Heading out to a cabin for your family vacation with young kids? Here are some simple ideas to keep them busy after the initial excitement wears off.
Collect Rocks, Leaves, and Shells
If your cabin is on the beach, there is no shortage of shells and rocks.
No beach? No problem. There are still a lot of rocks, leaves and twigs to be found. Grab a bucket or baggie and start collecting.
Get some education in: Try to collect as many different leaves as you can find on the ground and take it one step further by matching the leaf to the tree you think it came from. Bonus points for correctly identifying the type of tree as well.
Create Art from Nature
Crayola makes a number of washable art supplies including paints and water colours. Once you’ve gone on your nature walk, you’ll have a large number of items to paint.
*photo credit: Sheri Landry
We took a walk along the beach this weekend and made sure to pick up some nice, flat rocks in fun shapes. Like watching clouds, we talked about what each rock shape looked like then tried to paint what we saw in the rock.
If you are painting leaves, you can cover one side of the leaf with paint and use it like a stamp to make an impression on a piece of paper. Once the paint dries, you can draw legs, arms and eyes on your leaf shape to make different creatures.
Take Photos
Remember to take pictures of your family time at the cabin. If you have an old camera laying around the house, give it to your kids to photograph what they found interesting.
We have an old point and shoot that has a broken screen, but still works fine. Our oldest uses it to take photos of things she likes and I am always surprised when I look at her photos. I could be standing right beside her, and I always miss something that she catches on camera.
Back in My Day…
There is a lot to be said for the toys that kept us entertained when we were younger. Save the iPads, video games and DVDs for the rainy days (or the city). As simple as our old toys seem now, they are new to the kids of today. Many of these toys can be found at your local dollar store.
Learning to Hula Hoop. Photo Credit: Sheri Landry
Don’t just prepare for the rainy days. Make a ‘sunny day’ package for your kids and fill it with items like:
- Skipping rope
- Yo-yos
- Hula Hoop
- Sand pail and shovel
- Kites
- Sidewalk chalk
- Frisbees
Sheri publishes, and writes at This Bird’s Day where she shares all of the thoughts in her head without the voices. Sticking mainly with content for Canadians, Sheri shares family stories, product information and anything that fits into her (and her family’s) daily activities.
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Thank you for your tips. My kids love outdoor activities especially going kite playing because we get some strong winds here.
Great article. Kids now-a-days have so many electronic toys to play with, and the toys back in the day are also fun, both are very educational.
The toys from ‘way back when’ are even more fun because it is something new too. Thanks for commenting.