Two weeks of no school!
Two weeks at home!
Two weeks of heaven!
Two weeks of hell!
I know many of my friends dread their kids being home. I get it. Children are annoying - they are needy whiny assholes and require much attention that we, their parent, must give them. While I personally love the break from the daily grind, I will admit my girls do get on my nerves. In an effort to keep their annoyance level low, here is a list of what we do -
Play Outside - Children do not care if it is hot or cold, so get out there. We go to different parks, ride bikes, ride scooters, go on nature walks (pick up leaves, acorns, etc), dig in the dirt, search for bugs/frogs/lizards, blow bubbles, draw with sidewalk chalk, jump rope, play hopscotch
Arts & Crafts - Put beads on pipe cleaners, color, paint, play with play-doh, create a life size person (trace your kid's body, cut out, decorate), make holiday decorations, paint boxes and use a hot glue gun to create anything, put tissue paper on contact paper to create stained glass windows, make designs out of hand prints, create something with toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls, lay a sheet on your floor and just give the kids anything you have in the house and see what they can create - the mess stays on the sheet
Bake - Cookies, cakes, cupcakes, etc. If you want baking to be a longer activity, let your children do it all. Your kids can read the directions, measure everything, and even crack the eggs. My girls (ages 8 and 5) do everything except putting and taking the pans from the oven.
Field Trips - Use the internet and search fun things to do with kids in your city. I will sometimes drive up to an hour for an activity and for the most part, it is worth it. We visit museums, aquariums, parks, ice skating rinks, bakeries, farms - I also search "Free" things do to with kids
Nothing- My girls play at home, without me. I send them to play and tell them "Don't call my name unless someone is physically hurt." I do not care what they do, what mess they make, as long as they are doing 'nothing' together and doing 'nothing' without me
Screens - Watch TV, play on the iPad, play on the computer - don't forget to set a time limit!
See a Movie - Take your children to the movies! There are always kid movies in the theater during Thanksgiving and Christmas.
School Work - My girls do some kind of school daily - anything from handwriting practice to math problems. E1 brought home a packet from school and E2 has a book we use, but you can find anything on the internet
Read - Uninterrupted time to read silently or read to each other is a great activity, a favorite is when I read to them
Board Games - Hi-Ho Cherry O, Candy Land, Googly Eyes, Connect Four - Play them all!
Science Experiments - Baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, dish soap - that's all you need for our favorite activity (Wizard's Brew). I google science experiments for kids and find one that seems fun and interesting. *Some of our activities are on this blog, under the label activities*
HAVE FUN
No comments:
Post a Comment