15 Strategies for Making the Most of Christmas Break

(from the December 2010 email from Hearts at Home)

 

*Some of these ideas are for places where it snows in the winter time!  But most can be applied to us, desert dwellers!

In the next few weeks, most of us will experience some sort of change in routine. If you have school age children home for a couple of weeks of Christmas break, you'll find that being proactive about the break is far better than being reactive to their certain boredom somewhere along the way.

Need some ideas for making Christmas break the best it can be? Consider these tried and true suggestions from other moms in the trenches:

• Go to the library. Stay longer than normal to give everyone time to begin reading the book they're checking out. 
•  Bake cookies together. Make extra dough to form into cookie balls, place on a baking sheet, and freeze in the freezer. Once frozen, put the frozen balls in a freezer baggie to pull from when you want quick, homemade cookies, for an after school snack later in January.
• Call an elderly friend or neighbor. Ask them if you and your kids can assist them with any tasks they would like done but aren't physically able to do anymore.
• Pre-determine one or two days a week to be "no screen" days. Prepare the kids ahead of time that these days there won't be any TV, computer, or video game screens. Yes, they'll go into withdrawal, but be prepared to help them see the opportunity to read a book, draw, play with toys they haven't pulled out in forever, play board games, do a puzzle, etc.
• Have a "clean out your closet" and/or "clean out your drawers" day. Once completed, make the trip together to Goodwill or the Mission Mart to drop the clothes off. Reward them with a special treat at their favorite ice cream shop.
•  Have a quiet hour each day when the kids go to their room to read or play quietly. (If they share a room with a sibling, have them go to their own space). This helps break up all the togetherness that often leads to arguing. 
•  Get out of the house. Go to a local museum or brave a day at the zoo to see the animals in their winter environment.
• Put a 1000 piece puzzle out on a card table that you work off and on throughout the day. When the puzzle is complete, cover it with puzzle glue and frame it to display in your home.
• Have an ongoing game of Yahtzee (or your family's favorite game) going throughout the entire break. Play once a day after lunch or dinner and see who has the highest score at the end of break.
• Go ice skating. Indoors or outdoors, it's great exercise! 
• Encourage the kids to play outside at least 15 minutes each day. They need the exercise and the change of scenery! 
• Give your kids spray bottles of colored water. Then let them paint pictures in the snow! 
• Blow bubbles outside. When it is cold, the bubbles freeze and they are fun to pop. 
• Choose one day as your "thank you note" day. Make hot chocolate, put on some holiday music, and sit down at the table to write thank you notes to extended family the kids received gifts from.  
• Assign each child one day that they are in charge of preparing a meal. Let them choose the menu, then guide them (and help as necessary) in preparing the meal for the family.