March Break Boredom Busters

The March Break can provide you and preschooler with a psychological shot-in-the-arm (unless, of course, your child happens to get hit with a serious case of the boredom blues!) Here are some sure-fire ways to keep your preschooler entertained through March Break and beyond.

-Organize a treasure hunt. Plan an indoor or outdoor treasure hunt for your preschooler, complete with a treasure map.

-Host an indoor beach party. Who says you have to wait for the warm weather to host a beach party? Put a few inches of water in a plastic wading pool and put on your bathing suits. Surf’s up!

-Start your own parent-child preschool book club. Pick a book that both parents and kids would enjoy and send out book-shaped invitations to your book club guests. If you want to get really fancy, bake a book-shaped cake, too.

-Schedule a family movie night. Rent a few kid-friendly flicks and make a big bowl of popcorn. Then get ready to enjoy some great movies as well as one another’s company.

-Make a fort. Toss a blanket over the kitchen table. Then give your kids a flashlight so they can have fun hiding out in their fort.

-Make your own jigsaw puzzle out of a thick piece of cardboard. Or buy a precut jigsaw puzzle kit at your local craft store.

-Get ready for spring by painting clay flowerpots. To keep the paint from rubbing off, finish the flowerpot by spraying on a layer of spray-on acrylic.

-Make hand puppets out of a pair of oven mitts. Glue or sew on fabric, felt, hair, buttons, sequins, and other materials to finish your puppet. Then have your own puppet show.

-Make a map of your house, your backyard, or your neighbourhood. When you’re finished making your map, laminate it and hang it on the wall.

-Make a collage out of pictures cut out of magazines, brightly coloured swatches of paper and fabric, and “found objects” from around the house—popsicle sticks, feathers, and so on.

-Make your own musical instruments. An old coffee tin makes an ideal drum, provided you file off any rough edges and glue the lid on tightly. An unsharpened pencil with an eraser on the end makes a great drumstick!

-Do some indoor gardening. Start an herb garden or get a head start on some spring vegetables or flowers.

-Make your own placemats. Draw colourful designs on a piece of construction paper and have your artwork laminated at your local office supply store.