9 Outside-the-Box Ideas to Keep Kids Entertained Over Spring Break

If you’re staying home, be sure to have several hands-on spring break activities for the kids in order to ensure they stay engaged and use their imaginations. This is especially important if you’re trying to reduce their overall screen time.

“When a child participates in any sort of play, sensory included, they’re learning through experiences in their environments and learning different ways to communicate emotions, wants, and needs,” occupational therapist Suzanne Messer told Cleveland Clinic.

Sensory activities can be prepped in advance and stowed away until that first rainy day or when boredom seems to set in. Here’s an idea:

Create a cheerful sensory bin by mixing 20 drops of food coloring and one-eighth cup of vinegar in a bowl with some rice or pasta. Mix well to color the pasta and let dry completely, then include small toys, scoops, and containers for your child to mix and pour.

Remember, not all sensory materials are safe for all ages. In fact, if you’re tempted to grab some water beads the next time you’re at the dollar store, you may want to reconsider. These polymer beads can pose a serious health risk to children.

If you’re feeling land-locked, create your own beach out of two easy ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine 6 cups of flour with three-quarters cup of vegetable oil, mixing it with your hands until the oil is absorbed. Set the homemade sand on top of newspaper or a plastic bag for easy cleanup, and give the kids funnels, toy cars, and shovels to play with. Just store the sand in a covered bin or a sealed plastic bag.

Bonus points if you bust out some sunglasses for your kids to don and play some tropical beach music in the background to really set the seaside vibe.

One way to occupy “bored” little kids is to send them on a wild goose chase, or what educators like to call a scavenger hunt. Whether it’s a themed hunt in search of items of the same color, or a random, free-for-all that has them reading clues and solving puzzles, scavenger hunts are great spring break activities to pass the time at home.

You can create your own scavenger hunt around your child’s interests using a blank template, or download one of these ideas:

• Treasure Run lets you customize your own scavenger hunt for indoors or outdoors.
• The Actionbound app lets you design your own digital interactive guide for older kids.
• ID-tech offers prompts and clues for the perfect scavenger hunt.

If you do have to head out with kids in tow, the fun doesn’t have to stop. Print out this grocery store scavenger hunt from Meaningful Mama and take the fun on the go!

“I took the original pictures in the grocery store back in March. We finally did it, and it was a lot of fun,” mom-of-three Jodie Durr wrote on her blog. “I was at the grocery store that day with my husband, which helped. He could man the cart and the little one, and I took care of the shopping and the scavenger hunt.”

Another pro tip when making scavenger hunts for younger kids: Print visual scavenger hunts with pictures of items for them to find. Then, slip the paper in a page protector and fasten it to a clipboard. Give them a dry-erase marker and encourage them to mark off the items as they find them.

If the weather permits, take your spring break activities outdoors and go camping in your backyard. You can either pitch a regular camping tent, use a beach shelter, or have your kids create a makeshift tent with some sheets, lightweight rope, and the nearest tree.

If you’re short on outdoor space, a blanket fort indoors will do the trick. Lay a blanket on the floor, put a chair on three different sides in a triangular shape, then drape bed sheets over the chair backs. Add blankets or scarves to give it a little flair. (Of course, it’s even more fun if you let the kids build their own tent!)

Break out the sleeping bags, make s’mores in the microwave before bed, and tell ghost stories. Give the kids flashlights or lanterns to find the bathroom in the night, and wake them up to one of these fun weekend breakfast ideas.

Recycled or upcycled crafts and activities are a great way to reuse your leftover items to create fun, engaging spring break activities for your kids. Here are a few examples you can do to upcycle some at-home games:

Web toss

Create a labyrinth in a doorway with painter’s tape, and challenge the kids to toss a paper ball through the web. Wad up pages from catalogs or newspapers to use as your balls. Create point markers by hanging numbers down in the spaces — the smaller the hole, the more points. Throw from the nonsticky side so the ball doesn’t get stuck to the tape. It’s a super-simple game that can provide hours of fun.

Balloon ball

Another indoor activity for getting sporty inside your house: Instead of using tennis balls, basketballs, or baseballs to play, use a balloon.

