Winter Holidays: Ways to Keep the Kids Entertained

*This is a collaborative post.

We all dread the phrase ‘Mum, I’m bored!’ Keeping your children occupied and entertained is no mean feat. The average child’s attention span is between two to five minutes for each year of their age. So, for example, a six-year-old should be able to concentrate for between 12 and 32 minutes depending on the activity. Throughout the day, this are a huge amount of activities us mums need to come up with to avoid the wails of boredom especially in the winter holidays!

So, what is going to keep them entertained? In winter, this can feel like even more of a challenge as we often must come up with more indoor activities than usual. Here are a few ways to keep your kids entertained this winter!

1. Send them Scavenging

Scavenger hunts are a perfect way to keep the kids busy and are ideal for winter as you can set them up indoors or outdoors – no matter what the weather! They’re easy to create and can be done to suit any budget and any age. Create excitement and competition by making a list of items for them to find and give them a set amount of time to do it in. The great thing about scavenger hunts is that you can pick items that already exist, so you don’t have to spend money buying items or time hiding things! They are a perfect way to teach your children to think outside the box and solve problems.

2. Get them Gliding

We all need to run errands at this busy time of year, but often face the trauma of temper tantrums mid-shop. If you want to pop to the shops for some Christmas prezzies and need a way to keep your children entertained, why not get them a pair of Heelys to whizz around on? The fun footwear will make them excited about gliding round the shops, keeping them busy whilst you tick of your shopping list. They are also a great way of getting your children used to the motion of skating, so you can go onto try other activities such as roller blading or ice skating.

3. Craft exciting Creations

Arts and crafts are the perfect go-to activity for children. You can buy relatively cheap children’s paints, glitter and glue at local craft stores and many large supermarkets now stock them too. Top tip: give them a large tray or board to do their arts and crafts on. This will eradicate any danger of paint or glue spilling onto your carpets!

Paper snowflakes are a great winter themed creation and are easy to do, so suitable for most ages. Start with a piece of paper, fold it in half to make a large triangle, then fold again diagonally to make a smaller triangle. Keep folding until you have a small, tight triangle. Then cut any shapes you like into the paper. Unfold, and reveal your snowflake! Here encourage our children to use their imagination to add colour, glitter, or stick items onto their snowflakes!

4. Get Out the Suitcases

Why not pack up shop and head off for a winter holiday?! Family Winter Activity Holidays are an amazing way to do and see loads of things as well as spending quality time with the people that you love. Forget the slushy wet stuff found in the UK or the groomed piste of a ski resort, we’re talking a thick layer of stunning, untouched white powder, coating a wild Lappish landscape of fells, forests and frozen lakes – all ready and waiting for your unforgettable winter family holiday. Staying in a chalet surrounded by snow is a must!

Time spent together as a family making memories goes by so quickly, so it is so important to take the opportunities to make these memories when we can!

There are many ways to keep your kids entertained over the winter holidays. We hope these tips have given you some inspiration!