If the weather is nice, we’ll go to the playground.
As of this afternoon both of my kids are officially on Spring Break. One whole week. Two kids. And so far the forecast says rain, rain, rain. I need a plan.
Since my husband is new on his job and can’t get time off yet, we’re sticking around town for Spring Break. If the weather happens to be good, we’ll be spending time outside. But I need to prepare for the fact that in Oregon, rain is the more likely scenario.
So far these are my spring break ideas.
Daily Reading Time. I know it sounds a lot like school, and maybe I’m a mean mommy, but I really feel kids should read a bit every day. Plus I need the quiet time, and my kids are too old for naps. For my daughter this will be easy. She is old enough to read by herself. Plus, her school has a reading contest going right now, and she gets a point for every twenty minutes she reads.
It will be a little bit harder for my son, who isn’t quite reading yet, but is trying hard. He’d probably enjoy sitting down with me and letting me help him read some Dr. Seuss books, though.
Board Games. My kids both love board games, and fortunately my daughter is willing to play Candyland with her little brother still. We have a ton of board games, so I think maybe we’ll dedicate a day to playing all the board games we don’t get around to playing in the busyness of the school year.
Plant Some Seeds. If the sun stays out long enough, I have some lettuce and onion seeds that can probably go into our garden soon. Unfortunately our last killing frost is at the end of April, so I have to hold off on planting the rest of the seeds for a few more weeks.
Declutter the Kids’ Rooms. This is more for me than for them. My kids’ rooms are driving me absolutely crazy, because they are so cluttered. One thing I promised myself we would accomplish over Spring Break is getting rid of the clutter in the bedrooms. I think my kids are actually capable of keeping their rooms clean. I just think all the clutter makes it hard. So out with the clutter!
That’s my plan for Spring Break so far. Does anyone have any other ideas to share? I could use some more! And what are you doing for Spring Break? Staying home? Going on vacation? Share your plans in the comments!
Photo by….Me!
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We’re always on spring break LOL. Our favorite frugal fun activity is to have a picnic if the weather permits (sometimes we don’t even leave the yard for this and it’s still tons of fun!). Good luck with the decluttering and planting. I really need to get out and garden soon. Enjoy your break!
My wife and kids went to the beach with her brother. I stayed home and worked.
What am I doing? Yardwork.
It’s a tradition I guess. I always hated spring break when I was a kid because my mother made us clean out the flower beds, rake all the thatch from the law, till and plant a garden, clean out the attic/basement/garage, and basically work like dogs. Now that I’m older…I’m still doing it…on Spring Break.
Good luck! I know how it is when your kids are stuck indoors ALL DAY. (I just posted about it actually!)
http://toddlerworld.blogspot.c.....lpers.html
You can always find a mall to walk around–esp. if it has a play area. You can stroll, window shop, and then they can blow off some steam in the playarea. Good cheap exercise! :-)
Make some homemade play-doh (google the recipe), bake cookies, watercolors and crayons, and remembering that it’s sometimes a good thing for kids to be bored! It forces them to be creative and come up with something to do on their own instead of being entertained all the time… :P
You can also have a picnic in the middle of the living room floor — that’s fun for us when it’s raining!
Errr… board games was going to by my idea. We like puzzles, too. (No kids so that’s the best I can do.)
What about the library? Do they have any special spring break storytimes for older kids? One of our libraries shows movies once a week even.
What about museums? Some of our museums offer free admission days several times a year and I just found out that one has free admission every day after 4:00.
You could do a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood, make a list of things you’re likely to find and see how many things you can find. You could probably tweak this and have it be an inside activity too.
If the weather doesn’t allow for outside planting, you could get some inexpensive flower seeds and the kids could plant them in paper cups or other small containers. You could decorate the cups to look like people, plant grass seed and then when it grows, the kids can give their people “haircuts”
My kids are younger than yours, I think, so I don’t know how well this will work for you.
We do crafts, that are (if possible) educational. We’ve made kites, butterfly catchers and we even attempted to plant a “butterfly garden” at one point, but my green thumb has yet to sprout :)
We also work on “family” projects. Putting pictures into albums or making home videos.
And when the weather is really nice, we head out to the woods to go “exploring”, we look for animals and birds, gather “pet rocks”, pinecones, etc. and usually pack a picnic lunch to share.
I could go on and on, I am the queen of inexpensive children’s entertainment. I just can’t see myself spending a ton of money to take the kids to the movies or something like that. Frugal fun is our specialty :)
Take Care
LJ
-The library is great for all ages.
-Here in Denver we have the Kids’ Pages and they list free events for each month.
-We have a movie and popcorn night (or day if its rainy). Pop some airpopped corn, we each get our own bowl and watch a family movie.
-My kids (ages 5 & 8) both love to cook and bake. We will be making lots of healthy cookies, mini pizzas & casseroles to freeze for the busy days once school starts again. They get to pick out their own recipes, help get the ingredients we need from the store & prepare their “own” meals.
-Both kids enjoy it when I take time to draw pictures or color with them. When momma is sitting still with them it seems to be more fun. :)
Borrowing from my “Frugal Family Fun Night” ideas, you could plan an afternoon movie matinee, complete with homemade popcorn and sleeping bags. My kids love any excuse to drag out their sleeping bags and lounge around, and it’s even more fun in the middle of the day! Let them pick out a movie you haven’t watched in a while, or make a trip to rental store to pick out a new one.
“Cooking Class” – this is a good one my wife uses during school breaks. Plan two or three things you could make with the kids during the day. Homemade cookies, a cake recipe, or a favorite homemade dinner dish. You can go a step further by picking up some used aprons and letting the kids “decorate” them with finger paints, bedazzlers, etc. Frugal dads love this one because it usually means a home-baked treat when he gets home from work!
Google for crafts, or just pictures of their object of interest that they can color. My two little boys love Thomas the Tank Engine, but I bet if you Google “Coloring book” and just about anything, you can find some “new” pictures for them to color. You can make Christmas ornaments (or Easter ornaments?)–just because it’s not the “right” season doesn’t mean it won’t be fun. Hey–why not do all the stuff you feel impelled to do at Christmastime, but can’t do because you’ve got too much to do?
Kathy
We are just going to chill!!
A little shocked that you could think that reading with your kids would make you a mean mommy ! ! ! The mind boggles. Seriously. Have you had negative input from other people about this, or did you have bad experiences as a child? I’ve always seen reading as a good thing, never as a punishment or anything. Never feel bad for reading or letting your kids read!