- Dec 20, 2019
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Breaks from school are a great time to try these activity ideas for your family. Take advantage of spring break to make memories together.
During spring break, my sister-in-law and I planned a game competition for adults and kids. First, we created two teams and set up stations with different games in the living room. We had Boggle, Wii Just Dance, basketball, foosball and several other fun activities. We organized teams so each member competed against others in their age group. Winners at each station throughout the tournament received one point for their team. We kept track of points to determine the winning teams, but we also kept individual scores and gave prizes to those winners. Kids and adults had a blast.
—Evie Lynne Palmer
Painting rocks is a fun activity for school-age kids. Look for smooth, flat rocks in riverbeds or streams, or buy them at a craft store. Have children wash the rocks, and when they’re dry, paint pictures or a few words on the stones, and then give them to others as gifts.
—Lee Ann Mancini
Don’t let spring break pass by without reading stories with your kids and discussing what you’ve read. Here is a title to get you started:
You can find discussions for over 1,000 other books at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books.
—Sheila Seifert
In my family, we established three specific days for spring break:
Others Day. On this day, everyone tried to help others in the family. Then as a family, we baked cookies for a friend, made cards for people in a care facility, and volunteered at a local nonprofit.
Cleaning Day. One day was devoted to spring-cleaning. I made a list of tasks, and we tried to see how many tasks we could check off before the end of the day. Then my kids knew that no other large cleaning chores would be given for the rest of the week.
Outdoors Day. We spent the day exploring a local recreational area and having a picnic lunch. We also played outdoor games together.
—Anna Boyle
I discovered a fun way to bring history to life for my kids.
I told each of them to research one famous person from history because they were going to pretend to be that person. Then we put on a tea party, where we dressed up like our characters and told stories from their lives. We were not allowed to tell each other our names, but we pretended we were acquaintances who knew only a little about each other.
I chose Susanna Wesley, and my kids chose to be Mary Cassatt (the famous painter), Betsy Ross, Sojourner Truth, and Clara Barton. When it was over, we revealed our identities. Some had been guessed already — and some were a real surprise!
—Hannah Maple
I made up a car game that I played with my children in the early spring. The rules were simple: Whoever saw a flower or a clump of flowers got a point, but when a sibling spotted a trash can, that child caused the flower spotter to throw away all her points. Even now, my grown children always notice when flowers start blooming.
—Harriet E. Michael
My husband and I started a celebration when my oldest child was 5. On the day before Mother’s Day,
our girl received breakfast in bed and a nice card with our thoughts, encouragement and prayers for her future. Similarly, on the day before Father’s Day, our boys were treated to breakfast in bed along with a card that included our thoughtful message.
Sometimes we also gave them an inexpensive gift. This pre-holiday celebration helped them look forward to their adult years, when they would be parents. The celebration had an unexpected side effect: training our children to understand how my husband and I would like to be treated on our special days.
—Kathleen Castellanos
As our pastor told the Good Friday story, my 3-year-old son, Josiah, sat on the floor, pretending
the chair in front of him was a car. I sat him on my lap and began doodling on the back of the
bulletin. I drew Jesus (a stick figure) hanging on the cross.
As I drew, I whispered the story. “They put a nail in His hand.” I tapped my pencil point into the center of Jesus’ stick figure hand three times. “Then they put a nail in the other hand.” Tap. Tap.
I drew a simple tomb and whispered that Jesus was buried and then came back to life on the third day. I drew an angel and a smiling Mary Magdalene.
“Can you draw Jesus again, Mommy?” Josiah asked.
I drew it a few more times, the same simple, yet beautiful story told with the same simple sketches.
Two weeks later, Jesus’ death came up in conversation. Josiah interrupted to loudly exclaim, “They put nails in his hands!”
Teaching God’s Word to our little ones is as easy as a few stick figures and simple whispers.
—Erica Renaud
I help my kids ward off spring fever using “summer sneak peeks” — short activities that our family normally does in summer. The activities might be a trip to the zoo, an evening wading in the creek or a camp-out in the backyard.
I tell my children that I’m planning a summer sneak peek and mark the day on the calendar. Their anticipation is key. When they start to itch for summer, I remind them that a glimpse of it is on the way.
—Stacey Pardoe
“Spot the Flowers,” “Pre-Mother’s Day & Pre-Father’s Day,” “Whispering the Good News” and “Summer Sneak Peek” first appeared in the April/May 2019 issue of Focus on the Family magazine. The compiled article “Spring Activities” first appeared on FocusOnTheFamily.com (2019).
The post Spring Activities To Try With Your Pre-Teen appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...
