1. Sticker Hunt: I can't take credit for this one. My parents did this with my brother and I when we were little. It's a great activity for delivery day. We were each given a hunk of cardboard ripped off of whatever box was handy and sent on a hunt to collect furniture tags. It was a big competition to see who could collect more and to sweet the deal a bit, my parents use to pay us for each tag we pulled. I think it was like a penny or nickel per tag or something. But, when you're little the value doesn't matter much, does it? The rules were that we had to wait until the furniture had been placed inside the house, so we weren't underfoot while they were bringing it inside and the tags could come from furniture pieces ONLY, not boxes. (Now that I'm older, I understand why...my parents needed the box tags until the unpacked and made sure the inventory/damages were accurate, haha)
2. Ration the Toys! My little friends like to help, but I don't want them unpacking my wedding china. So, I dig around and find those treasured boxes that say "Toys - Girl's Room" or the like. It's tempting to open all the toys at once to find their favorites, but you must resist! Any toy will be their favorite when they have none!!! Try to keep them to opening one box of toys in the morning and one in the afternoon. You can drag out the "new toy" effect for at least two days that way. It's like Christmas when they start pulling toys out of that box. You'll be able to power through 4 to 6 boxes in the time it takes them to unpack and play with all the "new again" toys.
3. Hide and Seek: This classic game is great for packing and delivery days because there are piles of things clumped together all over the house creating all kinds of new nooks and crannies for hiding places.
4. Mural Art: Packing paper is great for making GIANT artwork. This is a better activity for unpacking days rather than delivery day since there may not be a ton of space to lay out paper and crayons unless you can use the back patio. Sometimes, the moving crews won't care if you "borrow" a little packing paper to draw on during the packing days, but it really varies with the crews and how carefully they track their supplies. Anyway, if you can, it's a great time to create some Welcome Home signs.
5. Fun with Boxes: You know the drill...kids usually have more fun with the boxes than with what's inside. And during a move we have soooo many different sizes of boxes! Great for all kinds of fun. It's also one of the few times that I have a utility knife handy so I don't mind quickly cutting a door or window or wings into the cardboard for the kids. Tape is also usually plentiful so you can piece together boxes for tunnels, spaceships, trains, doll beds, etc.
6. Paper Patrol: When I unpack, I make a mess, particularly in the kitchen and dining room. I like to get the items out, see what I have and cram it into a cabinet as fast as possible. The paper ends up getting tossed on the floor wherever. When the first box is empty, I start cramming the discarded paper in there for easy stacking as it awaits recycle pick-up. My kids love jumping in my paper piles (think piles of leaves in the fall!). They have also learned how much fun grape stomping is, so when they are done jumping in the paper, they enjoy stuffing it the box if they get turns stomping.
What are your favorite ways to keep kids occupied while you unpack?
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