I remember always looking forward to staying in a hotel as a child.  I couldn’t wait to get there.  Somehow, it seemed like a fairy tale – staying away from home, watching cable TV channels, swimming in a pool, having maid service.  Once there, however, the magic quickly wore off.  No matter what the facilities were, it certainly was not home.  Why, I couldn't even go outside my room with a parent!!

Not long ago, after arriving in the Outer Banks with my four children, I felt very contented.  I had planned well and was looking forward to a well-balanced, fun and exciting family vacation.  Our first morning was a bit hectic as we got ready to go, but the day was perfect!  We enjoyed all of the sights scheduled for the day and arrived back at our suite shortly before supper.  Almost immediately, the children became loud and vigorously vocal about being bored.  BORED?  After all the activities I had planned?  After all they had seen and done?  The answer was decidedly yes.  By the time I went to bed that night, I was beginning to wonder if I had made a serious mistake going on this vacation with my children.

 Hotel Rooms are Boring

There is a good chance that you have had an experience similar to mine. There’s no doubt about it, children get bored more easily than adults. They have more energy than we do. They have more imagination. And until they can learn by thinking in words rather than by doing, they need to be active and busy. 

Without the “comforts of home”, children may find it difficult to know what to do with their down time.  Making matters worse is parents really want to be able to relax, at least a little, while on vacation!  One major cure for children's boredom is to put them in charge of their own fun. Provide a few basic ingredients for activities in a canvas bag and bring it along on the trip including: books, art supplies, writing materials of their very own, and play materials appropriate to their stage of development. During down time, they can go through the bag and decide what they would like to do. Parents can guide without becoming playmates, providing valuable moments of peace and quiet.

A big part of the family vacation can be creating family togetherness.  Using time spent in the hotel after an event, due to inclement weather or because plans just didn’t work out, is a wonderful opportunity for parents and children to bond.  So, rather than rue the day you chose to vacation with your children, some quick and easy planning will help you relish the moments while creating lasting memories.

“No Planning Needed” Ideas

• With your finger, trace a design on your child's back. See if she can tell what it is. Give your child a turn to draw on your back

• Make paper airplanes. Whose can fly the farthest? Whose can fly the highest?  How many different designs can be created?  You might even suggest that they create a fleet.

• Make a wish list. If you could have anything in the world, what would it be?  What would you wish for that wouldn’t cost any money?  If you could make a wish for your best friend, what would you wish for?  Of course everyone needs to know that wishes don't necessarily come true. But it's fun to do anyway.

• Make tents or forts. Use blankets, sheets, clothespins and chairs to create a “secret” place for your children to play. One idea is to make sure that the TV is visible from the tent and allow them to have their snacks inside. 

• Have your child observe you for a minute. Leave the room. Return to the room, having changed a small detail in your appearance. Remove an earring, put on some lipstick or change your hair. Can they guess?

• Challenge your older child, with a pencil and paper!  Can they write a sentence backwards, without looking in the mirror? Sounds easy enough for the letters O, A, and M, but what about J, F, and R? Can they write you a secret message?

Simple Plan Ahead Fun

• Play a quick game of WAR with cards. This helps teach numbers too.

• Read a book. Such classics as Charlotte’s Web or Black Beauty and contemporary books such as the Harry Potter Series make for great reading.  Plan on reading one or two chapters out loud each night and watch the boredom disappear.

• Have a craft night.  Before you leave for the vacation, prepare all of the projects that they will be making.  After a long day of sightseeing, spread all the projects out on the table and let your children be creative.  This might be a great time to think about holiday gifts for relatives or special gifts for teachers or other youth leaders!

• Help your children to remember the vacation by buying postcards of the places you go each day.  Then each evening, let them write down on the back of the card whatever they want to remember. At the end of the trip, you can punch a hole in the corner of the postcards and put them on a ring so they have their own special mementos of the vacation.

• Prior to your trip, prepare a homemade "book" with a page for each day you will be gone. Write the day/date at the top of each page. Each evening your child can use any sit-down time to fill in what you have done that day, draw pictures of interesting things you saw, paste brochures, or get the autographs of anyone - from your waiter to the occasional celebrity!

• Pull out the video recorder and have the kids write and direct their own movie. It might be fun to conduct interviews about the day and the sights.  Or perhaps reenact one of the historical items of interest they have learned on the trip.  Children love to be center stage and a project such as this could last for hours!

• Make your own audio recording. Sing songs onto a cassette tape. Create a news show explaining the details of the day.  Have a local weather report to document the current weather conditions.

• Bring along the recipe and ingredients for a healthy snack and then let the child do the snack preparation on his own. Feeling independent is a great way to bust boredom.

• Have an old-fashioned board game night.  Bring along your children’s favorite board games, pop some popcorn, and have a blast!

• If you are spending a rainy day in a motel room, plan a party. You can make the better part of the day fun, rather than disappointing, if you make invitations, make signs, blow up balloons, cut out and color decorations, plan games to play and bring puppets or use socks to make puppets and plan a puppet show.

• Create an Imaginary Zoo.  You'll need index cards and crayon or markers.

Start by placing the cards horizontally with the blank side up, one above the other on a table. Have your child draw a head on the top card, a matching body on the middle card and end with matching legs and/or feet. After several cards have been completed, mix and match to create silly creatures. Store the cards with a rubber band to take in the car or anytime fun is needed.

No matter how many fun activities you research and plan for your family vacation, there will inevitably be down time – much needed by the adults and much hated by the children.  Providing the right materials can help turn “I’m bored” into “ I’m having so much fun” allowing everyone to feel great about the family vacation. 

Teri Clark is a published author in the field of real estate, finance, and investing. Her interest in the new and different has also led to a successful online writing career. Of her five published books through Atlantic Publishing, 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home Now and For More Money Than You Thought was a 2007 Eric Hoffer Award winner as well as a Finalist in the 2007 USA Best Books Awards, How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Redesign, Redecorating & Home Staging Business was a Finalisit in the 2008 USA Best Books Awards, and Private Mortgage Investing won an Honorable Mention in Foreword Magazine’s 2006 Book of the Year Award. She can be reached via her website: www.teribclark.com.