Anyone else have a serious case of spring fever? I’m dying over here. It’s funny, but I used to love the cold weather. As I’ve gotten older I am less and less tolerant of any temperature that is below 60 and over 80. Anyone up for a move to Hawaii?
Alright, FINE. If I can’t live on a tropical island somewhere, I’ll just soak up the sweet days of spring here in North Texas before too cold becomes too hot. For now, dreams of self-tanner, cut-off shorts, sundresses, spring-colored nails, and quality family time with some fresh new inexpensive and free spring break ideas are swirling in my head.
First of all, we’re not spring break travelers. My kids are such homebodies, although I’m sure they’d have fun on a spring break getaway, they’d feel cheated that they didn’t get time to be at home on their week off. I guarantee it. When I was a teacher, the LAST THING ON EARTH I wanted to do was pack up and go somewhere during my week off. Even now that I work from home, I prefer traveling in the summer when we have plenty of time to prepare and ample time to recover. My goal for spring break is simply this: to be intentional with our time together and hope it’s memorable for us all.
But, if I don’t think of spring break ideas ahead of time, that week will fly by almost without notice. I’ve gathered some of our favorite, free, simple, and inexpensive things to do as a family (nothing crazy, just low-key yet meaningful, fun, and intentional) and put them on our 2019 Spring Break Bucket List. We won’t get to all of them, but we’ll get to some, and that will be just perfect. Here are my spring break ideas:
Read a novel together. One of my favorite things I do with my older boys on a regular basis is reading together at night. Our consistency in doing this ebbs and flows depending on what season we’re in (too often practices and homework dominate our evenings). Some of our favorite reads so far are The Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, Wonder, Harry Potter (we’re on book 3 now), and The One and Only Ivan. We seriously look forward to this time so much. It’s a great way to connect with my kids and spend time with just my big boys (I put the little one to bed first). Over spring break, I’m hoping we’ll finish the third Harry Potter book, The Prisoner of Azkaban.
Start (or in our case, continue) a family devotional. If you haven’t read my post on our favorite family devotionals, head over here for some great suggestions! I also saw that Tony Evans recently came out with a family devotional in his Kingdom series, called Kingdom Family. It’s less than $8 on Amazon. Do you know and love Tony Evans? I find such incredible wisdom in his words and in his work. I will definitely be checking this devotional out.
Look at the stars. I always vow to do this with my kids and never do. I’m going to try to make that happen over spring break. I’m thinking blankets in the bed of the truck, snacks, and cuddles.
Go for a walk or bike ride. Taking walks on a sunny day puts me in a great mood every time! There’s just something about that mix of vitamin D and endorphins. My boys love riding their bikes, but I don’t have one. I’ve been thinking about getting one, but I’d have to get a toddler seat to mount, as well. What do you think? Should I get one? I need input!
Let the kids take turns choosing and cooking dinner. Okay, so I’ll probably only do this once per kid, but it will be fun one-on-one time and a learning experience for them, as well.
Have a front yard family baseball game. Play
A trip to an amusement park. My parents got us season tickets to Six Flags, so this is always a fun option. Again, this is winning entertainment for every age! My three-year-old can’t stop talking about how much fun he recently had at “Flick Flags.”
A family picnic at the park. Give us a nice day at the park and a bag of five sandwiches, chips, fruit, cookies, and some drinks, and my kids will have a blast and never want to leave. This is free fun at its finest! Bonus: they’re really tired at bedtime!
Complete a random act of kindness. Or two or three! Pay for someone in the drive-through line, leave a quarter in the basket at Aldi, take blankets, socks, shoes, or gift cards to the homeless, volunteer at the local food bank, or leave a surprise on a neighbor’s doorstep. This will be a fun activity to complete together as a
Spend individual time with each kid. If you can, carve out a morning or afternoon to spend one-on-one time with each kiddo. If you have two kids and a partner, split them between you. If you have more than 2 kids, get creative! You’ll never regret spending time with them, and you’ll both have fantastic memories of Spring Break 2019!
Happy Spring Breaking, friends!