Executive dad Rudy Nadler-Nir believes staycations can be fun for the whole family – all you need is a treasure trove of games, series, books, toys . . . and a healthy dash of imagination.
I must admit (and it is not the world best kept secret, either) that we are mostly an indoors family, and so, when we undertake to survive a stay-at-home holiday period without killing each other, our focus is inward-facing. The other thing about us is that we usually have many people, family and friends, around, and so, over the years, we have found ways to tickle our imagination and make stay at home holidays count!
Let’s start with the stars. It’s great to have a telescope available and, on clear nights, one can point “Da Vinci’s eye” to the heavens and explore the ageless beauty of the stars! We love to learn new things (as long as they are filled with fun and interest, after all: this is our holiday!) Knowledge is fun, and two great knowledge resources we use are TED talks, where we find the most amazing presentations, all there for free! If we want something more comprehensive, we try of the online courses offered for free by top universities.
Staying home does not mean we ignore our backyard, there are great garden games we play: there’s hopscotch, croquet, ‘boules’ (aka pétanque or bowls), miniature golf (aka putt putt) and many more. These delightful pastimes are a great way to spend hours of fun! Sometimes we organise a backyard picnic during breaks in the game. If it rains, or if it’s too hot or noisy, our classic board games still offer a great pastime. Our favourites are Mastermind, Stratego, 30 Seconds, YuNoMi and Monopoly. Our card games of choice include the usual two deck variety and special packs (such as Taki and Uno), Mini-Bridge is also fun!!
Hardcore culture consumers like us indulge in the occasional binge-watching. Current favourite TV series are – Homeland, Game of Thrones, Endeavour (young Inspector Morse). Long-runners are movie sagas like The Godfather, Back to the Future, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter… Before the holidays start we pile up all the books we want to read (or load them on to our e-Reader). This is also a great time to revisit our local library and renew our readers’ card. We enjoy a (usually dusty and messy, have those antihistamines ready!) treasure hunt, when we look for old pictures, documents, books and music records that we’ve packed away and forgot about years ago. The day may end in a presentation of treasures found (Dad’s Boy Scouts tie, Mom’s Varsity card, Nathan’s finger puppets or Ruth’s very dry and dead pet cactus).
Treasure hunts are also a great opportunity to collect old toys, books, clothes etc. for donation. Another by-product of this journey into the past is the creation of a family time-capsule, including various personal items that are stored in a time-proof container, to be opened ion twenty years. Time is a great holiday theme, if one knows how to use it to one’s advantage. My personal favourite is “I wonder how xxx is doing?” in which I search and locate old friends and relatives. On the creative front, we enjoy making mandalas. When the kids were younger we had home theatre shows (puppets or real persons!), we played with home-made bubbles, melted crayon art and so on. Today’s creative streaks are more personal.
In our household each person is responsible for one large surprise for everybody per week. We also have a publically negotiated and displayed cooking, washing, dog feeding, housework, garbage clearing roster, to make sure everyone has the opportunity to do his/her bit.
Some resources:
Star gazing at home: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/stargazing-basics/
Ted talks: http://www.ted.com/
Study something! — 1000 Free Online Courses from Top Universities: http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
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