Easy and Fun Games for Your Kids Over Thanksgiving, No Money Required – Part Two
by Sheilamba on Nov 03, 2009 with 0 Comments
If you want a change from online, expensive kid games that give little educational value to your kids, then try out these alternatives instead. They will be fun over the Thanksgiving vacatioin. No money, or very little money, is required and your children will have fun.
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1. Get Into Space Exploration
A big cardboard box over Thanksgiving is what you’ll need here. And of course you can tell them which planets they can head to. This is a great way to describe which planets are hot and which are cold. For example, let them know that if you are going to head to Mercury, it will be very hot there. No need to take warm sweaters for this one.
2. A Sticky Situation
This fun game can work just as well with the kids left on their own with a journal book and the stickers and their imagination. Or why not have them wrap a gift and use the stickers to decorate the box? This can turn a regular brown-paper wrapped gift into something that looks exciting. They can make a tambourine with two paper plates stapled together and filled with dry beans. Then they can use stickers to decorate the outside.
3. Make a Treasure Hunt
Two siblings can play this if one of them is not too young, or a parent can play too. Get one of the kids to draw or write clues on miniature post-it notes and have them all lead to a secret treasure – wrapped or buried of course!
4. Origami
You may need to help them a bit on this one. Look up the internet or get a book on simple origami items to make and let them get active with paper and safety scissors. Once they’re done, they can hang their creations with a thread and blue tack from their bedroom ceiling. They will last a lot longer than the Thanksgiving holiday itself.
5. Make a Photo book
Family Thanksgiving vacation photos that you have printed out on your home computer are fun to put into a photo album or arrange together in a pretty collage. How about displaying it in their room or sending it to grandma so she can see what fun they had on their vacation?
6. Smooch Picture
One game that costs little money and is fun is to use lipstick and crayons. Get your child to apply lipstick to her lips and then “kiss” the middle of a sheet of paper. Draw the face and features (the eyes and nose etc) around the lips. This can even work well as a play date item so long as everybody gets to use their own lipstick to avoid spreading germs
7. Walk in Nature
One way to get the kids out and using their energy is to go on a nature walk, especially if you want them to work of that Thanksgiving dinner. Either collect items you find (a leaf, an interesting rock, a pine cone etc) or take pictures of them. Keep them in a box and when dad gets back from the office, let your kids ask HIM all about them, while you go off and have a long, leisurely soak in a hot bath!
8. Letter Puzzle
For children who can write (or for those who can’t, use a photograph of the child or the whole family), a fun game is to ask them to write a note or a postcard to grandma. But then have them cut it up into puzzle pieces. Once done, they can put it in an envelope to send it to grandma. When grandma wants to read it, she will have to put the puzzle together!
For a rainy day on or after the Thanksgiving vacation (or any day in fact) where you want to give your children some games and entertainment that are fun, easy and don’t take much money – and are not just online – then try any of the above.
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Published in: Personal Finance
