Winter Break Activities

Brave, Riley! I'd be worried what KIND of creativity it would breed--will they color on the walls, try to give the dog a haircut--? lol!

M., is your city offering anything special? We have a downtown area where they've set up an ice skating rink and (I think) a snow machine. Also the local botanical gardens had free admission for a while...sometimes local businesses will do stuff like that around the holidays. You might also check out what's on the schedule at your local libraries. Or what about a boys and girls club?

We take advantage of all the camps that are offered during school breaks. And we play in the snow a lot (up in the mountians), and TRY to set up playdates with his away-school friends... but it's tough because we get so busy during "breaks".

HOWEVER

I'm a big fan of doing Absolutely Nothing the moment the "I'm bored" phrase gets uttered. To the point of cancelling planned activities in the near future. Why?

"Boredom Breeds Creativity" & it is NOT my job to entertain my son. It's my job to raise him. I'm not an entertainment machine. He can turn his own brain on and start thinking of things to do.

"I'm bored" is a phrase that only gets used once or twice a year in our house. Usually followed by an "Oh darn!" wild eyed head thwack as I use that as an "opportunity" for kiddo to work on his imagination... while I cancel plans for the next 3 days and pull out a good book and get comfy on the couch.

LOL @ Riley J's post. May have to try it.

If the weather is not bad, I encourage them to be outside doing stuff as much as possible.

Locally, we have amusement parks and other types of activities (Chuck E. Cheese, etc.)

It's hard with an age range like that (mine are 13, 11, and 4) to come up with one thing.

Lucky us, we start cleaning the garage tomorrow. I am hoping that we will discover some forgotten things, too!

Not sure about the outdoor stuff, but if you're open to spending a little, I'd get the indoor swing/trapeze bar that hangs from your doorway from onestepahead.com. Not for everyone, and read all the review first, but we love it!