Midwinter Fun for Tweens and Young Teens – Including the Boys

Staycation activity planning can be simple when the kids are little, but we have some of your best suggestions – for the older elementary age group.

Lots of readers shared their frustrations with finding appropriate activities for their kids who’ve outgrown Chuck-E-Cheese and finger paints, but still need some fun things to enjoy over their midwinter break. We turned to social media and asked for things that have worked in your families – and there are lots of them!

Out of the house activities:

• Snow Tubing and/or skiing (some location info here)
• Ice Skating
• Bowling
• Rock Climbing (Climb Zone, Gravity Vault, Garden State Rocks, High Exposure)
• Top Golf or Mini Golfing
• Arcades (Dave and Busters, iPlay America)
• Trampoline Parks (Urban Air, SkyZone)
• Laser Tag
• Pottery Painting (yes, boys like that, too!) (Color Me Mine, The Paintbrush)
• Go Karting (Supercharged)
• Batting Cages
• Workout Playgrounds (more common in cities than suburbs)
• Escape Room
• Scavenger Hunt
• Virtual Reality
• Intrepid Museum
• Cradle of Aviation Museum
• Science Museums (Hall of Science, Liberty Science Center, Franklin Institute)

At home activities:

• Spin Art
• Resin Art
• Woodworking Projects
• Have them build an Ikea furniture piece 
• A large complicated Lego set (bonus: go to a Lego store to choose it)
• Science Projects
• Chopped or Masterchef competition
• Kiwi Co projects (Tinker Crates are for 9+)
• Wire Sculptures
• PVC pipe projects
• Origami
• A Challenging Paint By Number
• Jixelz
• Bake Something With Lots of Steps
• Model boats/cars/planes
• 3D Printing Pen
• Book Binding
• Indoor Planting Project
• Hire a Personal Trainer to give a class to a few kids
• Paint Pour Art
• Wood Burning Activities

Do you have more ideas to share? Please add them in the comments below!