Hellobee Boards

Your list is pretty much what I did when I had 3 half days with just my then 5yo last summer. Definite yes to board games! We did that after baking cookies so we could eat too.

We also made jewelry which may not be exciting for a 5yo boy but perhaps something similar younger ones can’t do - like build a lego set together. There are lots of sets $15 or under and picking it out could be part of the fun too. We do lots of that. Or whatever he is into with small pieces!

Painting: I let her use my special watercolours and made tiny watercolour paper canvasses (use masking tape around the outside of a small 3x5 piece of paper -- then when the painting is dry, you pull off the tape and it looks more artsy than it would otherwise. I also picked up a big wooden owl at the dollar store and we painted it white one day, then decorated it throughout the week.

Lego prompts - "Captain Hook needs a new pirate ship and he's chosen you to build it!" Pinterest has a lot of these ideas.

Doing the dishes: My 5yo looooves doing the dishes. Yay!

Library for new books, then reading time (either by herself or together).

Swimming/Skating - we went to 2 swimming times and would have done skating, but she wanted some free time at home without her sister

Oh one more, puzzles! Do you and DS like puzzles? We have a 800 piece puzzle that DS insisted to buy when we were in Hawaii. It has been laying there, he built a bit of it and it was a little too much for him. We never get to finish that because I always have to work, but if I truly am blocking time with him and I have nothing to do, I wouldn't mind finishing it with him.

Check out your local library / book stores, they do host storytimes sometimes especially during breaks. Some independent bookstores would host events (eg. authors / illustrators of newly published children books may go in for a reading/signing), check on Facebook events.

Yes to bowling and ice skating as previous posters said. Ice skating was something we did last year when he was 5.

Another thing we love to do is picnics. While weather is cold on your end, maybe you can both make picnic food (sandwiches and what not), lay a blanket on the floor inside the house and pretend to have a picnic? While watch a short film about nature?

If the week gets too long, you can always look for short classes to drop him off for a morning. We did that over Winter break, where we dropped him off at a cooking class for one morning, and a sports camp at a local gym for another.

I love short breaks like spring break, the part I don't like is I always end up having to work a lot and couldn't fully spend time with my DS.