Pet & Animal

Spring break usually rolls around towards the beginning or middle of the months March and April. Most schools have a designated spring break, with students not attending school for a week for that week. There are many ways to stay productive and have fun during spring break, which this article will teach you.

[Edit]Steps

[Edit]Doing Fun Things At Home

Play with your toys. If you still play with toys, get out some of them and start playing with them. These exercise your creative abilities and imagination. You can search for toys you had when you were a younger age to get some nostalgia if you're a teenager or older. Have fun roleplaying regular scenarios or making up events like an action movie!
Play board games. Board games are always a classic source of entertainment when the power's out, or if you don't have any electronics. To have fun without using the internet, play some physical board games. Review the rules of the board games you will play, and make sure everyone playing understands the rules.
- There are a whole variety of board games, from the classic Monopoly to kid-friendly ones like Connect 4 and brain-exercising puzzles that can entertain families and friends alike.
- Make sure you firmly establish the rules in case some people argue over them. Set a time limit for their arguing, and eliminate them from the game if they cause too much chaos.
Start cooking. If you're a younger child, you may need adult supervision while you're cooking. If you're slightly older (8 and up), you may be able to cook in the kitchen with less adult supervision. Search up a simple recipe you haven't tried before, or something you really like to eat and try making it. Try some easy recipes that you can easily mix and plop in the oven or microwave first.
- There are a lot of kid-friendly cooking recipes out there. You can make hamburgers, tacos, pizza, and other foods easily. ^[1]
- Remember, if you're a younger child, make sure you have adult supervision while handling appliances like ovens and stoves.
Watch videos. YouTube is a very popular site to watch videos on. It's home to a diverse hub of videos, ranging from gaming, toy channels, and kid channels to news, music, vlogs, sports, and reaction channels. Search up a random topic that interests you and binge-watch videos for a couple of minutes. You could also challenge yourself to watch cringey videos without cringing, scary videos without turning away, and funny videos without laughing.
- After 20-40 minutes, at least get up and stretch. Staring at a screen for more than this without moving is unhealthy. You could damage your eyes and your spine by staring at a screen with bad posture for a prolonged period of time.
Watch movies or TV shows online. If you haven't watched movies or TV shows in a long time since school, spring break is a perfect time to catch up on your film-watching. Search online for the newest movies or watch some old ones if you'd like. Then, use a streaming service to stream them. If you have family or friends staying over, you can invite them to a movie or show-watching party at your house.
- If you don't have much money, you can watch some movies online for free. Some websites such as YouTube have movies that you can watch for free. ^[2]
- Be prepared by giving out some movie snacks such as popcorn, chips, and pretzels to guests for them to munch on during the movie. If you want healthier options, try fruit. You can also offer drinks like soda, water, and juice.
Listen to music. If you have not listened to music for a long period of time, you might want to catch up on the music artists make. You can listen to your old favorites and experiment with listening to different genres of music. For example, if you always listen to alternative rock, try listening to rap songs, R&B, or pop music. If you are a pop fan, experiment with indie music or rap. You may choose to listen to music while doing other things, or focus solely on listening to the music and singing.
- Make this more exciting by having a karaoke session in your room. You can also invite friends and family over to have a full-on karaoke party in the living room. Let everyone select songs to put in a list, then play them out for everyone to try singing.
Play video games. There are so many options when it comes to the world of games; from first-person shooter games to classics such as Pong or Minesweeper, there's a game meant to fit you out there. You could play online games such as the Dinosaur game, 2048, Wordle, or Skribbl.io. PC games are also an option: Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite, and Valorant, are cool PC games that you can play. Using consoles from brands like Nintendo and Sony's PlayStation are also neat ways to entertain yourself during the weekend.
- Again, make sure you take breaks from your computer! Staring at a screen with moving graphics can damage your eyes over many years. Sometimes, when you play video games, you get all hunched up or slouch in your chair. This is not good posture, and it can lead to back problems later on too.
Read books. If school books don't attract you, read books that you like. Besides, reading can increase your vocabulary and your cognitive skills, which is a good thing. Reading can also reduce stress. ^[3] Reading for 10 minutes is already a good start. Experiment with reading different genres of books, like you would do with songs or movies. There are countless genres of books out there, from sci-fi, action, romance, dystopian, and fantasy to non-fiction, mystery, historical fiction, and coming-of-age novels. ^[4]
- Reading books with mostly pictures (graphic novels, comic books, and manga) is fine too, although try reading books with more words to exercise your brain.
Practice drawing. Even if you believe that your drawing skills are not the best, you can still draw while on break. Drawing is another activity that reduces stress and makes you feel more relaxed. Feel free to informally doodle something on a notebook, or paint a full-on portrait. If you can, start by watching drawing tutorials or have someone teach you the basics of drawing to improve at it.
- Find inspiration for drawing by looking at objects around your room, viewing nature, thinking of childhood memories, and using your senses (e.g. sight and smell)
Exercise while at home. There are many ways to exercise at home. Run around your room and do exercises like jumping jacks, squats, sit-ups, crunches, and pushups. However, to make this more exciting (for you to have more motivation to continue exercising), make it into a game. You could compete with your family to see who does the most exercises in a week, or you could reward yourself at the end of your daily exercise regime by eating something yummy or buying yourself something.
- Another method of exercising is to dance. Play your favorite songs and dance to them. KidzBop and Just Dance are examples of creators that make dance tutorials. Plus, they make the songs kid-friendly.
Look at nostalgic items. If you are an older child (9-11 years old) or a teenager, you may occasionally reminisce your childhood. Spring break is a good time to find some childhood items and photos you may have of yourself. Find some old photo albums of you and your parents or relatives together. Dig out some old childhood toys (e.g. Shopkins, LPS, Legos, stuffed animals, Beanie Babies) and listen to songs that you listened to as a child. You may find it surprising that you have listened to these types of songs; they may have hidden innuendos or multiple meanings in them.
- This will take you down your memory lane, and you may feel slightly longing or mournful of the good times you had before.
- Nostalgia can feel happy and uplifting or make you long for the past, before you had that many responsibilities and signs of maturity (e.g. graduating elementary and middle school, more homework and tests, friendships drifting apart). In this case, it's ok to cry to release your emotions.

