Winter break is here and we all know that after a day of high of no school and no homework, kids will start falling into the bottomless pit of boredom. In order to help them find alternative ways to keep busy, I prepared this quick guide filled with game ideas, toys in our house, arts & craft activities we do and physical activities. You can see the Rolodex version of this quick reference guide, I made when my son was 4. You can use the quick reference guide in combination with daily routine chart in pictures which I wrote about here. Nowadays, my kids are making their own daily schedule the night before or in the morning.
This reference guide is not only good for holiday breaks but also snow days, sick days andeven weekends where you want to just lay back and rest in solitude for 15 minutes. It’ll also help kids get used to coming up with their own ideas, once you refer them to the reference guide instead of giving them the readily available options. This will encourage them to make their own decisions and be independent. By the time, they’ll learn not come to you when they feel bored.
Here are simple directions to build a quick reference guide in a Word document:
1. List Categories of activities and toys.
2. Take photos of toys, activities or download them from the internet. You can also use cliparts. Photos and pictures are better than words, not only for younger ones who don’t know how to read, but also for older kids as well.
3. Copy them on a word document and place them in tables, grouped in the categories you listed above.
4. If your kids are reading, you can list things you don’t want to – spend more time to – put in pictures.
5. Review them with your kids before finalizing so see if they want to add anything else.
6.Create a nice cover. Creative ones can do better than mine. 🙂 I just used a border and Word Art within Word.
7. Print the document out on card stock and laminate. I printed it out double sided.
8. Place it in an easily visible and reachable location.
Next time, when your child whines about boredom, tell them to quit whining and point to the quick reference guide.
Do you use other tools or methods to help your kids to keep themselves busy?
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