Your annual family trip has been cancelled, and you’re wondering if the neighbourhood barbecue will happen. It’s normal to feel disappointed that the plans you were so excited about won’t be happening this summer, but it’s important to try and make the most of a less-than-ideal situation.
Even though we aren’t able to hop on a plane, drive across any borders, or take any other kind of vacation that requires travel or being in typically crowded areas this summer, it’s still hugely beneficial to take time off work and hang out with the family. Even if you’re already working from home, taking a few days away from your laptop will help clear your head and allow you some quality time to bond with your family, among other benefits.
Here are some of our favourite ideas for having a rocking family staycation:
Plan Fun Family Activities at Home
It’s likely you’ve already been planning at-home activities for your kids on a regular basis, but how often have you had the time to participate?
Buy some bubbles from the dollar store, break out the sprinkler, plan a scavenger hunt, or start the competition with cardboard box race cars. With a little bit of creativity, the options are endless, and, by the end of the day, you’ll likely be feeling like a kid again yourself.
Okay, it’s not exactly the same as the overseas trip you initially had planned, but there are a ton of ways you can get your travel fix without ever leaving your couch.
One option is to schedule regular family movie or TV nights with the family. There are plenty of awe-inspiring, travel-themed movies and TV series available on every streaming platform – check out this travel blogger’s huge list of suggestions!
Google Arts & Culture is another platform that can help to ease your family’s wanderlust. Tour world monuments like the Taj Mahal, Macchu Pichu, the Colosseum, and more together from your computer. You can also check out world-class virtual museums like the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, the Van Gough Museum in Amsterdam, and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Other websites – tourism boards, zoos, and aquariums – are also offering virtual tours. Find more details and ideas here.
Explore Your Local Area
If you and your family are low-risk, you’re following your local government’s safety guidelines, and you feel comfortable, why not venture out a bit further from home for a day? Visit a nearby conservation area for a hike, head to the beach, or spend the weekend camping.
While it may feel a bit strange heading out to do something in public for the first time in a few months, experts say that these activities pose a relatively low risk.
Keep in mind, spending a significant amount of time outside your home does come with risk – so take extra care to make sure you’re able to stay six feet or more from those outside your immediate household. Check your province’s ministry of health guidelines before heading out to make sure you’re informed on PPE requirements.
Parents and students across the country are dealing with school closures and government advice to stay home as much as possible. Just because schools are closed doesn’t mean the learning needs to stop – trust us, the kids will get bored pretty quickly if it does!
Luckily, formal classes aren’t the only place to learn new things, and the alternatives don’t have to be expensive. Check out these free or low-cost ideas for new ways to keep the kids learning while you handle your tenth video conference of the day:
Check Your Library’s Online Resources
Your local library may be closed for the time being, but many are providing their communities with access to just as much information online as you could in person! With a library card and a free online account, you’ll likely have access to tons of ebooks, audiobooks, online newspapers, and book clubs.
Some libraries may even be able to provide free courses for teens and adults through websites like Lynda.com. Check the resources section of your library’s website to get reading and learning!
Learn A New Language
Having the ability to speak multiple languages helps improve decision-making skills, keeps the mind sharp (even into old age), and will eventually provide your child with additional job and career opportunities.
In today’s digital age, it’s easier than ever to learn a language from home. Check the app store on your smartphone or tablet for language learning apps. Whether your kids prefer learning a language to be a game or a more serious, classroom-style experience, you’ll find options for them to learn a variety of languages from the comfort of your living room, completely free or for a small fee.
Trying to limit screen time? Start small…together with the kids, write out some flashcards of everyday objects and place them accordingly throughout the house.
Find Out Your Family History
Ever wonder what your grandparents’ grandparents were like? How and when exactly your ancestors arrived in Canada? Whether you have any heritage from a country you didn’t expect?
Now that you have a bit more free time, gather the family together to learn more about where you came from. Sign up for a free trial at Ancestry (check to see if your library offers free Ancestry accounts, first!) and get searching.
Turn it into a fun project for the kids by having them build out a family tree or write up a biography on a specific ancestor. Take the opportunity to help them learn more about your family’s countries of origin, too, whether that means learning a bit of the language or having a fun family night in the kitchen cooking up a local dish.
Spending a couple of weeks at home might sound like a relief from busy everyday life and, for some people, the idea can sound downright exciting! But when you factor in that the “retreat” from society wasn’t a planned vacation you had time to prepare for, you can’t spend the time visiting friends and extended family or travelling somewhere sunny, and that all the places your kids love to visit are closed, a couple of weeks starts to look a lot longer.
So, how do you avoid 2+ weeks of the kiddos
watching streaming services from morning ‘til night? Try scheduling a couple of
evenings each week for a fun family activity.
Here are a few of our favourite ideas for when
you need to turn off the TV or video games and get the fam together for a bit
of quality time.
Cook Dinner Together
If you want to keep the kids busy for an hour, encourage them to appreciate healthy, home-cooked food, and get some help in the kitchen. This one’s a no-brainer!
Do a quick online search for kid-friendly
recipes and get cooking! Classic kid favourites like spaghetti and
meatballs are simple enough to keep those little hands busy.
Don’t be afraid to get a bit more adventurous
with your recipes, either. Even if your kids are picky and claim not to like
the meal you want to make, remember they’re more likely to try eating something
they had a hand in making themselves.
If your kids are younger, game night is a great way to teach them how to be good sports. It can also teach them important life skills like patience, how to take directions, and how to take turns. Many board games also give kids the opportunity to learn how to strategize and learn from their own mistakes.
Organize Family Memories
Remember that family trip to Florida when the
kids were little? They might not. Gather everyone together to go through some older
photos on your phones, on your Dropbox account or housed on your social media
accounts.
Once you’ve had your fill of reminiscing, choose your favourite pictures and print them at home for a fun arts and crafts project: building scrapbook pages together! Have every family member take charge of a specific page – for example, one person can design a page for a specific family vacation, one for events with the extended family, and one for documenting how the kids have grown year over year (we think school portraits are the perfect way to show this off). Personalize your pages by decorating with stickers and coloured construction paper cut-outs.
If you don’t have a printer at home, why not
build your scrapbook digitally? Upload your favourite photo memories to a
service like Chatbooks, where you can organize your photos and add
captions and designs to the pages.
Missing any schoolyear memories? It’s never too late to order your digital or printed photos with Edge! Visit our online ordering site to get started today.