[Edit]Doing Fun Things Outdoors

Help out your neighbors or your community. Since you have a ton of time left for spring break, you can try to help out your neighbors or your whole community. You can volunteer to sell used items or food (e.g. cookies, muffins). If your local library has volunteering opportunities to teach young children during spring break, sign up for it. If you can't find any work, ask your neighbors. If they are going on vacation and are unable to bring their pets, you can offer to take care of them. You could also help cook or mow their lawn and do other housework.
- If you are unfamiliar with your neighbors or if no one has any work to do, help out your parents and siblings with things. If your parents are stressed and are resting, offer to do chores for them.
Go to a friend's house. If you are lonely and bored at home, go to a friend's house. You should ask for permission to go to a friend's house first. If you get the permission to, walk or be driven to your friend's house. There, you can do many fun activities with your friend, like riding bikes, playing with toys, watching movies, cooking meals, gaming, writing, etc.
- You can also have multiple friends come over to your house or have a sleepover. These are also interesting options.
Attend a concert. This may be your first ever concert or one of many concerts you have attended. Buy concert tickets to one of your favorite artists' concerts online. You can support your favorite singer by memorizing the lyrics to their songs, buying their merch, and listening to their songs (either on a video platform or on a music streaming platform).
Watch movies by going to a movie theater. If you don't want to stream movies online or want to go outside, go to a movie theater near you to watch movies. You can go solo or invite your friends and family to watch with you. Action movies are popular choices for families, although it really depends on everyone's tastes. Buy tickets for the movie you want to watch a couple weeks before the movie viewing, and order the snacks for the movie too.
- Don't text or talk loudly in the theater. Do your best to not disturb others while watching the movie.
Take a small road trip. If you want to go somewhere further than your local store or park, ask your parents to take you on a road trip. Go to a mall, outlet, or park that is slightly farther than your house. The drive there should take around 20-40 minutes for it to be considered a small road trip. You could also visit a zoo, museum, or another educational place. You can take photos of the scenery when you are inside of the car or outside.
- If your school's far away, you could even ask to be driven to and from it. If you're in a public school, your school may be too close for the drive to be 20-40 minutes long, as your school will be in your school district (an area surrounding your home).
Swim in your nearby pool. Spring isn't too early to start having fun in the water. Water, beaches, and pools are usually associated with summer, but you can start swimming even in spring, where it's warmer than winter and autumn. If you have a pool in your backyard, now is a good time to start filling it up and swimming in it before school ends and summer starts.
- If you don't have a pool, go to a public pool, your friend's house's pool, or places where they teach swimming to swim.
Go on a walk. If you are a young child, walk in areas around your house with adult supervision. If you are a bit older, you may be able to walk around your neighborhood with less adult supervision. If you have a dog, you can take it for a walk with you too. Go to places like your friend's house (if it's near yours), the park, your school (if it's nearby) or nearby neighborhoods to look at the nature and scenery.
- If you want, take a camera or phone with you to take pictures. Look at the birds flying, the trees with leaves, the clouds, rain, snow, and bushes around you. But, never look directly at the sun. Looking at it even for a few seconds will damage your eyes badly.
Go camping. Camping during the spring and summer months is ideal. The wilderness is usually interesting, and the weather is warmer and more pleasant. Pack your bags beforehand, and pick a suitable camping trail. You can also invite friends and family to camp with you if you want.
- Pack wisely for a camping trip depending on the weather and how many days you'll be staying.
- You can also camp in your own backyard or indoors if you can't go further than your house.
Have a one-week vacation. One week may seem like barely enough time to cram a vacation into it, but you can do many things in a week. You could travel across the city or state depending on how large it is. Tell your parents/guardians that you would like to have a one-week vacation. They may have planned a couple of close, separate destinations (e.g. going to the zoo one day and going to the nearby carnival on another day and going to your grandparents' house the third day) or far, continuous destinations (e.g. traveling to the places downtown or across the state). ^[5]
- You may get to see your relatives while on this one-week vacation. Try not to get on their nerves, and try to get along with them.
- Remember to take as many photos as you can; they are a source for nostalgia and memories when you get older. You may cringe at them now, but they will bring you longing memories of the past when you're an adult.

