Lately, life has looked different. Changing our priorities has really made my husband and I sit down and reconfigure life — what’s important, what we spend our time and money on, what our kids will remember, and what they won’t.
It’s forced us to look at the big picture and to slow down.
So I thought, why not do things at home with the kids that are more intentional? That will be what they remember? That are cost-effective and just as much fun as the big outings? That will not break the bank or expend all of my energy and time planning?
Why not give ourselves a Slowdown Challenge?
It has proven to be great.
{Disclaimer: right now our kids are little (1 and 3). I know that as they get older, a lot of this will have to be tweaked if not completely changed/updated. But still, I think they will enjoy it.}
So here are some things we have been doing as part of our Slowdown Challenge. My hope would be to share as many ideas as possible amongst parents!
Movie Night
Fridays are now officially movie night. We pick a handful of movie titles and put them on paper. My daughter draws one out of a hat, usually on Wednesday or Thursday, to give her a little bit of time to build that excitement for Friday.
When Friday comes, we have dinner, wash up, and then “line up” in the kitchen with our cardstock movie tickets. I collect the tickets, and everyone enters. We then get our cardstock money and walk over to our snack bar, paying a certain amount of money for each snack from the pantry.
We settle down onto a pillow fort and watch as much of a movie on Netflix or Disney+ as two little kids will allow.
We go to bed when we are tired.
It is literally all she talks about all week.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cost: essentially free
Balloon Floor
I am one of those people whose hobby is making balloon garlands for parties, so I have a balloon pump that blows up two balloons at a time. I also tend to have extra balloons left over from those garland kits.
One day I just decided to blow up a large amount of balloons and cover the living room floor with them.
When the kids came home, they freaked out and played with them all evening. Monkey in the middle, “keepy uppy” (if you watch Bluey), and catch were all played to excess.
Taking photos or videos during this time was also so entertaining.
Prep time: 20 minutes (ish)
Cost: a good pump runs around $20, and balloons are relatively cheap
Nail Salon (2 versions)
The real nail salon is just you and your kids basically giving each other manicures. My daughter loves picking out the colors.
The issue came when she wanted to try to paint her own nails or mine. (She’s not there yet, and nail polish is expensive.)
So one day, I cut up some cardboard we were about to recycle, and I drew hands on it. We used markers and washable paint to paint the nails. My daughter liked it because finally, SHE was in charge of doing the painting.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cost: free if you already have nail polish, otherwise buy your own and/or the paint materials
Tea Party
Everyone in this house, including my son and my husband, loves a tea party.
We use the fancy cups (within reason). We get out the nice napkins and plates. Sometimes we use a nice tablecloth. And our finest apple juice and cheerios are had with pinkies out.
Prep time: 10 min
Cost: essentially free
Kid Chef Night
This one involves some forethought, but they love taking charge and get so proud of what they’ve made.
Put them in charge of the menu. Have them make a list of what they think they need. Adjust accordingly. Get their ingredients in advance. And allow what is age-appropriate to be done in the kitchen.
It doesn’t have to be fancy. Sometimes my daughter “makes cookies” by taking the premade, break-apart cookies, smushing them in her hand, and placing them on the cookie sheet. She looks so accomplished scooping the final product off the pan and onto a cooling rack.
Sometimes it’s me measuring out oil and milk and letting her crack eggs and mix the brownies. Sometimes it’s rolling the deli meat and placing the cheese on a makeshift meat and cheese board. Sometimes it’s pouring waffle mix or sticking a cinnamon roll in the waffle maker (and sidebar: breakfast for dinner is a huge hit).
Prep time: make a list in advance. Meal prep anywhere from 30-60 minutes
Cost: the cost of the meal/snack ingredients
Karaoke Night
Either link your phone to the TV or use YouTube to pull up karaoke versions of songs. Jam out accordingly.
Ours often involves dress up to go along with whatever song we are singing to.
Prep time: 5 min
Cost: essentially free
Write Letters to Family
Our kids like to check the mailbox and get so excited when a letter comes with their names on it. So, they enjoy correspondence. And they know that they’re more likely to get letters if they send some. So they choose who to write to and we get to work on a card or a quick note.
If your kids are too young to write, have them decorate a card with stickers or crayons or make some art to stick in the envelope.
You could even have them just draft an email and pick out photos to attach.
Prep time: 5 minutes to gather materials
Cost: the cost of a stamp and any materials you use
Plants
I kill every plant, even succulents. But my husband likes the idea of gardening and has gotten my daughter into it. There are two plants that are “hers”: the mint and basil. She helped him pot them, and she is in charge of watering them and helping him harvest them. She is SO PROUD of those plants, y’all.
Prep time: 10 minutes to pot them, and then a couple minutes a day for maintenance
Cost: minimal
We are about a month into the Slowdown Challenge.
That’s what’s going on in our house in these small increments of time that I am hoping will be very impactful. We don’t do them every day, but when we do an activity, it is special to our kids.
