Staycation Ideas

Here are the statistics: Children from families that regularly dine together are more likely to stay out of trouble in their teen years. And, kids that participate in preparing their own food often make healthier food choices. So here’s the plan: you’re going to schedule a Family Cook Night.

How to Make it Happen

Get the whole family involved from the beginning by letting everyone help plan the menu. Try to honor everyone’s choices. You may end up with several menus—just use them for future dinners. Some suggestions for easy group projects include pasta with salad and fajitas with grilled veggies. Assign everyone a task—even small children can wash veggies and mix a salad. Be sure and supervise young helpers when they are using the stove or sharp utensils. As you prepare the meal together, enjoy what happens. Talk, tease, laugh and share your lives.

Additional Activities

1. Pick a new recipe and try to make it.
2. Attend a Farmers Market together
   
3. Go out to eat. Many family-friendly restaurants offer kids-eat-free nights. (visit MyKidsEatFree.com)

Here’s a winter staycation idea you can do with your kids.  If you haven’t been to an art museum since your grade school field trip, you owe it to yourself to go back. Museums are whole different experience as an adult. If you are taking kids, rest assured that modern museums are much more interactive and kid-friendly then they used to be. Plan a day to visit an art museum near you.

How to Make it Happen

Do an online search to find art museums and fine art institutes near you. Check for hours of operation as many museums are closed on some weekdays. You should also check to see if there is an admissions price. Some museums will simply ask for donations instead of charging an admission.

If you remember art museums as stuffy and uptight, you’ll be happy to know that museums have become more interactive. Many museums provide kid-friendly exhibits and activities, and some even devote entire wings to children. Museums are developing creative ways to get people “into art.”

You should also consider visiting a local gallery. Many of these host artist receptions and display special collections as part of their business. You just might find that great work of art you’ve been searching for.

Additional Activities

1. If your local art museum offers classes, consider taking one.
2. If you discover an artist you really like, do research and learn more about him or her.
3. Express yourself. Choose your medium and create your own art.

I might be the only Dad on the block who requested Crayons as my gift for myself this Christmas.  I love coloring with my kids…maybe even more than they do!  I especially love coloring in the winter and am always on the lookout for free coloring pages for winter.  I signed up for the Crayola Newsletter not too long ago and I’m glad they did.  Just this morning I received a newsletter in my inbox entitled, “Crafts for Cold Winter Days”.  This newsletter contains lots of free coloring pages for winter from Crayola.com.  Here are some links to the best free coloring pages for winter:

• Winter Day Mini Book Coloring Page
• Snowman Coloring Page
• Sledding in the Snow
• Wonderful Winter Coloring Page
• Spokesperson for Freedom Coloring Page
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Coloring Page
• Penguins Coloring Page
• Hot and Cold Coloring Page
• #10 Blizzard Blue Coloring Page

And a google search returned some more websites for winter coloring pages:

• Winter Coloring Pages
• Winter Coloring Pages for Kids
• Winter Coloring Pages (Posters)
• Winter Season Coloring Pages for Toddlers

You know they’re up there. In the closet. Just sitting on a shelf. Well, it’s time to take all those board games off the shelf. Yes—it’s Family Game Night. And you’re going to have more fun than you think.

How to Make it Happen

Here are some ideas to add a twist to Family Game Night:

• Devote a long night or a weekend day. Take out every game in your closet and play each at least once.
• If all participants are old enough, schedule a Monopoly marathon. Buy and sell properties, build real estate, bankrupt others! Release your inner-capitalist.
• Choose games that can actually help your children learn skills. For instance, Cribbage and Yahtzee can teach math skills. Scrabble can teach spelling. And, Clue and Life can teach strategy.

Order a pizza, have snacks and beverages on hand, and settle in for a long night of family fun.

Additional Activities

1. Host a card tournament. Poker, Uno and War are all fun group games.
2. Host a family video game night.

Tired of fighting with your kids to keep them off the video games? Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. At least for a night. Game systems like the Nintendo Wii actually have a lot of great family games.

How to Make it Happen

The Nintendo Wii® is perfect for an electronic family game night. Try games like Wii bowling, baseball, or the Super Mario games that support multi-player contests. Adults can enjoy these games as well. Other fun group games include Guitar Hero® or Rock Band®. Challenge your child to a guitar contest, or play together as a band.

There are also many computer software games that provide great strategic and educational adventures that you can partner on with your child.

For a list of best selling computer and video games for kids, including reviews and parent comments, visit www.edutainingkids.com/software.html.