[Edit]Doing Productive Things Over Break

Do some spring cleaning. Spring break is a long enough period of time for spring cleaning. This is when you clean out your house and throw away old items that you don't use or need anymore. Clean your room by dusting off shelves, making your bed, and storing all items into their corresponding places (like toys into a toy bin, books into a bookshelf, CDs into a shelf, devices on the table, etc.). ^[6] You can tell your family to be involved in this too.
- Then, every member of the family can contribute to cleaning the house. Someone can clean the bathroom, someone else tidies up the living room, and another person can clean the kitchen.
Study for tests. Sometimes, you know when a test is going to come, as the teacher may tell you. If it's in the near future, try setting aside 20-40 minutes of studying for each subject you have. Some subjects, such as math, may take you longer to study for. So, adjust your study time as needed. Review by reading over your notes, doing practice problems, and using flashcards. You can also watch videos online that summarize content for you (although these may not help for detailed explanations of content).
- After a study session ends, take a break by walking around and getting a snack.
Prepare for any state testing. State testing may come a few weeks after spring break. The whole week will be designated for testing, and you will be tested on subjects like math and language arts. If you are in a non-state school (like a private school), you may also have school standardized testing upcoming. Go online and find resources for you to study. Review things you have learned in class for math and ELA.
- There may be subcategories such as reading and vocabulary being tested for language arts. In this case, read more than usual, and find words that are foreign to you and search up their meanings.
Review things you have learned in school. Even if no tests are coming up, it's still a good idea to frequently review things that you have learned in order to refresh your memory. You may forget a lot of topics that you learned before spring break. Read over your notes for a couple of minutes. For math, do a couple of practice problems of things you have learned recently (e.g. two-digit multiplication, graphing linear equations, using the geometric mean).
- This way, you will be prepared for pop quizzes after spring break, and instances where the teacher will call on you to see if you remember things you have learned before break.

[Edit]Tips

It's ideal to do some productive things during spring break. Try not to waste your time gaming or watching videos the whole break. Set aside a couple of minutes to learn something, like cooking a meal, learning a language, riding a bike, singing a song, etc.
Read the news if you usually don't read it. Reading the news is a great way to stay updated on your surroundings and what is going on around you.

[Edit]References

[_note-1] ttps://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/kids-cooking-recipes

[_note-2] ttps://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/fresh-movies-you-can-watch-for-free-online-right-now/#:~:text=Apps%20and%20sites%20like%20Crackle,they%20are%20on%20broadcast%20channels.

[_note-3] ttps://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-reading-books

[_note-4] ttps://blog.reedsy.com/book-genres/

[_note-5] ttps://www.beaches.com/blog/top-25-spring-break-vacation-ideas-for-families/

[_note-6] ttps://www.thespruce.com/spring-cleaning-a-complete-checklist-1900106

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Pet & Animal

Wednesday 13 March 2024

How to Spend Your Spring Break (for Students)