For example, you can make racquets out of cereal boxes and paint stirrers, and hit a balloon back and forth. Or, see how long you can bounce the balloon in the air; the balloon will move slowly enough that younger kids can’t miss it.

You don’t need to leave home to travel the world. Take advantage of the technology that is right at your fingertips to plan a spring break staycation for your family. If you’re planning for next year, now is the perfect time to send away for travel guides from some of your favorite destinations.

Simply reach out to travel bureaus and chambers of commerce to ask for a local guidebook or check online for virtual tours you can take. Save the travel guides for next year and use them to create a collage, plan your dream itinerary, map out a “someday” road trip, or just learn more about geography and history.

For a fun activity, there are several National Parks Junior Ranger badges you can earn from home. All you need is an internet connection and a printer.

Look to online homeschool blogs like Confessions of a Homeschooler for resources to help you travel the world without ever leaving home. Erica Arndt’s world geography curriculum includes a world passport printable that lets you “visit” countries while you learn about them.

Take your kids on an imaginary adventure to foreign lands with ethnic foods, international traditions, and common games and activities from other countries.

Qualcomm Inc. co-founder Harvey White coined the term STEAM, an acronym for the science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics initiatives in education. Originally called STEM in the early 2000s, the “a” was added to include the arts in that initiative.

With a variety of resources across the internet, incorporating STEAM at home during your spring break staycation is easier than ever. The educational site Teachers Pay Teachers offers a variety of printable activities and lessons — many of them free — for all ages. Here are a few suggestions:

• Desert Island STEM challenge: Build a catapult, raft, and bridge
• Spring STEM/STEAM Activities for early elementary grades
• No-prep STEM famous landmarks activity for middle grades

You can also just use what you have around your home to challenge your child. Not only do kids love to build, but they also love to be able to say they built the tallest tower ever. Challenge them to build as high as possible with different household items like marshmallows and toothpicks, plastic cups and plates, or free paint chips with slits cut in them for a colorful card tower.

Another common favorite is the vinegar-and-baking-soda-in-a-bottle trick. Pour about one-third cup of vinegar into a bottle, then spoon a teaspoon of baking soda into the mouth of a balloon. Fit the balloon over the mouth of the bottle, keeping the baking soda in the balloon. Then stand the balloon up and shake baking soda into the bottle for a fun chemical reaction.

What better time to get a head start on spring cleaning than during a spring break staycation? Motivate the kids to get rid of unwanted toys and clothes by planning a fun yard sale (and promise them they can keep the profits!). You can also take advantage of online sites like Poshmark, Depop, Mercari, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace, especially if you don’t have a yard or are an introvert who’d rather not spend hours face-to-face with strangers.

Either way, selling unwanted items is a great way to teach your children that there are ways to earn money in a pinch. They can also learn about the value of clearing out and letting go of things that no longer serve a purpose.

To keep a yard sale simple, create only four to five price points and assign each one a color. Use office dots to label the items by price. Let one color denote a negotiation category so you can keep some pricing loose. Give the kids a task to keep them engaged during the sale, whether it’s merchandising the goods or working the cash box.

If your items don’t sell, make sure everyone agrees to donate unsold items to charity.

It’s quite likely that some families in your neighborhood will be staying home for spring break. Take to your local neighborhood Facebook or NextDoor page and suggest everyone get together for a block party. Implement a block party committee with your neighbors so you’re not the only one doing the work; delegate and hold others accountable for various aspects of the party.

Reach out to local food trucks to see if they would like to set up in your neighborhood, or if you’d prefer, set up a potluck or neighborhood cookout. Neighbors can donate yard games and toys to share; if there’s a cul-de-sac, bikes and scooters can be set up there, so kids can play in an enclosed, safe space.

If you have a homeowners association, check for rules and regulations first so you’re not left scrambling the day of. Some communities prohibit blocking roadways in the event an emergency vehicle needs to gain access, while others have strict regulations about bounce houses. You don’t want to include something for the kids and then have to break it down mid-party if it’s determined to be off-limits.