The holidays are a wonderful time to relax, unwind, and enjoy a cozy mug of your favorite hot beverage. No work, no stress…. Unless, of course, you are the parent of little ones who didn’t get the memo. We’ve rounded up some fun, low-cost activities to keep your children entertained over holiday break.
Get them moving
- Use masking tape to mark the lines for indoor Hopscotch.
- Have a dance party! Challenge older kids to choreograph dances to their favorite songs.
- Search YouTube for fun workout videos for kids.
- Create an obstacle course-inspired challenge (indoors or in the backyard). Challenges can include: crab-walk down the hallway, hop on one foot for 20 seconds, crawl through cardboard boxes, etc.
- Keep a jump rope on hand – the easiest and cheapest way to burn off some energy.
Art Projects
- Collage-making: Pull out scrap paper, magazines, newspapers, glue, stickers, and markers and get creative!
- Paper beads: wrap paper around a stick/skewer and glue the ends. Once dried, string on thread.
- Craft paper airplanes and pick out certain targets (such as a laundry basket, point on the wall, or box) – assign point values to each target.
- Get crafty with an old cereal box: try crafting your own puzzles, or a puppet box.
- Create a beautiful mosaic out of dried beans, grains, and cereal. (Find a colorful selection in our bulk section!)
Kitchen Adventures
- Host an Iron Chef challenge: contestants must only use what is on-hand in the kitchen. Follow their lead and only help where needed.
- Make cheese using just milk, vinegar/lemon juice, and salt: try this recipe.
- Make your own pizza (or french bread pizzas): Roll out pre-made dough, allow children to pile them up with any toppings they want.
- Make this Oatmeal Cookie Smoothie. You likely already have the ingredients on hand.
- Prepare a cut-out fruit salad using cookie cutters. Slice fruit thinly and let little ones punch out fun shapes. Try apples, pears, kiwi, or melons. (Or, try vegetables like potatoes, squash, and zucchini, then cook them before enjoying!)
Imaginative & Brainy
- “Camp out” by building a fort or setting up a tent indoors. Snack on s’mores and read stories.
- Help them put on a play: Make up a story, or base it on one they already know. Print tickets, set up props, and create costumes.
- Find and print word puzzles or brainteasers online. Look for rebus, crossword, word search, etc. Remember Mad Libs? Now there’s an app!
- Challenge your children to write a book: Younger children can write and illustrate a picture book, while tweens can be inspired to write a “chapter book”.
- Play the memory game: Gather random odds and ends from around the house (such as napkin rings, thimbles, hair pins, etc.), then place them all out on a table. Everyone gets to stare at the set-up for about 20 seconds, then all but one person closes their eyes. That individual takes one item away, then instructs everyone else to open their eyes. See who can guess which item went missing! Shuffle the items and try again – take turns guessing.