You are in the middle of eating dinner during a storm and suddenly the lights flicker and turn off. The power is out. You don’t know how long it will last, but you have kids that are starting to get worried. Either because they’re small and afraid of the dark or because they realize they won’t be able to charge their pocket electronics! As the parent, you know this can either be a scary time or you can take control and use this technology free time to make memories instead. We used to get so excited when the power went out as kids–that was when we all played some crazy game together by the light of our camping lantern.
Here are eighteen great activities to keep the children (and even some adults) busy while there is no power. For this list, we’re assuming the weather is bad so you’ll be stuck inside and also that you do not have a way to charge the handheld electronic devices that most kids love to have on call. Fair enough? Here we go:
ART
1. Bead something. Pony beads are a good size to string on string, yarn, or pipe cleaners. No beads? String a necklace from macaroni (you do have macaroni in your food storage, right?) or Cheerio’s or anything else you can find that has a hole in it!
2. Make something with clay. We like Sculpey polymer clay around here because it doesn’t harden until you bake it, then it hardens up without cracking and keeps forever. Great for little artists. You could also use regular air-dry or non-hardening clay or even make your own play dough!
3. Make an animal (or a whole zoo) from toilet paper tubes.
4. Try one of these other fun and simple crafts for kids. You could use crafts from any source, just be careful they don’t require hot glue since your glue gun won’t work!
5. Get creative. Break out the paper, construction paper, markers, crayons, scissors, glue, pipe cleaners, pom poms, etc. and see what kind of things you can create. You’ll probably be surprised what your kids come up with!
GAMES
6. Board games. Classics like Scrabble, Candyland, or Monopoly. A couple newer games we love are Say Anything and Wits and Wagers. Want a game that will go on for a while and keep the older kids busy? Try Settlers of Catan. I especially like it with the Seafarers Expansion Pack.
7. Card games. Poker, anyone? How about Golf or Go Fish or Old Maid? Most of these can be played with a regular deck of cards if you know the rules. What? You can’t remember how to play a specific card game? Well, here is an alphabetical list of card games with all the rules! Some other fun card games that might require special decks are 5 Crowns, Quiddler, and Canasta.
8. Impromptu games. These are the games where no equipment is needed like charades, duck duck goose, and hide and seek (you could even play after dark–just use glow sticks and/or flashlights).
9. Crosswords, word searches, or other “figure out the word” games. Usually these are in magazine form, but your local newspaper probably has a crossword puzzle and if you have a stack of old papers in the burn pile or recycle bin, you’ve got quite a few crossword puzzles on hand!
MAKE SOMETHING
10. Legos. Build something by the instructions or dump the tub of Legos on a blanket (so they’re easier to gather afterward) and get creative.
11. Puzzles. I actually have some 500 piece puzzles I’ve never made waiting for just such an occasion. These would be especially tricky in limited light! If you don’t want your table taken over with a puzzle for three days, you can stick to 20-100 piece puzzles.
12. Needlework. Now would be a great time to teach your kids a needlework skill you may have. Have a knitting, crochet, cross stitch, or embroidery class.
13. Meals. Go ahead and let the kids help figure out what you’re making for meals and how you’re going to cook it with no power.
14. Make paper airplanes and have a flight contest. Awards for the farthest flight, the most unpredictable, the prettiest, or whatever other airplanes you end up with!
EXPERIMENT
15. Try some of these science experiments. Many are extremely simple and only use things you probably already have around your house. Again, watch out for those requiring any use of power–you won’t have it!
READ AND WRITE
16. Books. Kids can pick their own favorites and read to themselves, read to each other, or you could all read together. Maybe you want to start a novel or a series and do a chapter at a time.
17. Write a story. Try one of these ideas to get you started or come up with a question of your own! You could also write about what is happening right now.
18. While you’re writing, write a letter. You could write your letter to grandma or grandpa, your friend, your younger self, your older self (save it and open it when they reach the age they wrote to), or anyone else you’d like to send a letter to. Then actually mail it when your power comes back on–resist the urge to just scan it and email it!
Well, that’s a start. You know the sanity level of the adults is inversely proportional to the whining level of the children! What other fun ideas do you have to keep kids and yourself busy and happy when the power is out?
Keep preparing! Angela
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Brilliant!
How’s this for a creative and free way to entertain kids? We download free audiobooks for them. They’re especially great during road trips. There’s lots of great sites to get them, but this one seems to be their favorite. http://www.twirlygirlshop.com/moral-stories-for-kids