If you’re deciding to have a stay-cation or even want to find some fun ideas to do during downtime on your trip you might like the following:

Today’s Parent – Crafts & Fun: March Break Headquarters gives a variety of ideas (crafts, indoor/outdoor activities, sleepover survival guide, scavenger hunt, and MUCH more)

  • One of their ideas was Backyard Olympics which was similar to an activity our family came up with during the Olympic games. Our kids are young so we had fun each coming up with our own simple activities to compete in to see who got Gold, Silver, and Bronze for each activity. We competed in sit-ups, hopping, standing on one foot, walking on a balance beam (we had made a while ago from good leftover wood from a sturdy shelf we were making), climb a rope … the ideas are endless and the best part is having the kids be creative to come up with the ideas themselves. This was a good way for the kids to understand a little more what the Olympics were. We all enjoyed a treat afterward.

Helping you cope with your/child’s energy level:

These activities and helps are good for any day and don’t have to be limited to your Spring Break. I hope you have a fun-filled and safe Spring Break that is also good for your budget!! Do you have any other favorite activities or helps for the March/Spring Break?

  • Ehow.com provides MANY great ideas of projects/experiments that you can do yourself. We tried making Sugar Crystal Candy and are now waiting for the results. Our kids LOVE being little scientists and doing their own experiments.
  • Another experiment we’ve started is something our daughter had done in her Kindergarten class and she was very excited to share with our family. We froze different colors of ice cubes (added food coloring to get different colors of water to freeze). We will put 2 different colored ice cubes in one glass of water to melt and see what new color develops. This is a fun activity, very inexpensive, not too time consuming and gives everyone something to look forward to. We froze a lot of each color to allow for more outcomes.
  • One thing I want to try is Edible Play Dough. This will satisfy both of my kids’ desires to help with the cooking/baking and being creative. Plus it occupies their time with something new and imaginative. I think it would be fun and delicious for me too. Of course, you have to make sure your children understand that this is special play dough and that you normally can’t eat play dough. Ehow.com looks like they have some good recipes. FamilyCorner.com has a list of 10 edible play dough recipes. I came across another recipe recently for a sugar cookie based edible play dough while looking for a dinner recipe (which got the idea in my head in the first place) and of course now I can’t remember where I saw it.
  • I’ve also watched my sister do a fun activity with her kids, when they were small, with cornstarch and water which she called Oobleck. It’s really amazing to try! It’s a solid and a liquid at the same time. I saw my Nephew punch it and it was like hitting a wall. Then he let his hand rest on it and his hand sunk in like quicksand. It was really fun to watch and to play with. They even had a “food fight” with it, which can be a challenge to clean up then.
    • Parents.com – 10 Ways to Get Instant Energy. One thing you will likely face is just trying to keep up with the kids. One of the simplest ideas I saw to build our energy is to laugh which could be quite fun and imaginative to do with the kids. Take turns telling knock-knock jokes or reading funny stories. I especially love to hear what jokes the little ones come out with, which often make little to no sense, but it’s great to hear their imaginations going. This link provides a list of ideas that you can do with your kids to either participate in their activities or they can slow down a little and participate in your activity to give you a breather.
    • ADDitudemag.com looks like a great magazine to help with challenges facing parents of children with ADD/learning disabilities. Here are 7 Quick Fixes for ADHD Meltdowns that could help you get past the meltdown and back to your March Break activity at hand (good for home/public meltdowns). I think these could help with any attitudes that children/we decide to have. I don’t have a child with a disability so I would love to hear how effective these “fixes” are.