The holidays have passed and with them the slew of fun, easy holiday activities. As the rain settles in over Olympia, it can be an exhausting time to be a stay-at-home mother. This time of year often involves too many hours cooped up indoors, continually trying to come up with fun, new activities to do with your kids. It is time for Olympia moms to get creative!
Keep in mind, most children thrive on repetition. They love watching the same shows, reading the same books and doing the same fun things. However, sometimes it is nice to have a little variety (for us moms’ sake at least!)
To shake it up a bit, come up with a few exciting monthly traditions. This way you have some fun activities on the calendar without having to constantly recreate the wheel. Over time, these events will become highly anticipated traditions in your family.
Here are some examples:
Picnic Dinner: The first Friday of every month host “picnic dinner in the living room.” Lay out a blanket (one that is easily washable), let the kids set the “table” with their favorite plates, silverware and napkins. Serve an easy-to-eat, non-messy picnic dinner on the family room floor while watching 30 minutes or so of the children’s favorite movie or while playing a favorite game. This is guaranteed to be a highly anticipated event! Bonus points if you let your children pick the meal or at least give them a choice.
Kid’s Choice: On the first day of every month let one child be in charge of choosing the dinner menu for the evening. Let the child pick a protein, vegetable, starch and possibly a dessert if you feel like making it an extra special occasion. Don’t worry if the items don’t seem to go together. Let your child have total control (within reason of course!).
Have all your children help you prepare the meal. Turn on some music. Tie on aprons Make it fun! Let the smallest ones set the table, tear lettuce or help stir. As they get older they can do more supervised preparation. There are so many benefits to cooking with your children!
If you have more than one child you can let each child pick one meal per month (i.e. on the first and fifteenth of the month) or alternate months. Don’t forget to write it down on the calendar so you remember whose turn it is!
Camping at Home: Go camping in your living room. Set up a tent if you have a big enough room. If your room is too small, no problem. Make a tent with a card table and blankets. As another alternative, simply set out your sleeping bags on the carpet. Eat some fun “camping” snacks. Read stories by flashlight. Have fun!
For more rainy day ideas try one of the following:
Homemade Playdough With All Natural Dye
Keeping watching this column for more fun family tradition and rainy day ideas!
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