2020 Spring Break Ideas for Families During Coronavirus Pandemic
It’s spring break early on the West Coast! This could be a great thing or cause a sense of impending doom that has nothing to do with the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. Whether you are still working or at home, you need indoor activities during coronavirus pandemic to do with your kids over spring break that keep everyone healthy and happy. Don’t worry, I have some ideas for you!
(Note: I am not giving any kind of medical advice, these are simply indoor activities that you may need to adapt or opt-out of based on your family’s medical needs.)
Let Your Kids Make Their Own Snacks
Grocery store out of something you wanted to make the kids for snacks? This isn’t a problem because your kids are creative! Let them have a “chef challenge” where they only get a couple ingredients and have to make their own delicious snack. Today when I was trying to figure out what to do with my tween son during spring break and was sick of letting him just play video games, I just put out tortillas, butter, jelly, bananas, cream cheese, peanut butter, and Nutella and he had a blast coming up with different combinations. In fact, it worked so well that he’s decided to make his “famous roll-ups” for the rest of the break for lunch! Obviously be careful with germ spreading in the kitchen during COVID-19 time.
Facials With Kids and Teens Are Fun
Kids, tweens, and teens love face masks, it’s a fact. When else do they get to have fun getting dirty putting mud or some other goop onto themselves? Spring break facials with teens or kids are super fun and make for some great pictures. They are great spring break ideas for families on a budget too. Also, don’t forget boys! My son actually asks to do masks often now that he is hitting puberty and blackheads are making themselves known.
Brainstorm Ideas Via Pinterest
Pinterest is an addiction of mine! Whenever I run out of family fun ideas, I go to Pinterest to see all my options. People are brilliant so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel of activities. If you are looking for things to do with teens at home, showing them how to find things on Pinterest can be really fun! Check out my Pinterest boards for lots of activities for kids and teens.
Family Game Night (Potentially All Day)
Why not make a spring break family game night tradition? This could be the first of many opportunities and the best part, you can play an entire game of Monopoly because you have enough time! We love this Giant Jenga because it is a more physical game. Sometimes my 12-year-old son even builds fortresses (for the cat) out of the blocks when we are done playing.
Give Eachother Manicures
Are you wondering what to do with a teenage daughter over spring break during the Coronavirus pandemic? Manicures could be the answer. When the world was going out buying toilet paper, I (who already had enough) went out to get mermaid colors of nail polish and decals. You do need to think about sanitizing but I am sure you can figure this out and have a good time playing with different polish combinations. I love these nail art pens to make manicures look prettier (and take longer.) Youtube can also help with step by step nail art ideas.
Clean and Declutter Your House
Ok, so this is not the most exciting option for spring break with kids but it can actually be kind of fun if done right. The best place to start is to tell the kids you need to go through the house and get rid of old things so you can buy new things as needed. This includes their old clothes that are too small. I’ve actually sat down with my kids and watched a couple of episodes on the Marie Kondo Method of Tidying Up and they loved it! We all practiced folding shirts “properly” and made a contest out of it. (I lost to my daughter.) After minimizing your home, give it some well-deserved scrubbing. This is a bonus in that it will kill any virus, mold, or bacteria lurking about.
Make Funny Videos or Take Pictures of Eachother
Kids and teenagers usually enjoy taking pictures and some also like videos. Have fun with it, be silly, and have a visual memory of good times during indoor spring break with kids. You don’t have to post pictures or videos anywhere online if you are worried about it. Fun videos to make include making up a dance, interviewing each other about random weird topics, creating a “news broadcast” (with commercials), or just trying out some random Snapchat filters. Focus on spending quality time with your kids, not making a masterpiece.
Arts and Crafts Are Still Fun
Kids love crafts. Depending on the age of your kids, activities could range from making your own playdough to crafts we do over spring break with teens like making custom signs using a Cricut machine. Whatever you do, make sure your kids get a couple of choices so they feel a sense of control over their activities.
Have a Movie Marathon
Spring break movie time! Pick genera, any genera and have a full-blown movie marathon! We have done Disney movie marathons, Harry Potter marathons, Star Wars Marathons (Yes, I know they are Disney now but still), you name, it, you can make it into a marathon! Honestly, it may not seem like it but a movie marathon really is a fun thing to do for spring break. During the Coronavirus pandemic, this just means everyone gets their own popcorn bowl.
Plan Your Next Vacation
Just because you are stuck indoors for spring break this year doesn’t mean this pandemic is forever. Vacation planning with kids and teens can teach them skills like budgeting, how to pick nice hotels and when flight prices increase. If you have a family vacation planned but had to cancel, you may have vacation credit to use in the future so you might as well plan for it. I don’t necessarily recommend actually booking until you know more of a timeline for COVID-19 but planning is still super fun. Check out my other blog posts on family vacation planning ideas.
How did you spend your spring break during the Coronavirus outbreak? Please let me know in the comments below. Follow this blog for more family fun ideas for teens, tweens, and kids by subscribing. Have a great spring break!
