Home for the Holidays
When you sit down to decide what activities you want to do as a family it can be overwhelming, you realize just how difficult normal outings have gotten! Even a simple trip to the movies for one family can be cumbersome. You might wonder, “How do I make this holiday season fun and magical for my children?” Don’t worry! I am here with ideas on how to entertain your kiddos with family-friendly activities. Keep reading and find 10 fun family activities.
Send cards to family and friends
A fun holiday activity to do is help your kids send cards to family and friends. You can make a card for whichever holiday you celebrate. The best part is that your kids can completely personalize these cards, and your relatives and friends will be delighted to receive them! You can also encourage your kids to make cards for their own friends and send them out to make each child’s day happier. I like to give the kids free reign over this project. They go nuts with the designs and happily have a good time putting all their creative ideas into these handmade cards. One of my favorite memories is making cards and giving them to nursing home residents, which is an activity we will be doing this year.
Make DIY home decoration
My kids love to make home décor. Just the other day Lena made a cell phone out of cardboard! There are so many different DIY things that children can make based on their age. For younger children, paper roll dragons, easy origami flowers, paper plate dream catchers, and macaroni frames. For older children, origami decorations, paper-mache bowls, and so much more. Children of any age can make colorful drawings to hang up in their room or around the house!
Go to the park and have a picnic
Another fun holiday activity to entertain kids is going out on a picnic with them. My kids love playing outside and spending all their energy at the local park. Our favorite picnic blanket comes in cool prints, is big enough for our family of 5, cleans up well and is compact when we fold it. You can check it out here! We also enjoy hiking, biking and exploring South Carolina. We let the kids play and eat picnic snacks with them when they are tired. If the weather is bad where you live, a simple solution is to make a blanket fort in a room and make a couple of snacks your children love. They will have a lot of fun hiding out and eating in the blanket fort. We enjoy bringing a game of UNO with us to our outings as well.
Write a story
If you have children with minds full of imagination (like mine), you can help them write a story. The story can have whatever details they want and be as imaginative as possible. I tell the kids not to think about reality and to think out of the box. I can guarantee that my children have fun making up ludicrous ideas such as pancake man or candy superman. The main thing is to let their imaginations run wild!
Cook with the kids
You can have your little ones help you with cooking, to turn a task you’ll be doing anyways into a family event. They can help mix things like an omelet if they are younger. You can supervise them while they do something like flip pancakes if they are a little older. There are also recipes that do not require children to be near any heat that you can make with them! These include things such as no-bake cheesecakes, cake pops, and jelly sandwiches.
Make DIY jewelry
Making bracelets, necklaces, and other such things is also a fun holiday activity for children. My children love to design necklaces and bracelets for themselves and they enjoy wearing something they made by themselves! Be careful while letting children wear necklaces, and always supervise them while they are making these out of elastic or threads so that no harm comes to your child. Making things to wear for themselves will make the holidays magical for your children, and they can even gift these to their friends or family..
Have a movie night
A movie night is a great way to have fun with children and make them interested in a good movie (The Sound of Music, Westside Story and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)! You can dim the lights in a room and play a movie that your children will love. The movie night will be an even more fun activity if you make some popcorn and other snacks that your kids can munch on while watching the movie. This is one of the best things to do with your family that never gets old!
Go to the library and borrow books
If your child loves to read books, a fun, friendly activity is to take them out to a local library and let them borrow books they like. Books written for children can keep them occupied for hours while also increasing their vocabulary and reading power. Your child will love reading a book that interests them. Our local library offers many children’s programs and has a designated space for the kids to play in.
Bird Feeder out of pinecones
Making a bird feeder out of pine cones is a friendly activity for children. It’s an effortless thing to make, and it will delight your kid to see the birds coming to eat from the bird feeder. To start, you can let your kid find a pinecone and clean it. After that, all you have to do is spread peanut butter on it, roll it in bird seeds, hang it on a tree, and wait for the birds to start coming to eat it!
See the lights
One of my favorite holiday memories is going on family walks to see all of the Christmas decorations in our neighborhood. We’ve biked the route in Alabama, drove in Tennessee and walked in South Carolina. Its delightful to see the Christmas magic from the kids point of view. I really cherish these memories and I am excited to go explore this year.
Those are a few of the many fun, family-friendly holiday activities we’ve discovered in our household! My children love doing these activities, making the holiday season magical and fun for them. This combination of activities encourages growth and development while also letting their imaginations and creative spirits run free. Some of them also encourage your children to make gifts or cards for other people as a holiday activity which can be a very memorable moment for people around you that receive these gifts. The main thing is to find fun family activities for children according to their personality and style. I hope these 10 holiday activities are fun to do with your kids, making the holiday season magical for them.
"Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays."
-Perry Como
