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Staycation Fun for February Break: Crafts, Hiking, Museums and More!

Written by Lyndsay McCabe  |  14. February 2015

Have some frugal fun for February break with a staycation for the whole family, fueled by old fashioned outdoor fun and visits to local parks and museums.  While school is out, get creative with your activities and the activities you plan for your kids - create crafts, explore the outdoors, pick up a winter sport, and even indulge in some movies with the family on the cold winter nights.  Whatever you do for your break, remember that vacations are always better together, so spend time with the kids, go out with friends and loved ones, and make some memories! Here are some ideas to get you started:

Chill Out at Your Local Park: Make the most of your local park during the break by using it as a source for craft supplies.  Collect pine needles and twigs to make a unique winter-themed centerpiece, or to make pictures and art by gluing the needles and twigs to paper or canvas to make a new picture.  You can also use pine needles to make discovery bottles – neat water bottles filled with water than magnifies the smaller items inside. Even though it is cold, hiking trails around Long Island are still being kept mostly clear, and if you’re unsure of the path, you can always join a hiking group – or even a snowshoeing or cross-country skiing group!

Happy Camper for a Week:  Many groups are offering camp sessions for the one week break, including the Cornell Cooperative in Yaphank for kids in kindergarten through 6th grade, or Island Garden Basketball Camp in West Hempstead for kids in grades 2-9.  For more February break camp programs, click here.

A Good Ol’ Fashioned Sledding Day:  With more snow on the way for this weekend, get the kids out of the house by hitting up the best sledding locations on Long Island, like Bethpage State Park and Eisenhower Park.  Here is a list of some great sleigh riding locations, as well as places where you can lace up your skates and hit the ice!

Stay Inside and Watch TV:  Hey, sometimes what you really need for your staycation is to keep warm and relax with movies and television.  Catch up on great seasons of some of the biggest shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime, such as House of Cards, Transparent, Sons of Anarchy, and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

Get Cultured at a Local Museum: Long Island hosts a myriad of museums with all different kinds of focuses, ranging from the most broad subjects to very niche museums.  Explore the best kid-friendly museums on Long Island, or peruse our guide to the over one hundred museums in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.  Many museums also host vaation camps, as well as morning and afternoon programs to keep kids' minds active as they build, create, and learn.

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