How to Make a Winter Staycation with Kids New and Fun

So…. next week is school vacation week and if you’re like us, this is going to be your 4th? 5th? 6th? ‘Staycation’ since the start of COVID. Not cool. But we have a plan and some great ideas to bring some fresh fun to our time off at home. From ideas that you can all do together to activities that will get the kids playing and creating on their own, buying you some time to chill, we’ve got you covered.

Cook Your Way to a New Destination

Food can transport you, and our kids are always excited to cook new recipes. We have a fabulous selection of cookbooks for kids, including Global Feast, a title that tours through kid-friendly recipes from all over the world and includes context for each one. These recipes have sparked great fun for us, for example, when we made the ANZAC biscuits from Australia we then decided to learn all about Australia and watched a wonderful documentary from David Attenborough about the Great Barrier Reef. It made for a fun day and a new adventure, not to mention incredibly delicious cookies!!

Leveled Up Coloring

Take your coloring to the next level with these large-scale coloring projects that the whole family can enjoy! The pond life and world map tablecloths from eatsleepdoodle are washable and can be colored again and again. We also have their new totes so kids can color in a handy bag for toting swim gear, books, you name it. Or, try one of our large or small coloring rolls from Mudpuppy. You can unroll it slowly for an ongoing project, or tape it to the wall or floor and let kids go crazy coloring for hours!

 

Game Night Fun

Try a new family game! We have games that all ages can enjoy together, whether you’re playing with a 2 year old or with grandma on Zoom! We love Telestrations Upside Drawn, Blank Slate, Utter Nonsense and Pencil Nose because they always yield a lot of laughs, and there’s nothing better than a good family laugh!

Turn Tubby Time Into a Fabulous Event

You can make a bath into something to look forward to with a few additions. Here’s our recipe for a fabulous bath time:

• Glo Pals light-up bath cubes
• Squirt toys
• Surprise bath bombs
• Waterproof music player

We sometimes turn our tub into a puppet theater, with a hand puppet you can turn bath time stress into laughter!

Create Your Own World

Make your own bouncing planets with this inexpensive kit from Copernicus Toys. Pour polymer pellets into the spherical molds and submerge in water for a few minutes, and tah-dah! You have your own planet/bouncing ball! It’s like sand art you can bounce around the house!

Get Crafty

A detailed craft kit like our DIY minitures from Hands Craft can be a perfect activity for a parent and child to create together, or for a kid 14+ who is into the mini trend. Build your own bake shop, or get into a spring vibe with the Miller’s garden or Greenhouse Craft Kits.

Indoor Camping Forts

AirForts are a fabulous way to create a new destination in your own living room. They pop up in seconds with a standard box fan and they are big enough to have the whole family underneath! We love to fill ours with every throw pillow and stuffed animal we can find and make it into a cozy nook for reading and teddy bear picnics.

If building is more your style, you can build an awesome structure with these fort kits from Picasso Tiles. Customize your structure and then cover it with a sheet to enclose the fort. These are also awesome for making tunnel systems!

Obstacle Courses & Scavenger Hunts

Create an awesome indoor obstacle course with household objects, or our obstacle course set from Playzone Fit. A scavenger hunt can be a great activity for zoom calls. Gather friends or family on a zoom call and send them off to find things around the house, such as ‘find something with stripes’, ‘find something fuzzy’, etc. Everyone will have fun showing off what they find!

And finally, three words for you…. LEGO, LEGO, LEGO. Get a big set and go!

If you get bored, we’re here for you. Just give us a call or stop by for some fresh ideas and fun!