Short Saturday plans with kids
Which Saturday plan respects a short attention span?
Saturday fails when the plan is a whole day and the child was done at 10:30. These are short on purpose. You can stack two of them. You cannot stack all eight.
Rank the plan you would do first, while everyone is still speaking to each other. Put the ambitious one lower if it depends on the short one going well.
Rank two options at a time. Leave out anything you cannot judge. You can share the result or, on a public list, add your order to the visitor tally.
4–8 options keeps it quick. Leave at least two checked. You can adjust the order at the end.
What is on this list
The order here is a starting shortlist, not a ranking. Notes are context so a group can tell similar options apart.
- Playground, then a snack
- Playground, then a snack you name before you leave. The snack is the ending. Without an ending, the playground becomes a negotiation.
- Library, then home
- Library, then home. Borrow a book or do not. The win is a small trip that finished. Check the hours so you are not ranking a locked door.
- One short film
- One short film, paused if needed. Prefer a runtime you know. The under-two-hours film list names commonly published lengths if you want candidates.
- Three disc golf holes
- Three disc golf holes and then the car. Keep score only if they want to. One disc each. Leave before it turns into eighteen.
- Bake one tray
- Bake one tray of something you have made before. One tray is the whole project, including the part where it cools enough to eat.
- Park picnic
- A park picnic with food packed at home. Short means you eat and you go. It is not also a museum.
- One board game
- One board game, then put it away. Pick a game the family-game list would recognise, or one you already know how to teach.
- A walk with a turnaround
- A walk with a turnaround you can see from the start: the end of the block, the big tree, the corner. Children trust a finish line they were shown.
Visitor rankings
Finish the pairs, then add your order from the results screen. Pickaside stores a random id in this browser and the order you submit. It does not ask for your name on a public list.
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Questions about this list
How short is short?
About an hour, including getting out the door, unless the note says otherwise. A film is the long option on this list. If you start it, you are choosing the couch for the length of the film.
What if we want a full day?
Then this is the wrong list. Use the flexible outings list and a group vote, and name a meal in the middle so the day has a hinge.