Fun Ways to Keep the Kids Entertained This Holiday Season

As the holiday season ramps up towards Christmas, kids’ excitement reaches a boiling point with their anticipation of the gifts they’ll receive and all the fun they’ll get to have. For parents, the challenges are just beginning because when kids have too much time on their hands, they often get bored and restless. When they’re restless, bad things can happen. Therefore, as a parent, you must plan out the activities in an organized manner to avoid this scenario and have a happy holiday season.

Here are a few fun ways to ensure that kids stay entertained and occupied during their vacation time.

Get the Decorations Up

Some children look forward to the trip to go out and buy the Christmas tree. Just picking out the tree is the beginning of Christmas for many kids. Take out the box of decorations that haven't seen the light of day since last year and assign tasks to your son(s) and daughter(s) based on their age and sense of responsibility. Let the kids untangle the Christmas tree lights that will be in knots by now. Another kid can carefully extract the hanging decorations that will string along the walls. The Christmas tree ornaments are also in the box somewhere and a star or Angel for the top of the tree too.

When messing with the Christmas lights, make sure the kids don’t plug them into the power outlet unsupervised. Be gentle when untangling the lights because they’re fragile and easily broken. Also, if you assign a kid to hang up the decorations on the wall, make sure they’re not climbing dangerously on the furniture to do so.

Choosing a Face

Smaller kids may enjoy trying out the RageMaker.net site which has many types of drawn faces based on different emotions from happy to angry to sad or enthusiastic. They can take the faces on the site and try to hand draw them with the parents judging the winner and awarding a prize.

Playing in the Snow

If you’re lucky enough to live in an area that gets plenty of snow each year, then make sure you take advantage of it. Sledding down the hill, building a snowman with a carrot for a nose, or having a snowball fight is all part of the chilly experience.

Make sure the kids are wrapped up warm before they go out. You don’t want any cold fingers and toes leading to them getting a cold, which would really spoil the fun of the holidays.

Cooking a Christmas Meal Together

Learning to cook is a skill that too few adults know by the time they’ve grown up and left home. Getting everyone involved in preparing the Christmas meal is a good time to work as a family unit with the whole family pitching in. Whether that means someone is peeling the potatoes and another older kid is cleaning the vegetables, assign tasks that they can learn from and aim to add new more advanced tasks every year, so older teenagers will eventually be taking the lead. If you add in some of their favorite foods, you’re more likely to get their cooperation too.

Keeping the kids happy and busy during the holiday season avoids them getting up to no good when they’re too idle. Join in with the games they invent or want to try for the first time to encourage their experimentation under your careful supervision.