a room or hallway in your home and begin to randomly tape streamers across it creating a laser maze your kids have to get through without ripping.
10. Ping pong pan - This one only requires a ping pong ball, a piece of paper cut up and a muffin tin! Label different tin cups with numbers for points and with one bounce try and get the ball into the highest point cup. The person with the most points wins!
11. Marshmallow shooters - Divide your group into two teams and get them to sit on different sides of the room. Each team gets mini marshmallows and one by one try to throw the marshmallows into your team members cup across the room! The team with the most marshmallows in their cup wins.
12. Pillow trail - place 3-4 pillows in a row on the floor for two different teams. The rule is they cannot step on the floor or move without being on a pillow. They can be in teams or solo and must travel by grabbing the pillow behind them to place in front and the person to follow the trail on their pillows and back wins.
13. Yank - Stack plastic cups on top of each other dividing them with a cut piece of cardstock. The players must yank the paper out without knocking their cup tower over by stacking the cups up perfectly. The first one done wins!
14. Crab soccer - If your weather is gorgeous or you have a nice large indoor space, grab a soccer ball or smaller ball, make two nets and get your kiddos on teams to play soccer in a crab walking stance!
Crafts
Crafts are so great because you can get as creative or not creative as you want and it still turns out to be a blast! There are endless amounts of crafts on Pinterest for all ages but I find you can kind of get lost in ideas that don’t work or ads. I have made my own board that I have linked below so click and follow along for updated ideas!
Well, there you have it! I will be adding to those boards as time goes by so be sure to follow along but I hope this has given you a few ideas and inspiration for what activities to do with your kiddos at home during the holidays or just any other day! Leave a comment below if you try these and let me know what you think. Happy Holidays!
