Things to Do on Spring Break at Home
Some school districts have spring break in March and others in April. Unfortunately, with the many snow storms so far this year, they have been wreaking havoc across the northeast; some school districts closed for a week in February and will be losing their spring breaks! If this is the case for you, you might not be able to take a week-long vacation, but don’t despair: There are plenty of things to do with your kids, either for a whole week or for just a couple of days over the weekend. So whether you’ve lost your spring break due to weather issues, or you can’t take the whole week off or simply have decided not to travel, here are a few fun ideas to try:
- Visit local attractions. Every state has attractions that will appeal to families with children. Whether it’s a science or art museum, a zoo (temperatures are starting to warm up in many places!), the beach, skiing (it’s still snowy in other areas), festivals, indoor water parks, or something else that makes your area special, take the kids for a day. If it’s during spring break, then yes, it will likely be crowded; just plan some extra time into your day or consider going the weekend after the traditional spring break time for your state.
- Go on an adventure without straying too far from home. There are probably interesting things in your neighborhood that you haven’t explored yet with your children. Some examples might be a trail in the woods, an ethnic restaurant, a new bakery, or a creek that only appears when the snow melts. Going on a walk of the neighborhood could unearth a random clump of spring flowers growing in the city, or ant hills in your own backyard. These types of adventures are things that the kids will remember and make good “family time” activities.
- Stay up late. Even if the kids ended up having to go to school during their scheduled spring break, you still have Friday and Saturday nights to let them stay up late with their parents. Rent kid-friendly movies, play games, pop popcorn, serve root beer floats or milkshakes, and let them stay up until they fall asleep. You could even bring their mattresses (or set up sleeping bags) on the living room floor and have a family camp-in!
- Volunteer. Something that my family enjoys doing during weeks off from school is to spend a day or two volunteering. If you already volunteer, you might be able to bring the kids along. If not, some possibilities might be serving at a soup kitchen, helping at a food pantry, feeding kitties at an animal shelter (they often need petting and extra love, too!), reading to nursing home residents or helping an elderly neighbor prepare her home for spring by raking out old mulch, repainting the front door, or cleaning out the gutters. Helping others makes the giver feel as good as the recipient!
What are some fun ways that you’ll be spending your kids’ spring break?
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Stay up late…I love it…makes me remember how that was such a treat as a good to stay up later on weekends or holidays or vacations when school wasn’t in session. We live in a small tourism town and there’s always activities to do with kiddos.
When my daughter comes home from spring break, her idea of coming home is to sleep in. I want to visit with her and spend time with her and she wants to sleep. Sleep when you are dead I say….to deaf ears. She’s in college btw.
It would be so awesome to be able to spend time together under a shady tree, talk and catch up. Alas, everyone works thru breaks to make money for tuition
These are great ideas and budget friendly too. This gives me inspiration for things to do locally in my city and my own backyard.
I used to sign my kids up for some fun classes, like ceramic painting, robotic legos(which my kids loved. We would go to local and other Science Centers in different cities that weren’t to far away. We always found things to do at home.
Spring break in two weeks – think I am going to tear my hair out if I hear anymore about helping my son assemble Lego’s. *yikes*. Sleeping bags in the living room with popcorn sounds great. My 9 year old son just told me he wants to get his hair colored with streaks on March break… thought I would have 3-4 yrs before this stage….*sigh*. Some great quiet time ideas here, thanks !
We used to go on vacation to a different indoor waterpark every year during spring break, but with my husband now going to college, that is impossible. So thanks a bunch for these good ideas, as they are going to help 🙂
I love all the ideas. I really like “The Stay up Late” idea 🙂
A budget friendly ideas. Thanks for sharing.
Great ideas for spring break and a great time to have that quality time with your love ones, thanks for posting
These sound like some great ideas!
As soon as my college age kids get home from break the phone starts ringing, the friends call and my kids go out the door since they have not seen their local friends for a while…they come home to sleep and eat…I’ve learned not to schedule anything. I like your ideas though
Yeah I really like the stay up late idea! It’s cute! I love the budget friendly ideas!
I HATE SPRING BREAKS–MY GRAND-KIDS WANT -WANT THAT–DO THIS –DO THAT..
Some neat ideas will have to share with my daughter in law, any outing with family is fun and having a picnic makes memories for children
I love spring season. There is seriously so much to do during spring time. I go out with my family for trekking and afternoon lunches at the park.
This year during spring break I thought it would be fun (and educational) for my kids to help me get the garden started. We can watch as nature unfolds again as the weather warms up and they can see the fruits of our labor when the harvesting comes in during the summer and fall.