Sometimes it’s harder to keep the older kids from being bored during vacation than it is the younger ones. Here are a 10 fun sanity saving ideas for Christmas vacation for older kids. Here you can find 10 other fun ideas to help save your sanity over Christmas vacation.
1. Go sledding. If it’s cold and snowy, pile on the warm clothes and go have some fun in the snow!
2. Make snow ice cream. We did this last year and all the kids loved it. Through this link is the recipe for vanilla, chocolate, and swirl! (Plus it was really easy which is always a treat for mom!)
3. Visit the library. Before you go, hop online. Many libraries have crafts, movies, and other fun things for the kids to do during vacation. If you plan in advance you may be able to take advantage of something fun to do while you are there besides getting new books or DVDs.
4. Go to a nearby museum that you drive by, but have never visited. We took our kids to a local museum last summer that is less than 10 miles from our house. The kids had a blast. Jason and I had fun, too. Afterwards we all said that we would need to start going there at least once a year as a family! Why go to museums when you go on vacation but never visit the ones closest to you?
5. Host a slumber party. This can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. If you go for simple, rent a few DVD’s (or grab them at your library visit), invite a few friends, order some pizza and let the kids have fun!
6. Have a snowflake making contest. Gather up coffee filters, paper, glitter, and all the fun art supplies you have and let the kids get to work making snowflakes to decorate your windows, doors, etc. The winner can have the first cup of hot cocoa when you are done! (If the kids don’t do well with contests just make snowflakes and have the reward be hot cocoa.)
7. Go roller skating. When is the last time you did this for fun? We used to go roller skating a lot when I was a kid and it was so fun. My kids have went a few times and really enjoyed it!
8. Take the family ice skating! Even the little kids had fun when we did this a few weeks ago! Ice skating is good exercise, too!
9. Do a family serving project. Older kids are perfect for teaching them to serve others. They may not want to at first, but when I’ve taken the kids to do these kind of projects, it has always been a very positive experience and definitely character building!
10. Work on a life skill you want your children to know. (Read 10 Life Skills Every Child Needs To Know here!) These all take time and when the kids are home on break, there’s no better time than the present to work on these!
What would activities would you add to the list for creating some fun for the older kids during Christmas vacation?
Leave a Reply