Megan Proops
Product writer
The holiday season is the perfect time to create new family traditions and memories. While it may be tempting for your kids to spend more time in front of screens while they’re not at school, getting a good balance of online and offline activities will help you to enjoy the quality family time that you’re looking for.
To give you some inspiration for screen-free activities that will keep your kids entertained, we’ve asked a few of our team members at Qustodio how they celebrate the holidays with their families – and put together some tips on how Qustodio’s parental control tools can help you too.
Screen-free activities for the whole family
“During the holiday season, we always find ways to help the younger generation connect with the older generation, both in and outside the family. We often volunteer for charity projects or local initiatives so we can give back to the community together. At home, we organize events that involve everyone – we pass down family recipes from the older generation to the younger generation by cooking together, and we host a family talent contest. The more the merrier!”
Dan, Customer Support
“My family really loves competitions and puzzles, so we use our time off in the holidays to make the ultimate scavenger hunt! We either hide holiday-themed objects, or we hide one clue after another, taking us to the final prize. It can be a lot of work, but if we’re short of time we make use of technology, and use online scavenger hunt suggestions and apps to make our life a bit easier.
We like to use the internet to help us learn over the holidays, so we also search for things like science experiments we can perform together, with basic tools and ingredients that we have around the house. This way, we always have something to do, and we bring the online world offline!”
Nils, Education
“I love decorating, and so does my family. We use the holidays as an opportunity to get out together and enjoy nature. We then bring home things we find that we can decorate, such as pine cones, tree bark, and branches. We get really creative with whatever we find – we paint pine cones, make colorful wreaths, or build beautiful centerpieces inspired by the outdoors. We love making things together instead of buying all our decorations. It gives the house a rustic feel!”
Ornella, Customer Success
“My family absolutely loves the festive season. Every year we pick a different theme that helps keep us inspired – so one year we’ll do a sports theme, one year we’ll do a cookery theme, and we decorate the house and base our gifting around that theme. As a family, we also organize and lead tours around our local area, with the best tour receiving a prize. This way we get out and enjoy the lights and the celebrations, but through the eyes of one of our family members…and it helps keep things fresh, as it’s different every year!”
Irene, HR
“At my place, we’re big fans of charades. It’s a classic tradition that dates back to the 16th century and it’s the perfect excuse to ditch screens and spend some time together! Charades is a game of pantomimes: you have to ‘act out’ a phrase without speaking, while the other members of your team try to guess what the phrase is. The objective is for your team to guess the phrase as quickly as possible and you can always give prizes to the team that wins.
If you’re no novice to charades, there are lots of ways you can switch it up. Have the whole family act out the clue for one person to guess, or ‘pass down’ the charade from one family member to another, like you would in telephone!”
Marvin, Customer Success
“One thing which I did when I was little, and which I always do now with my kids, is make a collage wishlist. Instead of writing out a present list, or using the internet to search for what we want, we cut out images from magazines and toy store catalogs and glue them into a collage of the kind of gifts we’d like to receive. It’s fun for little kids, and older teens and family members enjoy helping them out – but everyone makes their own, too!”
Tamara, Marketing
How Qustodio can help during the holiday season
Want a little extra help getting the best online-offline balance so you can try out the activities above? Qustodio’s parental control tools are here to do just that. Check out our top tips below and make the most of Qustodio to get more family time.
1. Schedule device-free moments
Use routines to schedule time away from screens so your kids can fully disconnect from their devices. Whether you want to encourage conversation at the dinner table or simply enjoy some festive, offline activities, routines will help everyone to focus on family time.
2. Manage game and app use
If your kids are receiving new devices and videogames over the holidays, then set time limits for particular games and apps to help them maintain a healthy balance. They’ll be able to enjoy exploring their new tech without it taking up all of their holiday time.
3. Monitor phone calls and messages
Your kids will probably be excited to keep in touch with their friends from school over the holidays, and may be spending more time calling and texting them. Activate calls & SMS monitoring to keep an eye on who they’re talking to and make sure they’re getting a good balance between online messaging and face-to-face conversation.
4. Set up alerts
If you want to let your kids explore online this holiday season while staying safe, Qustodio alerts are here to help. You’ll be notified straight away if they search for something concerning, including anything related to bullying, violence, or mature content. You can also activate Safe Search for an extra layer of protection.
By combining Qustodio’s parental control tools with some of our festive screen-free activity ideas, you’ll be sure to get in some quality time as a family this season!
