How Do Your Kids Play Over The Holidays?

We’re a Play Ambassador for Let’s Play and were compensated for this post. Let’s Play is an initiative by Dr Pepper Snapple Group that provides kids and families with the tools, places and inspiration to make active play a daily priority by building and improving playgrounds and donating sports equipment to groups in need. All thoughts are our own.

With the holidays here let’s get down to brass tacks about how the kids will play. There’s a lot going on this time of year and with school breaks, errands that need running, colder temperatures and kids that need to play, it can be difficult to fit everything into the same amount of waking hours. Here are a couple of the ways that we manage to do the trips and make it work. For all of our play ideas, please check out our column at Let’s Play.

Explore the differences

The tree that you see now is different than it was a couple of months ago. You can see its bark, the limbs look like arms and its leaves are blown all over the place. This time of year is perfect for going for a walk and pointing out those differences to children. If your experience is anything like ours, then this conversation will lead to more talk about nature, all the while continuing to get the exercise and play we all need.

 New “icy” play

Regardless of where you live, there are some ‘ice’ opportunities for kids to play in. It could be the real icy deal if you live in a cold climate, or your community could have a temporary ice rink and snow pile at your city center to explore. Either way, this is golden playtime for kids. They’ll love it! Just remember to dress appropriately.

Shake up the errands

You’ve got food to buy for the holiday party, the kids need a new bike tire and you need to get some pants. These errands can all get done and the kids can play too. In our area we have a handle on the indoor (and free!) recreation and shopping centers that cover all these needs and we plan our days accordingly. This way, we can still do the things we need to do and get the kids some play time.

How do you play during the holiday time? If you have a go-to idea on keeping the play going during the holidays we’d love to hear it in the comments or on Twitter.