Every night, after we have had dinner and washed the dishes, I look forward to a secret, delectable treat, all for me—4 large salted dark chocolate almonds. Trying not to gain weight but it is my secret reward at the end of the day. As a matter of fact, I have fun little habits I sprinkle through my whole week.

The last day before everyone had to sequester in their homes, I returned from a wonderful long weekend in Asheville with my team of leaders. We have zoom chats all the time. We giggled and had lots of fun talking about the escapes each of us have taken—books on tape, chocolate, and so much more.

I thought at this point, it would be fun to talk a bit about something light— what we like to do, when we need to blow off steam! And so our team gathered to record this for you over Zoom this weekend to share some ideas.

Our podcast is about what we’d do as women who need tiny breaks to have fun for ourselves, but here are some ideas for what to do when your kids need to have fun, too! It is what I counted on when I needed a break.

Here are some of my fun Ideas that I used in our family.

Bubbles, of course, always made fun when we had not used them for a while.

Sidewalk chalk and give each child 5 pieces and have a mural contest.

Buy the little whirly sticks that blow in the wind. This kept Joy busy for hours when she was little.

Rousing game of capture the flag—or playing Roxaboxin!
Sticker books
Water in many different forms—bath tub and bubbles, floating little boats or army men or tea cups in a big pot of water outside—sprinklers, squirt guns, water water water.

I have a basket of wooden Easter eggs and I would use them all year round inside our home to hide for the kids when they needed something fun to do. Painting wooden eggs is also fun, and they never break. Toddlers love to roll them on the floor, and my children loved hiding them in the house for many years! Our wooden eggs came from from my missionary years in Poland, where I bought them for 10 cents apiece. They have lasted us all these years!

Tents under dining tables or card tables. Once we pulled a bunch of tables into our hallway and had a whole network through 2 rooms of our house! Each child had his own table, and they visited each other all day long, and of course ate snacks and lunch under the tables!

Camping out on your own porch. It is a lot easier than camping out for real and especially when there was a meteor shower.
Having a picnic dinner anytime outside, by the fireplace, in a bedroom, wherever we could pretend an adventure. And of course, we didn't have to make a real meal--just finger sandwiches, and fruit was enough to have fun. (they always tasted better when they were in shapes of hearts or logs or stars--I used big cookie cutters)
Going for a ride in the middle of the day with a rousing book on tape or Odyssey and ending up at the frozen yoghurt shop.

These are just a few things I would do when I needed a break. Maybe some of my ideas can help you.

What about you? What would you do?

Books Referenced in this Podcast:

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