A classic winter activity for the those of us who live north of the 39th parallel or so. (And have a backyard)
Setting up a rink in your own backyard is a great way to teach kids to skate and promotes outdoor play in these colder months when the television is just that much more inviting. It also turns your house into the go-to neighbourhood house, much the way a pool works in the summer.
Toronto dad David Wood has made building a skating rink into an annual tradition. The kids have had a skate right after school nearly everyday since the ice froze and even manage fun-size hockey games.
Map out where the rink will go with some baseboards. David used pieces of old siding. (If you’re starting this process after a substantial snowfall, you can also try just stamping snow into place)
Elevate the paper airplane from in-class bad behaviour staple to winter break star
So how do you make a morning or afternoon of paper airplane competition?
Study the YouTube videos and try out multiple airplane models
Once your group of competitors has settled on a model they like, everyone makes their own. (Or, if someone has especially young and tiny hands, you may work in teams. We’ll allow that.)
Decorate your planes if you so desire. (Makes it easier to distinguish planes from one another)
See which plane flies farthest, fastest, most consistently and most accurately
Hold other completions amongst various plane models
Pro tip: Use thin paper to make this model as the nose is prone to splitting. (We taped it back together, having used heavy printer pape.) Read more...
Throughout the Winter Break, we’re rounding up some of our greatest ideas for things to do.
So it’s Winter Break and you’re stuck in your city instead of a tropical resort. Big deal. Being stuck in your city isn’t a bad thing. In fact, we don’t even want you to use the word “stuck” when referring to being in your city.
Even if you think you know your city like you know the Easter eggs in Super Mario Bros. 3, there’s always a little pocket (or two or three or more) your family hasn’t explored yet. And Winter Break is the perfect time to stock up on bus tokens (or buy a day pass), pick the area that interests your family most and head there for a few solid hours of aimless wandering, sampling food from local restaurants and ducking in and out of shops. Read more...
Throughout the Winter Break, we’re rounding up some of our greatest ideas for things to do.
Winter Break is when we traditionally catch up on our movie-watching. And if you’re not sure which movie to see in the theatre or rent, let our group of pint-sized film critics and their parents break it down for you with a Big Thumb Little Thumb review.
Ideas for Winter Break fun are coming at you daily over the next two weeks. We’ll also be rounding up some of Bunchland’s greatest ideas.
If we do say so ourselves, we have impeccable taste in music, movies and books. Here are some lists of suggested titles to keep you and yours entertained over the Winter Break.
Celebrate the fact that you’re finally done shopping…by watching a movie about it!
Or if you’d rather distance yourself from anything shopping-related as much as possible, watch one of these holiday movies for families.
Sometimes the family Christmas prank is…indescribable.
There’s something about the holidays that makes us act a little silly. Maybe it’s because we finally get to release all the stress that has been building up, loosen our ties (and belts) and just kick back for a few days. The extra free time and proximity to family members lends itself to some hijinks. Some tomfoolery, if you will. And inevitably, some Christmas pranks. As you’ll see, sometimes these friendly family pranks become treasured holiday traditions. Other times, they take a turn for the worse.
The raisin experiment
Ohdeedoh posted about the Raisin Experiment, a small-scale prank that was little more than parents wrapping up a box of raisins to give to their 3-year-old (and recording his reaction) that snowballed into an epic prank that got repeated year after year. Last year, the kid got a large canister of raisins, with predictably hilarious results. Here’s hoping this tradition keeps going well into his teens, and, for the sake of our own amusement, into his adulthood. Read more...
