Keeping The Kids Happy This Vacation

A family vacation kicking back at the cabin is great – in theory.

In practice, the results can be less than ideal, especially when the little people get a serious case of cabin fever. Fear not, because experts say finding a cure is easier than you think. And it starts with reaching back into the past.Pull out your own favourite childhood games and activities, says Dave Besson, at Calgary’s Discovery Hut.

“Think about the games you played as a kid – your kids will love [them] no matter how old school you think they are,” Besson says.

The key is to “do things you wouldn’t normally do at home,” adds John Tait, the store’s owner.

Tait suggests holding off bringing out all the activities the first day. Instead, he says, unveil different things over the entire vacation. Here are a few ideas to make cabin time fun and memorable.

Keeping Kids happy On the road

Parents and kids all agree: the hours spent driving to and from the cabin can be the most arduous and boring. These game suggestions courtesy of The Discovery Hut should help:

• Rush hour challenges players to slide game pieces (cars and trucks) around their square to replicate the rush hour depicted on picture cards.
• Blokus challenges gamers to play as many pieces as they can by only touching corners to corners. The player who places the most pieces wins.
• The Klutz Kids travel book, a.k.a. The back seat survival guide, is an all-in-one activity centre for car-contained kids age eight and up.

Memory makers to Keep Kids Interested

Here are some ideas to help remember the vacation long after it’s over.

• Start a scrapbook or family journal. Encourage family members to contribute, including pictures, poems, postcards, or a pressed flower, feather or other memento from an outing.
• Ask your budding artist to draw a picture from their favourite moment.
• Make homemade kites using twigs, string and paper or scraps of fabric; or make a “telephone” with a tin can and a string; frame and hang the family’s vacation art.

Bad Weather days with the Kids

Rainy days are perfect for making brownies or cookies for – and with – your little helpers.

• Pull out the cards for rummy and crib, crazy eights, go fish or memory.
• Build a fort with the couch, sofa cushions, pillows and blankets.
• Host a collage- or mask-making party based on themes such as nature, favourite colour or favourite animal. Pack some old magazines and your arts and craft kit.
• Peel your favourite fruit (think melons, cantaloupes and oranges); dip the peels in paint; and then stamp them on paper to show kids the different textures.

Games Kids Like to Play

Board games and cabin life go hand in hand. The Discovery Hut offers these suggestions.

• Bananagrams is a word game that challenges players to make their own crosswords using 24 tiles on their own boards. Suitable for kids ages seven and older.
• Farkle is a dice rolling game. Players must roll certain combinations and then decide if they will risk their points for the next roll or lose all their points if their dice don’t come up. For players eight and older.
• Rent jumpers for the day from Jumper’s Jungle Family Fun Center or go to the location with your family and have an amazing time and fun !!!
• Table Topics is a conversation starter game. Players pull a topic card (from about 60) designed to get people chatting, laughing and challenging each other. The Family edition is kid-friendly.

Outside Fun for the Whole Family

Make the most of your time in the great outdoors.

• Organize a nature-inspired, team scavenger hunt that includes clues inside and outside the cabin. Pair a parent with a child or an older child with a younger sibling. Make sure the clues keep the kids on the property.
• Host a kids-only catch and release fishing derby on the dock. (Check for appropriate licence fees.) Offer a novelty trophy or winners’ crown (baseball cap).
• Go berry-picking together for a pancake feast, berry crumble or homemade pie.
• Make rainbow-hued ice cubes using food colouring. Take the ice cubes outside to make tabletop sculptures that melt.
• Make a batch of homemade bubble mixture and your own bubble blowers using twist ties, straws, pipe cleaners or anything around the cabin with holes. (For bubble mixture combine 1/2 cup (125 mL) dish detergent with 5 cups (1.25 L) water and 2 tbsp. (25 mL) glycerine, which is available at drug stores.)

Before Bed – Cranky Kid Fixes

The time between dinner and bedtime can be daunting, especially when kids are keyed up.

• Before bedtime, take a short walk together as a family. Let the kids man the flashlights and keep the walk short (15 minutes or less).
• Listen to night sounds of the birds and crickets.
• Back at the cabin, pull out one book you can read together. Depending on age, enlist a different family member to read a new chapter every night.