December 16, 2025
If you have kids, you know winter break can start out exciting and then quickly shift to “I’m bored.” A little planning can help keep everyone active, entertained, and connected during the long stretch between school days.
If your family celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or another winter holiday, encourage your kids to help prepare the house. They can make paper snowflakes, simple ornaments, or homemade holiday cards. You can also ask them to turn the cards you receive into a collage for the fridge.
Holiday meal prep is another opportunity to spend time together. Kids can help plan the menu, join you on a grocery trip, or take on age-appropriate tasks in the kitchen. If that feels overwhelming, baking a batch of cookies is an easy way to create a shared activity.
Walking or driving around to look at light displays is a simple outing many kids enjoy. Community holiday events can make the season feel even more festive, and depending on your family’s traditions, you can also take them to visit Santa.
If you want to show your kids that the holidays are about more than gifts, look for volunteer opportunities that welcome families. Many nonprofits offer seasonal shifts where parents and children can volunteer together.
Decluttering can also become a lesson in generosity. Ask your kids to gather the toys, clothes, and books they’ve outgrown so they can be donated to someone who needs them.
Closer to home, children can help an elderly neighbor by shoveling a walkway or keeping an eye on a house and pets when someone is traveling.
Reading is a reliable way to keep kids’ minds active during break. For younger children, you can read a book together. For older readers, choose a chapter book and work through a section each night. Books that have been turned into movies they’ve seen can make reading even more fun
Your local library is a great source of books and movies, and often hosts seasonal programs. Museums, gardens, and zoos also offer family activities throughout the winter. You can round things out with a concert, a play, or seeing a movie currently in theaters.
Board games, card games, and jigsaw puzzles are helpful when you want a quieter afternoon at home.
If your kids have extra energy, try active games like Simon Says, Red Light Green Light, Musical Chairs, or Duck Duck Goose. Dancing to music or following kid-friendly exercise videos can also keep them moving.
Younger kids may enjoy building an indoor fort with blankets and furniture. You can let them spend the evening inside it or even camp out under the Christmas tree.
Winter sports are a great way for families to stay active. The Philadelphia region has many ice-skating and roller-skating rinks, and ski areas a few hours away offer snowboarding and snow tubing.
If it snows, take advantage of it with sledding or by building snowmen and snow forts. If it doesn’t, bundle up for a walk around the neighborhood or visit a local park for a nature trail.
If your kids want to go somewhere but stay indoors, bowling alleys, arcades, indoor miniature golf, and laser tag arenas are all good options. For something more physical, try indoor rock climbing or a trampoline facility. And if you belong to a YMCA or live near a community center, look for open gym time, swimming hours, or drop-in dance and yoga classes.
New Year’s Eve offers several ways to include kids in the celebration. You can let them stay up to watch the ball drop or create an earlier countdown of your own.
Reflecting on the past year can become a meaningful family tradition. Look through photos together and create a highlight album or a simple year-in-review video. You can also talk about what everyone hopes to do in 2026, including places you want to visit and activities you want to try in the year ahead.
Winter break can feel long, but with a mix of activities that encourage creativity, learning, and movement, it can also become a meaningful stretch of time for your family. Whether you’re exploring the outdoors, trying new indoor pastimes, or creating simple traditions at home, these moments can help kids stay engaged and make the season more enjoyable for everyone.
