What Are Some Great Spring Break Ideas for My Kids?
We adventured from Phoenix to Santa Fe for Spring Break. We are used to the 5-6 hour San Diego drive, so road-tripping the 8-9 hours to New Mexico posed some extra challenges to our van full of giggly girls. Of course, by now we are used to our days being a compilation of hilarious, laugh-out-loud moments followed by shrieks of horror and outbursts of anger, then back to happy and harmonious play. This is life with children. And yes…this was our van ride. Breath-taking pink and orange sunset views of Tonto Rim that even my three-year-old marveled at, followed by two children in tears because I refused to skip one of the Wiggles songs that was playing, followed by energetic storytelling rounds that ended up with everyone in stitches (mostly because the only phrase our youngest kept adding to the story was…”and then he pooped in a shoe”).
Here are some fun Spring Break ideas we came up with:
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Go on a road trip to a new city & while on the road…
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Sing songs.
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Tell stories one word at a time or one phrase at a time, going in rounds.
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Give your kids fun, age-appropriate math problems.
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Snack and snack some more!
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Provide audio books for your children instead of video games! Our 10-year-old made it halfway through The Hobbit.
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Tell your kids whoever naps first gets a surprise. (Unfortunately, this didn’t work for us.)
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Explore a nearby downtown
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Old towns or cities like Santa Fe have fantastic nooks and crannies to discover, like artsy shops, ancient statues, architecture from other eras, musicians on the street corners, cathedrals with inspiring frescoes, local bakeries and much more. Our kids were mesmerized by the fast-paced Mariachi duo making music on the Santa Fe Plaza.
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Try out a new restaurant or cuisine
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Since we were in Santa Fe, we determined to try out the famous Green Chili Cheeseburger and the variety of Soppapillas! Yum. We were NOT disappointed. And we realized that we hadn’t really explored the “local†food in our own area. Next Spring Break!
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Visit your local Children’s Museum
- The Children’s Museum in Santa Fe was a modest-looking building on the outside that did not boast much. However, we were BLOWN AWAY by how many exceptional and creative activities were available on the inside. We spent 3 hours excitedly hopping from giant bubble-making to sand art and on and on. My hat goes off to the Santa Fe Children’s Museum for a very reasonably-priced ticket and an outstanding experience for all ages, adults included!
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (3/17/2017) Ken Lund (Flickr)
 
