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Community Corner

Ideas to Keep Kids Amused While Home for Winter Break

Boredom-beating ideas to have fun while the kids are home from school

Sue Kirchner is a family fun coach and weekly contributor to Patch.com. She created ChocolateCakeClub.com and ChocolateCakeMoments.com both sites dedicated to helping busy families have more fun together. Sue and her family fun ideas have been featured on TV, newspapers, magazines, and blogs. 

This is the second week that kids are off from school. Are your kids bored, yet? Driving you nuts? Mine sure are, so I put together some really fun ideas for crafts, cooking together, and activities to make the kids smile and help Mom keep her sanity.

Fun in the Kitchen

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Spending time together in the kitchen is always fun. Let each child choose their favorite recipe and then have fun in the kitchen baking together. MomEndeavors.com had a great idea for Snowflake pretzels that you can make with the kids. These Hot Chocolate Mug Cakes are easy and fun to make on a cold day.

Winter Crafts

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Makeandtakes.com had a fun idea for a twist on New Years Resolutions. Make a family motto board for the year.

Martha Stewart has an easy recipe to make your own modeling clay. Kids will have a blast making and then sculpting with the clay.

Fun Activities

Movie Marathon. Let the kids stay in their pajamas and pick a theme for a movie marathon. Let each member of the family pick a movie and then make popcorn, bake cookies, or set up an ice cream sundae bar for some extra special movie treats.

Make a Holiday Scrapbook. Take all of those Christmas or Hanukkah pictures you just took and have each child decorate a page to be put in a scrapbook. Everyone will love looking at it next Holiday season.

Have an Indoor Snowball Fight. We don't have any snow yet but that doesn't mean we can't have a good old fashioned snow ball fight. Create “snowball” ammunition out of white tissue paper or cotton balls wrapped with saran wrap. Give each team an equal amount. Let ‘em fight it out in the basement or other kid-friendly area of the house. It will take the kids awhile to make the ammunition so it's a good way to keep them occupied for the day.

Christmas Card Art Show. Hang all of your Christmas cards or your kids' Holiday art from school up on the wall and have an art show. Everyone in the family can vote on which is their favorite.

If the kids are still bored, tell them that they are old enough to learn to clean the bathroom. I’m sure you will see a renewed interest in the other ideas.

Want some more ideas for keeping kids amused during the Holiday break? Watch my video clip on Ideas to amuse Kids During Holiday Break.

What do you do to keep the kids' boredom at bay during Holiday Break?

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