10 Playful Activities to Make a Staycation Special for Your Family
As it’s not always possible to go on vacation, a great option is a staycation! This week I am sharing 10 fun ways to spice up staying at home as a family.
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These 10 days are so much fun, low cost, and easy to execute! I hope these ideas can inspire you to do fun things with your families at home.
1. Backyard Camping
As a kid, it is so fun to set up tents and hang out in them! Whether you actually sleep in the tent is up to you! Even if that’s not something that interests you, maybe you have older kids or a spouse that would want to sleep out in the tent with the kids! You can have a campfire, make mores, and eat tin foil dinners all from the convenience of your backyard.
2. Movie Marathon
This idea can take place inside or outdoors. All you need is a TV or projector! Maybe it’s summer or a weekend and you need to fill time, so you watch some movies! I think that it would be so fun to go pick out everyone’s favorite treats, make popcorn, and watch a movie (or a few). You can also get an outdoor movie screen or just use a sheet on the side of your house, and project a movie! This is a fun option to watch a movie at home, but make it more special.
3. Spa Day
This one is for girls AND boys! Turn down the lights, put on some relaxing music, and light some candles to set the mood. You can all do facials, paint nails, and give massages. Another option is going out to get pedicures somewhere. The boys can come too!
4. Treasure Hunt
This can be super simple, and a ton of fun for kids. Simply go to the dollar store and pick up some fun, cheap prizes/toys, and then set up clues at home! All you have to do is hide the prizes, write your clues, and let the fun begin! It’s that simple!
5. Theme Park at Home
This idea is a little bit more involved, but I think that it would be so much fun! Think of it as an at-home carnival. You can set up ring toss and darts and cornhole! Whatever fun games you want! You can even make little medals or trophies for the “winners”.
6. Arts & Crafts Day
Fill your family’s day with art projects! Head over to a crafts store (like Hobby Lobby) and pick up whatever you’ll need. You could do watercolors, paint, clay, or really anything you want! Another fun idea is to watch Bob Ross videos on YouTube and follow along with his tutorials.
7. Bake Off
This one is a great idea if you have lots of kids, or cousins or neighbors that could come over to join you. Break the kids up into a few teams and have them all complete a baking challenge. For example, you could make cupcakes and have everyone work to make their best decorations! Another spin on this idea is to have your kids make cooking videos. My kids loved to do this and they would get all of their ingredients measured out and then set up a camera to record them teaching how to make the food. It was entertaining and delicious!
8. Science Day
There are SO many science experiments that you can do at home! All you have to do is Google “simple home science experiments” and you will have hundreds of options! A lot of these ideas use household items and your kids will not only love it but maybe learn something too!
9. Sports Tournament
Have a day filled with sports for your family! One of my favorite summer sports is swimming pool kickball. When we play, we use 3 kiddy pools as the bases, and then you play kickball as normal. It’s a fun way to stay active and keep cool! You could also do relay races! There are lots of fun water-related relay races that would be great for summer. Or keep it more traditional with soccer and basketball!
You could even decorate shirts as your “jerseys”!
10. Game night
This one is simple, but so much fun! Set aside time to play games as a family. Everyone could pick out their favorite game and then you play a round of each. Or make it all about card games! Or learn a new game that no one has played before! Video games work too!
I hope that these ideas help you and your family create fun and unique memories together! You don’t always need to travel to get out and experience new things. Go and make some memories!