Family vacations can be endless fun, providing you all with uninterrupted quality time together, and ensuring your kids experience things they may never see anywhere else. To get the most out of these family trips, you may be tempted to fill every moment of your days with excursions or pool plans. All the better for your kids to experience each destination in full.
Unfortunately, children and adults alike can quickly become jaded during a trip that’s too packed with things to do. Over time, this can make those so-called ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experiences somewhat less enjoyable. Instead, you may all feel too tired to take in the sights, or too grumpy to do anything more than snap at each other.
This is why, as well as booking up for key excursions, many families prioritise at least short periods of downtime each day. You would be amazed by how much even an hour spent chilling in your hotel room, rental cottage, or even your RV at a family-friendly RV park during the afternoon can recharge everyone ready for an evening of fun.
Effectively like a siesta, these downtime periods can make your travels a lot more enjoyable. Unfortunately, excitable kids could quickly come to resent downtime that they don’t feel they need. Make sure that isn’t the case by helping them chill out with these handy downtime activities.
# 1 – Nothing Like a Nap
Bedtime typically goes out of the window during vacation, and so it should. Long evening meals and the enjoyment of evening entertainment are some of the most exciting things about going away together. Unfortunately, while older kids might manage the change pretty well, children who are around 10 or younger may struggle to keep up with that pace for an entire vacation.
Prioritising naps during downtime is a great way to overcome this issue and can help to refresh and recharge the entire family. Of course, it can be easier said than done to get kids to sleep when the sun is shining and they can hear fun in the pool down below. If you’re planning to implement naps during your vacation, it’s worth making life easier for yourself by taking along some high-quality blackout blinds, and perhaps even investing in a white noise machine that can drown out any background noise. Sticking to the same nap time each day of your trip can also help to shift sleep routines, and should ideally mean your kids naturally start feeling tired around this time within a few days.
# 2 – Turn to Games
Games are a great way to help focus excitable or overwrought brains and are an easy enough thing to fit into your suitcase. If you choose games the entire family can play, such as Bananagrams, Uno, or Dobble, then this could also be another great bonding opportunity to enjoy together. And who can forget the classic board games like Ludo or Snakes and Ladders? They are all-time favorites. And if you forget to bring your dice, don’t worry https://dice.onl has you covered. You can roll virtually and continue playing on the board in front of you. Simply pull up a table on your balcony, get everyone settled with a drink, and get stuck into a few rounds.
Equally, if you’re all at risk of snapping from spending too much time together (trust us, it happens!), then solo games like Minesweeper can work wonders. Simply take an hour out, and let your kids get on with a little independent play. Then, by the time you all come back together, you’ll probably be feeling far more able to face the social strain of a week in one another’s pockets.
# 3 – Encourage Reading
There are few better ways to relax during a vacation than to enjoy a little quality reading. Getting stuck into a good book during downtime can also be another great way to create some sense of privacy for each member of your family.
Simply make sure to pack some great reading materials, or to allow everyone to pick a new book or two while you wait at the airport. Then, if you can, keep them for these moments when you all head back to your hotel room or accommodation. This could become a valued element of your trips in itself, and will be great for helping your children to regulate, as well as ensuring an added educational bonus to each of your trips.
You can even make this option work for kids who don’t typically enjoy reading, by mixing up those reading materials with things like audiobooks, or even magazines. Simply make sure everything has something to get stuck into, and that you all pick a comfortable place to chill for the hour or so you spend enjoying your reading.
# 4 – Consider Crafts
Crafts are something you may make time for in vacation excursions that could include trips to pottery cafes or more, but it’s also worth taking along a few crafts for the sake of your family downtime.
You can get as simple or as elaborate as you like here, but you should find it easy to engage even younger children in a chill-out period if they can also enjoy colouring, painting, and more. Craft kits are also great for this purpose, as they allow you to pack everything you need in one neat box, and could see you making anything from mosaics to masks.
Vacation is also a great time to teach new skills, and these are likely to fully engage kids who might not even notice that you’ve tricked them into some downtime. For older kids, crafts like knitting and crochet are especially great for their stress-relief benefits, and for the fact that your kids will need to fully concentrate on what they’re doing, instead of constantly looking at the clock and bugging you to get back outside.
# 5 – Allow Limited Screen Time
As a parent, you cut enough slack about screen time back at home, let alone when you’re away. In truth, though, allowing some limited daily screen time for kids can have its benefits from a calming perspective. The key here is to make sure they’re not watching more than one show or so at a time, and that they’re watching programs which are sure to prove relaxing rather than stimulating. If in doubt, simply take some time to download a limited number of well-picked shows onto your children’s tablets before you head off. Then, set clear boundaries before passing those devices over each day.
It’s also worth noting that screen time doesn’t simply need to mean programmes. You could also take along tablets for benefits that include colouring apps, relaxing games, and even digital copies of your child’s favourite stories. When you’re done, simply make sure to lock those tablets in your room safe until your next downtime period comes along.
Get Down With Vacation Downtime
It’s only natural that you want to get the best from your family vacations, but in a lot of ways, making space for downtime is the best way to do precisely that. These small periods of relaxation during an otherwise busy trip can help everyone to enjoy their time a bit more. Taking time out could also be key to ensuring you don’t end your trip with tired children who don’t feel able to do any of the things you’ve booked!
Admittedly, you might need to do a little convincing to get the whole family on board with this plan. However, once you’ve all enjoyed a few of these downtime activities during the first few days of your trip, you may find that this is one of the vacation activities your kids come to enjoy the most. Simply make sure you’ve got plenty to keep them entertained, and that you go about introducing downtime in a way that they’ll find impossible to resist.