Planning a Safe, Fun, and Fantastic Week for Spring Break

I’m excited about planning spring break this year! We’re staying home as we usually do for spring break, and I’ve learned that it’s best to have some kind of plan, or the week will fly by and feel wasted. Though we’re not going anywhere, I know we’ll have a fun time doing some different things at home with our boys. I came up with a two step process to plan our spring break week and give it some variety and structure.

Step One: Choose A Strategy For Planning Each Day of Spring Break

I chose 5 categories to base our days around this year. These categories are Play, Move, Give, Learn and Get Out. You can use these categories a few a different ways.

Strategy 1: Use the categories to help guide the main activity for each day. For example, on Monday you could “Move”. You could even call it something fun like “Movement Monday”.

Strategy 2: Choose something from each category every day of the week. Some categories may overlap. Your Monday could look something like this:

• Morning activity: go for a walk (Get out and Move)
• 2nd morning activity: watch a YouTube video to learn how to draw R2-D2 (Learn).
• Afternoon activity: donate to a food pantry (Give)
• Evening Activity: build LEGOs and have a LEGO challenge (Play)

Strategy 3: Use a few (but not all) categories for each day of the week. Your Monday could look something like this:

• Morning activity: go for a walk (Get out and Move)
• Afternoon activity: donate to a food pantry (Give)
• Evening Activity: build LEGOs and have a LEGO challenge (Play)

Step Two: Pick Your Fun and Plan Your Spring Break Days

Once you have your strategy, you need to choose specific activities for each category. Pick something you all will enjoy when planning spring break. I like the idea of everyone choosing activities together, so you all have something to look forward to each day. You could even write it all out on a calendar, chalkboard, or dry erase board for everyone to see.

Download a PDF of the calendar above here, or you can make your own just like this one on Canva.

Play

This is limitless, really, but here are some of our favorite ideas we use when planning spring break:

• Games: board games, card games and puzzles are all great options.
• Line up dominos and knock them down.
• LEGOs. Try doing some LEGO challenges.
• Make slime or play dough.
• Paint rocks. We did this last year instead of decorating Easter eggs.
• Go on a scavenger hunt. You can make it indoors or outdoors.
• Younger kids might enjoy playing with pipe cleaners.
• Build a fort. You can use blankets, sheets and pillows.
• Build a marble track.
• Make paper airplanes and have a contest.
• Make cars from your recycling.
• Color. A quick Google image search and a few seconds later you’ll be able to print all the coloring pages you want. The Crayola website also has some fun options.

Move

Moving is not only fun, but it’s also good for you physically AND mentally. Nothing improves our boys mood better than moving their bodies.

• Go Noodle has a wealth of videos to get your kids moving. There are dance videos and exercise videos. Some are short and some are longer.
• Do kids’ yoga. We’ve loved these videos in the past.
• Go for a walk.
• Do an outdoor scavenger hunt. Early in the pandemic we did a fun neighborhood scavenger hunt that was a big highlight for me.
• Ride bikes. Turn it into an adventure by going somewhere new or having a fun destination in mind like the park.
• Here are some more basic ideas to get some movement into your day:
  • Go to the park
  • Do jumping jacks
  • Fly kites (you have to run to get them going sometimes!)
  • Play hopscotch
  • Create an obstacle course (indoors or outside)

Give

Whether it’s time, money or something like toys they no longer use, kids can learn to give too! It doesn’t have to be anything big. Maybe they can give a smile. They could give some kindness or hope by doing something nice for someone. The idea is to think of others rather than themselves. Here are some more specific ideas:

• Donate to a food bank. Make a project of finding a food bank, researching what they need most, going to the store, and then taking the food to donate it.
• Do a random act of kindness. This could be as simple as holding a door open for someone. There are a lot more ideas here.
• Give to a charity. It could be your church or something like St. Jude. This should be their choice and not something they’re forced into doing if it’s their own money. To introduce the topic you could talk about money you donate yourself.
• Write a kind note. Kids can make and write notes to thank someone they appreciate or want to encourage. There’s something special about receiving something in the mail rather than just a text or email.
• Donate clothes or toys. We are never short on clothes or toys that we could get rid of in our house. Take a day to find things you’d specifically like to donate. Then find a good place to donate like the Salvation Army.

Learn

Just because it’s Spring Break doesn’t mean that learning has to stop. Work some learning time into your schedule when planning spring break. Learn something new with your kids, or teach them something they don’t know how to do that you’re good at. There are so many good options ideas out there but here are a few we’d like to try for our spring break:

• Learn to draw. We LOVE this YouTube channel.
• Read (try reading outside!)
• Go to the library
• Bake something
• Cook a meal together
• Start a garden
• Do a science experiment
• Learn to crochet.
• Make friendship bracelets.
• Learn how to make bath bombs.
• Try to learn something new about each other! Would you rather? questions would be a fun start.

Get Out

Going on a trip may not be an option. Going somewhere like the zoo or museum may not even work for your family this year, but there are plenty of ways to get out of the house without going too far (if you’re stuck inside, check out these ideas).

• Have a picnic. Do it in your yard to keep it close to home or find a safe place at a park.
• Go on a nature walk/scavenger hunt.
• Start geocaching.
• Get ice cream or some other treat. If you’re not comfortable going to a restaurant, you could get treats at the grocery store delivered.
• Ride bikes.
• Hang out outside. You may only be in your yard, but you’d still technically be getting “out of the house”. Try these ideas:
  • Sidewalk chalk
  • Blow bubbles
  • This bucket list has a lot of fun outdoor ideas.
• Here are some free and inexpensive options if you’re comfortable venturing a little further away from home:
  • Go to a park and swing.
  • Fly a kite.
  • Visit the zoo.
  • Play a round of mini golf.
  • Go to the library.

Spring Bucket List

In addition to picking from the categories above, you could also set aside some time during spring break to make a bucket list for spring. We made one for our summer last year, and it was fun marking off each item. I like this example, because it’s fairly simple and looks pretty doable.

Spring Break Plan

Your plan could look something like the one above. I chose a category for each day and an activity or activities to go with that theme for the day. We like having unstructured time as well, so I just marked our weekend days as “relax” days. It might be a good idea to have some loose plans on those kinds of days for those “I’m bored” moments.

Ready to get started planning your spring break? I’d love to hear what you’ve got planned and how your week goes. Message me on Facebook or Instagram or tag us in your posts. Happy Spring!