Welcome back to your sanity-saving series when it comes to those in-between hours. Now that the weather is warming up and playing outside is not only a possibility but also demanded by your 2-year-old, let's figure out how to keep them occupied outside so they're not fighting over the same bike for the next 3 hours. The kids are home and they have energy, and you have approximately none of it left.
Let's get you through the afternoon.
The Activity: Nature Scavenger Hunt (Downloadable Printable!)
Prep time: 2 minutes (print it, explain it, and hand them a pencil)
Keeps them busy for: 30-60 minutes
Ages: 3-10 (we made two versions - keep reading)
Mess level: Zero. They're outside. The mess is the squirrel's problem now.
The weather is finally turning, which means the best activity you can offer right now is: go outside and don't come back until you've found everything on this list.
We made two printable scavenger hunt sheets: one for older kids with text descriptions, and one for younger kids with big pictures and simple labels they can identify on their own. Print whichever version fits your crew, hand them a pencil or a crayon, and send them out the door.
Download: Older Kids Version
Download: Younger Kids Version
If you have a mix of ages, print both. The older ones can help the little ones find their items, which means they're working together instead of asking you for things... and that's the whole point.
The upgrade: Tell them they should try not to come back inside until every single box is checked. If they finish fast, tell them to find two of everything. Or have them collect their favorite item and bring it back to show you. Some kids will come home with a leaf. Some will come home with a very alive worm...
This gets them outside, moving, and focused on something with a clear goal. There's no arguing about rules because the sheet is the rules. And you get a quiet house, or a calm outdoor break for as long as they're hunting.
The Dinner: One-Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice
We all love one-pot dinners. This one takes about thirty-five minutes, and the kids will actually eat it because teriyaki sauce makes everything acceptable to people under ten.
Cut up chicken breast or thighs, cook them in a pan until browned, add rice, broth, soy sauce, a little brown sugar, garlic, and whatever frozen vegetables you have — broccoli, edamame, corn, snap peas, all work. Cover it, let it simmer until the rice absorbs the liquid, and you're done.
The full recipe is here: One Pot Teriyaki Chicken, Rice and Vegetables
Time: About 35 minutes, mostly hands-off while it simmers.
Kid acceptance rate: High. Sweet, savory, rice-based - this checks the boxes.
Cleanup: I mean, it's a One. Pot. Dinner...
The Permission Slip
You don't have to play with your kids all afternoon.
Somewhere along the way, we picked up this idea that a good mother is a mother who is constantly engaged, sitting on the floor, building towers, narrating every activity, turning every moment into a learning opportunity. And if she's not doing that, she should at least feel guilty about it.
But let me tell you, when kids get bored, and they complain about being bored, and you don't figure it out for them, they then (sometimes) figure it out themselves. They will build a fort nobody asked them to build. They invent a game with rules that make no sense. They draw something. They fight with their sibling and then work it out, mostly.
That process of boredom, frustration, and then figuring it out is where the good stuff happens. And it only happens when you're not orchestrating it.
So if you spent this afternoon in the kitchen, folding laundry, or just sitting with a coffee while your kids entertained themselves, that's perfectly fine. It's even better than fine. It's preferred. You gave them space to be resourceful, while also giving yourself a break, which you are allowed to need.
The Wild Card: The Boredom Jar
This takes five minutes to set up, and it can save the day, months from now.
Get a jar, a cup, a bowl, or whatever container you have.
Cut up small pieces of paper and write one activity on each: build a fort, draw a comic, have a dance party, write a letter to Bubby, play restaurant, make friendship bracelets, do a puzzle, organize your room (worth a shot), make paper airplanes and see whose flies farthest, read to a stuffed animal... And put them all in the jar.
Next time someone tells you they're bored, point to the jar. They pick one, and then they have to do it. Without any negotiations, or "but I don't want to do that one" - you pick, you commit.
The trick is to let the kids add their own ideas to the jar, too. They'll come up with things you'd never think of, and they're way more likely to actually do an activity they wrote themselves.
You're about to make it through another afternoon.
See you next week.
(Comment below if you used any of these. It's always good to get feedback :))
