Keeping amusement in the family can sometimes be challenging, especially when things cost so much. So here are some fun things you can do with your family during this holiday season. We have always engaged in such activities during the holidays in our family especially when Christmas is around.
1. Cooking with the kids - pick an easy recipe with the kids, let the kids go shopping with you and pick out the ingredients, cook and enjoy eating it together as a family.
2. Sometimes games the old fashioned way can be lots of fun. It’s more fun when you as a parent play along with your kids. You can also find lots of puzzles online.
Some Games to play as a family:
1) Arrange a treasure hunt around your home and garden with clues and treats for the children to find. You can search for templates online or come up with your own riddles and clues. Increase the difficulty level for older kids.
2) 20 Questions: One player, the answerer, picks an object. All other players ask the answer-er "Yes" or "No" questions to guess what the object is. If no one guesses correctly after 20 questions, the answer-er has won and picks a new object for the next round. If someone guesses correctly they get to pick the object for the next round.
3) Blindfold Drawing: First, grab some paper and markers. Players are blindfolded and hold their paper. One person gives drawing instructions while everyone else tries to draw the scene they describe onto the paper. The most accurate drawing wins!
4) Storyteller: This game is fun if you have older kids in the family. Everyone stands in a circle as one person begins a made up holiday story with one sentence. Each person after them must recite what the previous player(s) said and add their own sentence. If someone forgets a detail while recalling the whole story, they’re out. The story keeps building until only one person can recall all of the details and wins the game.
5) Gift Wrap-Up: Have two members in a team. Tie one person’s right hand to their teammate’s left hand. The team members will then attempt to wrap a gift using their free hands. Have an example gift for everyone to attempt to duplicate — the harder it is to create, the funnier. Give a time limit of 1–3 minutes and then have a judge pick the most accurate gift.
3. Encourage the kids to act out a drama or a scene from their favourite movie or cartoon using the dress up clothes and prop from around the house. You can film the entire show using your camera for great memories.
4. Create a scrapbook together using photos from your family album. You can be more creative - make things together like greeting cards or make some jewelry using beads or some crafts that are found easily on YouTube.
5. Give them some drawing sheets and colour pencils or some earthenware and paint and let them do wonders with their hands. You can later ask them to choose the best one and make a frame for it and hang it in their room or put the piece in the hall showcase.
6. You can engage your children to pick a small gift like stationery and gift wrap it or even better to pack anything that you cooked together as a family and visit your neighbor or a distant family member and surprise them with the gift.
Don't try to engage your kids every minute of every day. Encourage your children's imagination and independence - let them play in their rooms or the garden by themselves for some time.
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