Additional Activities

1. Host a traditional family board game night.
2. Follow Wii Bowling with an actual game at the bowling alley. If you have kids, ask the alley to put up gutter guards.

To find your way in the world, all you need is a compass and a map. Those are also the two things you need for the fast-growing sport of orienteering. Orienteering challenges participants to find their way on a pre-determined path using a compass, a map, and one’s own physical and mental abilities.

How to Make it Happen

According to the US Orienteering Federation, www.us.orienteering.org, the objective of orienteering is to “…run, walk, ski, or mountain bike to a series of points shown on the map, choosing routes––both on and off trail––that will help you find all the points and get back to the finish in the shortest amount of time.”

Designed as a sport, participants pass a series of control markers that they must punch to prove they’ve been there. The goal is to finish the course as quickly as possible.

For more information on how to get started with orienteering, important safety tips and competition locations, visit www.us.orienteering.org.

Additional Activities

1. Practice your skills with a compass by taking an off-trail hike in the woods. Use caution and never hike where it’s prohibited. Always let someone know where you are going.
2. Try geocaching.
   

You weren’t just buying a place to live when you purchased your house. You were buying your part of the American dream. It’s where you would make your home, raise your family and write your history. But how much do you know about your own home?  When was it built? What has it survived? Who has it comforted? Maybe its time to learn a little more about this place you call home.

How to Make it Happen

Start with the basics. Contact your county assessor’s office for information on when your home was built, who the previous owners were, and if/when there have been any additions to the original building. These records are often online. If online records do not go back far enough to identify the original owners, pay a visit to the assessor’s office for historical records.

If you live in an older home or neighborhood, you might be able to find information at a local historical society. Consult old newspapers or county records to provide cultural context for your home throughout its history. If you can identify the original owners, try to research how they came to your town, how they were employed, and what happened in their lives. Again, local historical or genealogical societies may be able to help with this research.

If you live in a newer house you have the honor of starting its history. Our homes acquire personality through our memories and shared experience. So write down the important events of your history in the house––the milestones and accomplishments your family shares in this home. Take before and after pictures when you renovate or redecorate a room. Save clippings of important local events or natural disasters that your house witnesses or even survives. Some day you can pass these memories on to your grown children, or leave it as a gift to the next homeowners.

Additional Activities

1. Research an historic site. (Idea #51)
2. Join a local historical or genealogical society.

Geocaching is a fast growing phenomenon that involves using GPS technology to locate specifically placed, but hidden containers, called geocaches. Think of it as a treasure hunt for adults, although children will enjoy this too.

How to Make it Happen

To participate in geocaching, you will need a GPS device and the ability to hike, sometimes in rough terrain. The website, www.geocaching.com, provides helpful tips on how to get started, the location of geocache, and reviews on GPS devices.

Active geocachers not only hunt geocache, they also place them and create hide and seek adventures for others. When you find a geocache, you sign the log left with the marker. You then get online and share your adventure—including stories and photos—of locating the geocache.

Geocaching.com claims there are almost 765,000 active geocache in the world: surely one of them is near you!

Additional Activities

1. Visit different geocache locations around the country.
2. Try orienteering. 
3. Go trail hiking in the mountains.

Be a science geek for a day and visit a nearby, accredited Science Center. These learning centers often feature touring exhibits on subjects like dinosaurs and robotics. In addition to featured exhibits are displays on everything from biology to mechanics to space. Many are often connected with planetariums. So take a day to learn about your earth, its inhabitants, and the universe around it.

How to Make it Happen

Visit www.astc.org/sciencecenters/find_scicenter.htm for a list of accredited science centers. Pick one near you and visit its website for hours of operation, special exhibits and admission prices. Many science centers feature planetariums and IMAX theaters, which will likely cost extra, but are worth the price. If you live nearby, consider buying an annual membership for yearlong admission and other perks.

Additional Activities

1. Buy a chemistry kit or science set for your kids and do experiments with them.
2. View stars in your night sky.

For some people, the only good thing about winter coming is the turning of the leaves. While you may not be ready for snow and cold, it’s hard not to appreciate the color show nature puts on right before winter. If you live in a state with four distinct seasons, now’s the time to get out and enjoy the reds, pinks, oranges, yellows and browns that are autumn.

How to Make it Happen

Mother Nature does all the work. All you have to do is go for a walk or a drive. If you go by car, pick the curviest road in your county and don’t rush. Let cars pass you by. Just enjoy the scenery.

Additional Activities

1. Create a leaf collection from leaves you found on your walk. Learn what type of trees they come from.
2. Fall is the perfect time to plant a tree. Plant one in your yard, or donate one to a city park.