Chasing Away the "I'm Boreds."

What are you doing during this holiday season? 

My kids are officially on Christmas break starting today.  I was reminding my 6 year old who is in kindergarten about that the other day at breakfast.  You know how you just can't help yourself but to say, "See you next year?!"  I made some comment about that and Owen truly believes that when he goes back to school in January that he'll be a first grader.  Little kids take things so literally!

Many families pack up and take off to visit their "snow bird" grandparents who have relocated to warmer regions for the winter.  I've never done that before.  I've always been home sweet home for the holidays, except for the one time that my parents and I drove to Florida over Thanksgiving to visit my Aunt Clara and Uncle Wayne.  Other families pack up and go other places, like skiing or Disney World.

We won't be doing any of those things.

We'll be here at home and making the most of the time off from our routines and schedules...I'll still be cooking and doing laundry and cleaning and...come to think of it, my routing won't change a whole lot.

One thing I do worry about is keeping my three children occupied so that they are not only enjoying themselves and the time off from school and studying (although, we do have a science project to finish up with Evan), it's the video games and television time that I try to keep a close watch on.  I refuse to allow a free-for-all during those ten days they are off.  And since it doesn't appear to be that we are going to have any measurable snow this entire winter, sending them out to sled or build snowmen isn't going to be an option.

Enter the Tub-O-Fun!

"What is the Tub-O-Fun?" you might ask.

It's the tub I bring out and let the kids create or fiddle with whatever they like.  You can make your own Tub-O-Fun too.  A lot of what's in our tub are things that can be found around the house. 

1. empty tissue box
2. empty cereal box
3. empty toilet paper or paper towel roll
4. glue/glue sticks
5. glitter
6. tissue paper
7. string
8. tape
9. stickers
10. construction paper
11. scissors
12. paints
13. paint brushes
14. Popsicle sticks
15. pom poms
16. old greeting cards or photos
17. stampers/stamp pads
18. glitter glue
19. beads/buttons
20. craft foam

If you happen to be out at a Walmart/Michaels/Target/JoAnn's anytime over the next couple of days peruse the dollar bins or pick up a couple of kits if you're really at a loss.  Kids of all ages love to craft and I find that if you sit down and craft with them, they'll open up and get to chattering about all kinds of things they probably wouldn't have shared with you otherwise.

Aside from the "free crafting" as we call it when I let them just dig into the supplies and come up with whatever on their own, there are a lot of wonderful age-appropriate craft ideas that can be found online.  Here are a couple we are going to spend time on over the next several days...

We've made these ornaments before and they are fun to attach to a gift.  Everyone appreciates a homemade gift from children.  Instructions for these ornaments can be found on Disney's Family Fun at the following link:   Wire Star

I know Jenna is going to love making this snowflake t-shirt.  We'll have plenty of time to let the paint dry while she is off from school and it will be fun to have a wintry top to wear after we put away all of the red and green outfits.  Also found on Disney's Family Fun, the instructions can be found at the following link:   Snowflake T-Shirt.

Here's hoping I won't hear too many "I'm boreds!" over the coming days!