Family game tournament
During spring break, my sister-in-law and I planned a game competition for adults and kids. First, we created two teams and set up stations with different games in the living room. We had Boggle, Wii Just Dance, basketball, foosball and several other fun activities. We organized teams so each member competed against others in their age group. Winners at each station throughout the tournament received one point for their team. We kept track of points to determine the winning teams, but we also kept individual scores and gave prizes to those winners. Kids and adults had a blast.
—Evie Lynne Palmer
Painting rocks
Painting rocks is a fun activity for school-age kids. Look for smooth, flat rocks in riverbeds or streams, or buy them at a craft store. Have children wash the rocks, and when they’re dry, paint pictures or a few words on the stones, and then give them to others as gifts.
—Lee Ann Mancini
Get a discussion going
Don’t let spring break pass by without reading stories with your kids and discussing what you’ve read. Here is a title to get you started:
- Opening Moves from “The Blackgaard Chronicles” series. After reading this book, discuss how people deal with unfair situations.
You can find discussions for over 1,000 other books at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books.
—Sheila Seifert
Name the day
In my family, we established three specific days for spring break:
Others Day. On this day, everyone tried to help others in the family. Then as a family, we baked cookies for a friend, made cards for people in a care facility, and volunteered at a local nonprofit.
Cleaning Day. One day was devoted to spring-cleaning. I made a list of tasks, and we tried to see how many tasks we could check off before the end of the day. Then my kids knew that no other large cleaning chores would be given for the rest of the week.
Outdoors Day. We spent the day exploring a local recreational area and having a picnic lunch. We also played outdoor games together.
—Anna Boyle
Historical tea party
I discovered a fun way to bring history to life for my kids.
I told each of them to research one famous person from history because they were going to pretend to be that person. Then we put on a tea party, where we dressed up like our characters and told stories from their lives. We were not allowed to tell each other our names, but we pretended we were acquaintances who knew only a little about each other.
I chose Susanna Wesley, and my kids chose to be Mary Cassatt (the famous painter), Betsy Ross, Sojourner Truth, and Clara Barton. When it was over, we revealed our identities. Some had been guessed already — and some were a real surprise!
—Hannah Maple
Spot the flowers
I made up a car game that I played with my children in the early spring. The rules were simple: Whoever saw a flower or a clump of flowers got a point, but when a sibling spotted a trash can, that child caused the flower spotter to throw away all her points. Even now, my grown children always notice when flowers start blooming.
—Harriet E. Michael
Pre-Mother’s Day and Pre-Father’s Day
My husband and I started a celebration when my oldest child was 5. On the day before Mother’s Day,
our girl received breakfast in bed and a nice card with our thoughts, encouragement and prayers for her future. Similarly, on the day before Father’s Day, our boys were treated to breakfast in bed along with a card that included our thoughtful message.
Sometimes we also gave them an inexpensive gift. This pre-holiday celebration helped them look forward to their adult years, when they would be parents. The celebration had an unexpected side effect: training our children to understand how my husband and I would like to be treated on our special days.
—Kathleen Castellanos
Whispering the Good News
As our pastor told the Good Friday story, my 3-year-old son, Josiah, sat on the floor, pretending
the chair in front of him was a car. I sat him on my lap and began doodling on the back of the
bulletin. I drew Jesus (a stick figure) hanging on the cross.
As I drew, I whispered the story. “They put a nail in His hand.” I tapped my pencil point into the center of Jesus’ stick figure hand three times. “Then they put a nail in the other hand.” Tap. Tap.
I drew a simple tomb and whispered that Jesus was buried and then came back to life on the third day. I drew an angel and a smiling Mary Magdalene.
“Can you draw Jesus again, Mommy?” Josiah asked.
I drew it a few more times, the same simple, yet beautiful story told with the same simple sketches.
Two weeks later, Jesus’ death came up in conversation. Josiah interrupted to loudly exclaim, “They put nails in his hands!”
Teaching God’s Word to our little ones is as easy as a few stick figures and simple whispers.
—Erica Renaud
Summer sneak peek
I help my kids ward off spring fever using “summer sneak peeks” — short activities that our family normally does in summer. The activities might be a trip to the zoo, an evening wading in the creek or a camp-out in the backyard.
I tell my children that I’m planning a summer sneak peek and mark the day on the calendar. Their anticipation is key. When they start to itch for summer, I remind them that a glimpse of it is on the way.
—Stacey Pardoe
“Spot the Flowers,” “Pre-Mother’s Day & Pre-Father’s Day,” “Whispering the Good News” and “Summer Sneak Peek” first appeared in the April/May 2019 issue of Focus on the Family magazine. The compiled article “Spring Activities” first appeared on FocusOnTheFamily.com (2019).
The post Spring Activities To Try With Your Pre-Teen appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...
