A weekend at home with the family
When autumn arrives, temperatures drop, the days get shorter and we feel more like taking refuge at home. Enjoying the comfort of home is a pleasure. And if the whole family gets together in those calm, cosy rooms, there's no better plan!
If you'd also like to put the screens aside, you can plan a traditional day of play with several activities.
Ideally, do them in the roomiest, warmest spaces in the house. The kitchen, the living room and the children's bedroom will be the best places.
Let's start with a good breakfast!
The day devoted to family fun can begin with everyone making a special breakfast together. A healthy idea would be homemade pancakes with a variety of fruit. To drink, you could add a fruit and milk smoothie or freshly squeezed juice.
The children can make the pancake batter, gather the fruit and decorate the table. A weekend breakfast tastes better if we put a little love into the décor!
We can spread out a soft, pretty tablecloth, bring out the cloth napkins and set out plates and cutlery for each person.
There are several versions of healthy homemade “pancakes”, such as those that swap white flour for oats and sugar for stevia or another healthier sweetener.
If we want a nutritious breakfast, it's important to skip the syrups and go for fruit. Let the children choose their favourites: banana, strawberry, blueberries, mango, apple…
Reading in our hideaway
Go back to your childhood by building a den or a fort out of sheets and cushions with your children. Make a tent big enough for all of you!
If your floor isn't warm, it's best to set the tent up on a rug. Let the children fill the inside with cushions and cuddly toys. Finally, top it all off with some fairy lights. It'll look perfect!
Inside you can play or read together as a family. You could also dress up and act out your favourite story or fairy tale. And after lunch, the tent will be the cosiest spot for a little nap…
Bring back the old board games!
The afternoon holds classic after-lunch games. If you've set out to show the children fun alternatives to screens, why not bring back some of the games you enjoyed as a child?
Snakes and ladders, dominoes, cards or a memory game will make your children remember that afternoon forever. Just be sure to choose the best game for your children's ages.
A creative idea would be to design your own memory game. As well as being fun, this game helps train visual memory.
“Memory” is a classic game in which several cards are laid face down in a square or rectangle. You have to try to find the pairs, turning over only two cards per turn, one player at a time. It's important that the cards always stay in the same place, to make it easier to remember which picture was hidden under each one.
The most creative part would be making your own set of cards. You can let the children draw around twenty pairs of animals or everyday objects on identical squares of card. If you laminate them, they'll last much longer!
Making our own games or toys is something we've all done, and it's really rewarding.
After such a busy schedule of activities, it's probably time for bath and dinner. To round off a perfect weekend at home with the family, we can read a story in bed, under the cotton sheets. Before you reach the last page, the little ones will surely have closed their eyes…
