A screen-free winter break plan is a day-by-day schedule of activities that do not involve a screen, written before the break starts. This plan covers fourteen days. Each day has one theme and three versions of it, for ages 5 to 7, 8 to 11, and 12 and up. Ten of the fourteen days cost nothing.
By Shawn Tuthill, who builds Start Ready Quest. Published . Free to read and free to use.
Winter break runs about two weeks in most US school districts. The weather is bad, the house is full, and nobody has a plan by day three. Day three is when the tablets come out and stay out.
The fourteen days below put brothers and sisters of different ages on the same theme. One parent runs one activity instead of three. Most days need nothing you do not already own, and the page prints clean if you want it on the fridge.
Writing the plan down before the break starts is the part that matters, and it is the same advice the American Academy of Pediatrics gives parents: decide the rules while everyone is calm, then revisit them at school breaks. Their Family Media Plan tool is free and takes about ten minutes.
The plan is not a school timetable. Pick the day that suits the weather and the mood, and skip the rest without guilt. Nothing here has to happen in order.
One rule makes the difference: hand the task to the kid and leave. A kid who is being watched is performing. A kid who is alone with a job is working.
Day 5 sends everyone outside on purpose. The US Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (PDF) put the target for ages 6 through 17 at 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous activity every day. Cold weather does not change that number.
Ages 5 to 7 need one instruction at a time and an adult nearby. Ages 8 to 11 can follow two or three steps and want to be trusted with something real. Ages 12 and up need the task to matter, or they will not take it seriously.
Ages 5 to 7
Sort your toys into three boxes: keep, fix, give away. You decide, not a grown-up.
Ages 8 to 11
Clear and wipe down your own desk or shelf. Throw out anything broken.
Ages 12 and up
Strip your bed, wash the sheets, remake it. Then vacuum the room.
Ages 5 to 7
Draw five things you want to do before school starts again. Tape the page to the fridge.
Ages 8 to 11
Write a list of everything you want to do on break. Circle your top five.
Ages 12 and up
Pick one thing you want to be better at by January. Write down what you will do each week.
Ages 5 to 7
Make your own breakfast. Pour, spread, and carry it to the table yourself.
Ages 8 to 11
Cook scrambled eggs and toast for two people. Wash the pan afterward.
Ages 12 and up
Cook one dinner for the family. Write the shopping list and check the pantry first.
Ages 5 to 7
Build a fort with blankets and chairs. It has to stay up for an hour.
Ages 8 to 11
Build a marble run out of cardboard and tape. Make the marble reach the floor.
Ages 12 and up
Build or fix one thing the house actually needs. A shelf, a hook, a wobbly chair leg.
Ages 5 to 7
Walk around the block and count ten things that are not green.
Ages 8 to 11
Take a 30-minute walk with a job: photograph or draw five interesting doors.
Ages 12 and up
Run, bike, or walk two miles. Track the route and the time.
Ages 5 to 7
Count all the coins in the house. Sort them into piles by type.
Ages 8 to 11
You have ten dollars and a grocery list. Find the cheapest way to buy all of it.
Ages 12 and up
Work out what your phone, your food, and your streaming actually cost per month.
Ages 5 to 7
Draw a card for someone who does not live with you. Address the envelope yourself.
Ages 8 to 11
Write a real letter to a grandparent or a cousin. Mail it.
Ages 12 and up
Make a gift instead of buying one. Baked, built, written, or recorded.
Ages 5 to 7
Cut out cookie shapes and count how many you made.
Ages 8 to 11
Bake something from a written recipe. Measure everything yourself.
Ages 12 and up
Double a recipe. Do the math on paper before you start.
Ages 5 to 7
Take apart a pen and put it back together. Name every piece.
Ages 8 to 11
Open up a broken toy or a dead remote. Find out what is inside.
Ages 12 and up
Change a bike tire, a smoke alarm battery, or a furnace filter. Read the manual first.
Ages 5 to 7
Put on a puppet show for whoever is home. Two characters minimum.
Ages 8 to 11
Write and rehearse a three-minute story. Perform it after dinner.
Ages 12 and up
Teach the family something in ten minutes, with no screen. A card game, a skill, a song.
Ages 5 to 7
Draw a map of your house. Mark where everyone sleeps.
Ages 8 to 11
Draw a map of your neighborhood from memory. Then walk it and fix the mistakes.
Ages 12 and up
Plan a trip you are not taking. Route, budget, and what you would pack.
Ages 5 to 7
Carry your own list of three items through the store and find all three.
Ages 8 to 11
Pay at the register and count the change back yourself.
Ages 12 and up
Do one errand alone or with a sibling. Return something, mail something, or shop a list.
Ages 5 to 7
Set the table for everyone. Napkins, forks, and a drink for each person.
Ages 8 to 11
Plan a family game night. Pick the games, set the rules, keep score.
Ages 12 and up
Plan, shop for, and cook a meal for a friend or a neighbor.
Ages 5 to 7
Tell someone the best thing you did on break and why.
Ages 8 to 11
Go back to your Day 2 list. Cross off what you actually did.
Ages 12 and up
Write down what you got better at, and one thing you want to keep doing in January.
Days 3, 8, 9 and 13 involve heat, blades, or hardware. A parent decides whether a particular kid is ready, and stays involved for the parts that need it. Nothing on this page is a judgment about your kid.
Day three is usually the hard one. The novelty is gone and the complaining starts. Hold the line once and the rest of the break gets easier.
Boredom is also not an emergency. A kid with nothing to do for twenty minutes will eventually invent something, and that invention is the whole point. Researchers at the University of Central Lancashire tested this directly: people given a boring task first came up with more ideas afterward than people who went straight to the creative task. The write-up is Does being bored make us more creative? (PDF) by Sandi Mann and Rebekah Cadman.
Use your browser's print function on this page. The page prints clean, without the navigation. Put it on the fridge and let the kids cross off days themselves.
Three outside sources back the claims above. Each one is the original, not somebody else's summary of it.
Every guide on this site is generic on purpose. A guide does not know your kids' ages, what you are trying to teach them, or how much time you actually have. Start Ready Quest asks those questions and writes the missions from your answers. You can build a Quest for your own kids in about five minutes, or see what a finished mission looks like first. It is a one-time price, not a subscription.
The rest of the cluster, including the life skills checklist by age and the chore guide.
One complete mission from a real Quest, with the parent notes and the check-in script.
Fourteen missions for one kid is $21. A $7 base fee plus $1 per mission per kid.
Start Ready Quest LLC is a parent-directed planning tool. All quests and activities must be reviewed, approved, adapted, and supervised by a parent or guardian before use.
Questions? [email protected]
© 2026 Start Ready Quest LLC