8 Original Indoor and Outdoor Activities to Do as a Family During Spring Break

Have you run out of things to do to with your kids? Your creative juices have dried out? The team at Your Book Your Story has some great ideas for both indoor and outdoor activities that will put PEP back into your Spring Break.

A Colourful Snow Fort

Who said that snow forts had to be white? To add some whimsy to this time-honoured tradition, just add some holi powder to create a multicoloured fort. Holi powder is the fine and highly pigmented powder often used in festivals in India and in the famous Color Me Rad event.

The Indoor Activity to do first: Create homemade holi powder

Here is a recipe for making your own holi powder.

Ingredients

• Corn flour (2 to 4 pounds of flour for each colour)
• Water
• Food Colouring

Prepare several large mixing bowls and cookie sheets.

Preparation

Mix the corn flour with the water until it’s creamy, the consistency of custard. Add the food colouring and mix with a spoon or with your hands (preferably while wearing gloves so as to not stain your hands). The more colouring you add, the brighter the colour will be.

Spread the mixture onto a cookie sheet in a thin, even layer. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F, leaving the oven door ajar to allow the moisture to escape. The mixture is dry once cracks have formed on the surface.

Lastly, crush, beat and aerate the dried powder by hand, in a blender, or in a food processor until it is fine and light. Store the powder in Mason jars or in airtight plastic bags.

Repeat these steps for each colour.

The Outdoor Activity: Build the snow fort

Wait for a day when big flakes of packing snow float to the ground. Then, while building your fort, you can mix the powder into the snow to create coloured blocks. Or, instead, erect the fort and then sprinkle it with colour. Hours of colourful fun guaranteed!

Don’t feel like making your own powder? Get a powder that resembles holi powder: Kool-Aid! In addition to being colourful, the snow will taste delicious! (For those kids who can’t help but eat the white snow freshly fallen from the sky).

Painting Snow

Why not take outside an activity that is usually done inside? Think about creating works of art on the snow or even painting your snowmen with homemade paint that is both nontoxic and biodegradable!

The Indoor Activity to do first: Make the paint

You’ll need dropper bottles or you can reuse your ketchup or mustard bottles. Here is a recipe for homemade paint.

Ingredients

• Food Colouring
• Flour
• Water

Preparation

Mix equal parts flour and water (for example, 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water). If the mixture is too thick, add water until the consistency resembles paint. Add the food colouring and mix well. Pour the mixture into the dropper bottles. Repeat for each colour.

The Outdoor Activity: Create works of art on the snow

Take your bottles of homemade paint outside and pat down the snow to make a square or rectangle as if creating a canvas. As if you were painting with ketchup, paint on the prepared snow.

Ice Tic-Tac-Toe in the Snow

The whole family will have fun playing tic-tac-toe with colourful ice shapes.

The Indoor Activity to do first: Create the ice tic-tac-toe shapes

To make the game pieces out of ice, you’ll need margarine lids.

Ingredients

• Water
• Food Colouring

Preparation 

To create the ice game pieces, choose 5 lids that are the same size (the X’s) and 5 others of another size (the O’s). Place the lids on as many cookie sheets as needed. Make two different-coloured water mixtures by adding food colouring to the water. For example, one blue and one red. Fill 5 lids of the same size with the same colour. Do the same with the other colour. Freeze them. Then, remove the ice game pieces from the lids and keep them in the freezer until you’re ready to have fun outside.

The Outdoor Activity: Play ice tic-tac-toe in the snow

Trace a tic-tac-toe game board in the snow using your foot or a stick. Play using your coloured game pieces. Fun guaranteed!

Luminous Snow Sculptures

You’ve heard of FestiLumière at the Quebec City Aquarium, right? A colourful event during which we can admire snow sculptures lit up in the dark. Since the event won’t take place this year, why not create your own FestiLumière in your own backyard?

The Indoor Activity to do first: Create shapes with long, skinny glow sticks

Get a large number of glow sticks. Plan out the snow sculptures you’ll make with your kids later and create shapes with the glow sticks that will complement the sculptures.

The Outdoor Activity: Build the snow sculptures and decorate them with the glow stick shapes

On a beautiful afternoon, go outside with the kids and build your snow sculptures. You’ll then deserve a hot-chocolate-with-marshmallows break.

At nightfall, decorate your sculptures with the glow stick shapes that you’ll snap so they shine. Why not make the evening magical with festive music? Invite your neighbours to come admire your handiwork (while respecting your distances, of course!).

After your festival, keep the glow sticks. There are tons of crafts to do with used glow sticks that no longer shine. Just do a quick internet search to find some great ideas.

The team at Your Book Your Story wishes you a wonderful spring break with your family. Make the most of your time together to make unforgettable memories. And remember: nothing’s better for concluding a day full of activities than reading a story together… especially one personalized for your family!

A little inspiration…

Hello, world!, a sweet souvenir of your baby’s birth.

The Apprentice Knight, Your little boy or little girl, with his or her friends, will make his/her dream come true of becoming a real knight.