School Holidays: 1000 activities for teens and parents!

[Jess1-RO]

Today is the final day of school for Australian students for 2020! A big year for so many teens and parents, and 6 weeks of holidays (or more) to fill!

Putting my Christmas thinking cap on for some end of year inspired activities these school holidays!

95. Christmas craft

96. Bring some Christmas treats to your local nursing home, hospital or community centre- giving at Christmas can be so powerful!

97. Volunteer as a family with a community shelter or cause you are passionate about

98. Baking gingerbread men

99. Decorate the house! DIY crafts can be a fun decorating activity too

100. See the fireworks on New Year's Eve

Can you think of any more Christmas or New Year Inspired activities for these school holidays?

[Janine-RO]

Thanks @Jess1-RO  for reviving this thread, I know I will be saving all of these to try at home. 

Just tagging in a few more of the community to see if they have any other brilliant ideas, @JAKGR8 , @PapaBill , @Dad4good , @Faob_1 , and please feel free to tag anyone else who may be interested! 

I know that personally, it's the "I'm bored" parts of school holidays that I don't find as much fun, and even though I think it can be good for kids to be a bit bored and have to come up with things to do themselves sometimes, it's also great to have such a handy list! 

My additions: 

101. Go snorkelling

102. Go for a family bushwalk, even better if there's food/ a view/ treats at the end

103. Go through old family photo albums, and scan in old photos that have been forgotten about - could even turn this into a photo book full of old family memories. 

104. Do some chalk drawing on the pavement

105. Learn how to  cook an old family recipe together- like Nana's famous apple crumble, or Mum' amazing bolognese. 

106. Write yourselves a letter, to be opened in 5 years.  

[Janine-RO]

Hi parents, 

So, we're now almost in the final stretches of the school holidays - how is everyone coping?? 

I post the above in jest, but I'm also guessing that I may not be the only parent out there that is having a few "moments" at this point?? 

So, I thought it could be a good time to revive this thread, but these ideas are with a focus on helping our kids to sit with being bored. I'm also wondering how other parents are going with managing screen time over the holidays?? I've seen a few parents in other groups online post about doing a technology ban for a few days because their kids/teens are getting so addicted, but I also can see the argument that for some teens, it's their main form  of connection to friends over the holidays. 

So here's a few more of my ideas about what to do when there's the cry of 'WHAT ARE WE DOING? I'M BORED'

107. Do nothing. Leave kids/ teens to be a bit bored and sit with that feeling - they may even find they end up picking up an activity that they've forgotten about/ an abandoned craft project/ write a story/ have an idea for a blog post. 

108. Get teens involved in meal planning for a few days - from researching recipes, buying ingredients, and cooking the meal. 

109. Getting out some oldschool favourite movies and re-discovering them together - recently we did The Princess Bride, the Back To The Future Movies, and Fame!

Tagging in a few of our parent community champions @JAKGR8 . @PapaBill , @Dad4good  - would love to hear how you're all going. 

[JAKGR8]

Actually, I'm a big believer and allowing my kids to be bored so this isn't a big topic for me. If they complain they get another job which is a win for me and if they're inventive there can be some fun things done. I have now had my first manicure in ...like...ever and am trying to teach the youngest to crochet for animal victims of the bushfires. Another win for me. 

I always have a limit on screen time however they are allowed message friends most of the time. I use the parental controls on the modem to help with this, especially at night.

I love the holidays with no routines and no expectations. 

[Janine-RO]

I love the idea of crocheting- are you making pouches for the animals? 

I do like the idea of allowing my kids to be bored and I think it's a really important life skill to be able to occupy yourself/ find interesting stuff to do, but I do also get a bit of pressure from my tween daughter! It's definitely something that we are working on though, and she's getting really into baking which is a win-win.  

It's definitely lovely to have a break from the everyday routine. We relax screen time rules a bit in holidays too, but have set fairly strict parental controls on the laptop, and monitor use - I guess it's something we will just have to keep revisiting as we hit the teen years. 

[Novak]

Me and my son started doing some activities indoors and in the garden. I have recorded them on youtube, guys have a look at the video and let me know what you think about it 

[jackymen]

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@PapaBill wrote:

22.  Chase the dog around the yard

23.  Build a fort under the dinner room table

24.  Use Cardboard to make a castle

25.  Do a treasure hunt

26.  Play Hide and seek

27.  Have an family athletics competition..
       Handicapped.. i.e. young kids have less distance to run. Throw from a different line etc.

28.  Make Lemonade

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that is awsome and very informational man i love it 

[dima1816]

I think this is a good worksheet for preschoolers and can be found here https://wunderkiddy.com/ .