For many today marks the start of “Spring Break”! HALLELUJAH! NO HOMESCHOOL FOR A WEEK!! Well, not for us, YET... ours isn’t until the week of April 6th and my kids are already feeling the loss of our annual Spring Break trip to Mexico.
We, like all of you, will be home for spring break this year so I thought I would share some of the things we’ll be doing during our “vacation” to help you beat the spring break blues and get inspired to have some fun at home!
Have a backyard Camp Out!
Our youngest asked for a backyard camp out a couple times last week so I put it high on the priority list- and to give us all something to look forward to, we decided we’ll kick off our first night of spring break in a couple weeks backyard camping!
We have a little fire pit from Home Depot and just got a new tent that we’re excited to use!
We’ll pack some hotdogs in the cooler and spend a beautiful 12 hours enjoying the back yard and playing “camp out’! Ya, I know it’s not quite the same as waking up to a view of the ocean from my bedroom in Mexico, but it’s going to be fun and definitely something out of the ordinary, which is just what we need!
Travel Virtually
Pick a far away destination and take a virtual trip! Tour landmarks and museums, find a recipe from the region and set up your own cafe at home, listen to music from there, learn a few words in a new language, discover some new fun facts about the culture! You can even make a plan as a family to save up and go on a REAL trip to your destination in 2021 or whenever it is we all start traveling again!
Play “hotel or resort” at home!
Wear robes, “order and deliver” room service (real food or play food!), watch movies in bed, get an inflatable pool and set it up out back! Get fancy! Play spa, paint nails, do face masks! This one can be a day or even two of fun times! Pack suit cases (or as my daughter calls them “soup cases” and make the living room your presidential suite!
Plant a garden:
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” - Audrey Hepburn
We don’t know when all this madness is gonna end, but I believe it WILL and at some point, “normal” life will resume. Planting a garden is super normal for us, but regardless if you plant one every year or never have- now is a perfect time to put some faith into tomorrow.
Every year, around this time, we spend 9+ hours in the yard weeding, and turning the soil and pruning and clearing and prepping for our spring garden. If you don’t have a yard, you can still sow seeds! Empty compostable egg cartons make a great place to sprout stuff, you can also get window boxes like THESE or small pots or even rain gutters (drill holes in them for drainage) and plant herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, snap peas and loads of other good stuff in small spaces!!
It’s a perfect time to have a discussion with your kids about taking care of our planet and brainstorm more ways we can give back to Mother Earth this spring!
Set up or freshen up a play space:
I recommend getting on your neighborhood swap group for this one- people can wipe down what they set out for you to pick up, and you can wipe it down again….better than buying all new stuff!! I know I’ve been destashing like crazy- I went through everything in our homeschool library, games and toys last week and moved everything in boxes to the garage, wiped it all down and left it be. Next week I’ll offer it up to the neighborhood and leave it on the driveway for pickup or swap! Fun stuff to have in the set up outdoors are a play kitchen, water table, sand box, bubble machine, sidewalk chalk, an inflatable pool and even an outdoor speaker for some music. A giant tarp and ALL the messy art that you may not normally let them do is also a huge win here. If outside time is less of an option where you live, you can play “beach getaway” in your living room! Make beachy food, put on some fun-in-the-sun music, scoot the couch over and lay out towels to watch a summery movie on!
This pic of my daughter from spring break like 3 years ago stopped me in my tracks. She’s grown SO much. Time does fly, and it really does feel like the universe is giving us a well disguised gift right now. It’s on us to make the most of it! Oh! Ok, one last idea that just came as I added the pic- making a slide show of old pics and watching it with your kids is probably a great idea- I’m off to work on one over here, RIGHT NOW!!
