When it's too cold to go out, you've got to stay in. But that doesn't mean you can curl up on your couch and read a good book when you have preschoolers at home with you! I asked three of Sprout's Band of Bloggers for fun things they do on long days at home and they had three really different approaches. Read on to discover them!--Diana
Mama Joss blogs at my iRISH Twins. Here are her stormy day suggestions:
Being a Stay at Home Mom with 2 toddlers, I am all-too-familiar with trying to keep their day busy and fun-filled during the chilly months that you just can’t make it outside to play.
Here are a few activities that you might want to try when the energy levels get high and you are stuck inside.
Freeze Dance to Warm Up!
Now I know this is an oldie, but it’s still a goodie. Turn off the TV and get your iPod or CDs ready to roll. Put on one of your favorite songs, let it play and dance away. When you get your little one’s feet going make a big silly gesture and say “FREEZE!” – then, freeze. Tell them that when the music comes back on “let’s dance” – then freeze again. They will love watching you, playing along and learning about cause and effect. This is a great warm-up to start off any cold winter day.
Snowball Sock Toss
Grab a handful of socks and stuff them inside each other to make varying sized “sock balls”. Set a laundry basket out across the floor and have your toddler take turns trying to throw the sock balls into the basket. You will be amazed at how long this will go on and they will love all your clapping and cheering each time they make a basket! The fun continues after they are finished with the toss as they can now disassemble and pull apart the socks.
Cotton Ball Snowstorm
Grab a BIG handful of cotton balls and place them on the floor. Get down on the floor with your toddler and show them how you can blow the “snow” around. Demonstrate how if you blow gently the snow will move slowly and then if you blow harder the snow will move fast. Try different surfaces to see how the cotton balls will move. You can also use cups and spoons to scoop the “snow” and let your toddler enjoy the soft texture and squishing the snow balls together.
Homemade Sugar Cookie Painting
Bake up a batch of simple sugar cookies and then using colored-water, let your toddler paint the cookies.
You’ll need:
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
• Food coloring diluted with water & a clean paintbrush
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture combines. For even more fun, et your preschooler help you mix the ingredients. Wrap the dough in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Here is where you can play some of the fun activities from above while you are waiting for the dough to chill. Don’t forget about snack time and naptime too!
To finish, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Roll out and cut dough into desired shape. Place cookies at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet and place in oven for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges.
Then when the cookies have cooled show your little one how to “paint” with the colored water.
(You can also cut out “cookie shapes” using construction paper and have them paint those instead)
Pour a glass of milk and sit down to enjoy your special wintery day snack with your little one.
Christy Matte blogs at More Than Mommy and Quirky Fusion. Here's what you might find her family doing when they're stuck inside.
A lot of people, especially children, suffer a let-down after the holidays. The anticipation is gone and it’s back to the regular routine. Worse, many kids are stuck inside due to extremely cold weather and snow. Here are some fun, free activities you can do to shake things up and keep the kids entertained. If you have older children, adapt them accordingly, or ask them to put something together for the little ones.
Dance to the Music
One of my favorite things to do when we’re stuck inside and restless is to have a dance party. We put on our favorite music and dance and sing. If we’re inspired, we pull out instruments and have a parade.
Build a Fort
You remember those old forts from when you were a kid. Don’t worry about a mess – just pull the blankets off the beds and drape them over couches, chairs and tables to build a massive fort. Cover the bottom with pillows and curl up to read stories by flashlight and have a “cave picnic.”
Have a Change of Scenery
Take the kids somewhere in the house where they don’t spend much time. It might be snuggled in mom and dad’s bed, running around in a clear space in the basement or searching for treasure in the attic. The change of scenery will keep them busy and help get rid of the feeling of being “stuck inside.”
Bake
Helping to measure and pour and sampling each of the ingredients is a special treat for my kids. Find a recipe that’s simple enough for your kids to get involved. We love to make cookies!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Pull out some clean boxes and cans (check for sharp edges) from your recycle bin and build something. Could be a castle or a train or wherever your imagination takes you. If the boxes are too light to stack, tape a quarter (or some other object) in the center of the side that will be pointing toward the floor. You can also pull out some packing tape and just tape the whole structure together.
Play “Feeley Meeley”
When we were young, our grandparents had a game called “Feeley Meeley” that we loved. To make: Take a box that’s at least 6-8 inches tall/wide/deep and sit the box on a flat surface. Cut two to four circles (depending on the number of players), one on each side of the box. Leave the top and bottom untouched. Hang a piece of cloth, paper or felt over each circle on the inside of the box to form a flap (attach the top of the flap and leave the rest to hang over the circle). Place a variety of small objects inside the box and tape it shut. Objects might include marbles, small animal figures, cars, rocks, pasta, etc., and should each be different. Write the name of each object on a small piece of paper. To play: Take turns drawing a piece of paper and trying to find the object by feeling around on the inside of the box (no peeking!). As kids get older, you can make it more difficult by using very similar objects, such as a collection of plastic animals.
Put on a Show
My sisters and I were forever putting on plays and concerts for our parents. Choose some well known songs, learn a poem to recite or have kids act out a story as you read along. Don’t forget the fabulous costumes! And if you’d like to make a day of it, you can have the kids make posters and a program to hand out. This is an activity that can easily fill an entire day.
Have a Scavenger or Treasure Hunt
Make up a series of clues for the kids to follow and hide them in familiar places. If you have several kids, rotate between them, making sure the clue is age-appropriate. Good hiding places might include a toy bin, under a pillow, on the bottom of a chair, inside a boot or shoe, etc. If you don’t have prep time, just send the kids out to find certain objects (something round, something you use to clean your teeth, etc.) The final treasure could be a special treat, a movie to watch as a family, pretend jewelry, or some trinkets you have laying around.
We asked one more blogger for her ideas to keep kids busy. Angie from My Four Monkeys had even more ideas to entertain the troops.
Being stuck indoors all day with children full of energy can be daunting, but the key is to focus that boundless energy on a fun and creative task. With four kids ranging from 16 months to almost nine years old, it can be difficult at times to find an activity that we can all do together, but here are a few of the tried and true “yucky weather” activities that we rely on here at our house:
Simple Card Games
One of our favorite things to do to pass time indoors is to play card games. Simple games like Old Maid, Memory, Go Fish and my kid’s favorite, Crazy Eights, are easy enough for preschoolers and still fun for the older ones.
Raid the Recycle Bin
My husband and I always laugh at our children’s affinity for recyclables. Most days the recycle bin is off limits, but on days when we’re looking for an indoor activity that let’s them expend energy, creativity, and stay quiet too, I let them loose! They create castles, houses, spaceships, and even zoos out of cardboard boxes, old milk jugs, plastic tubs, and newspaper. They color, cut, glue, and paint to their hearts content, always proud of their masterpieces. The best part is that these creative masterpieces usually take a good hour to make, and this activity even keeps my toddler busy too. He often creates musical instruments banging jugs together or filling an old milk jug with small toys and shaking it! Just be sure that you don’t let the children use any cans or jars, as they might break or have sharp edges. Also make sure that all recyclables are clean and dry.
Create a Book
Recently I was introduced to a great new craft time project that was a huge hit with our kids. The ponytail band book from The Bag Ladies Videobag is a simple book that can be used in so many different ways. All you need are a pair of scissors, a ponytail band, and a few pieces of cardstock, scrap paper or index cards that are all cut to the same size. We used white cardstock. If you have a house full of little boys and don’t always have ponytail bands on hand, pick up a package next time you head out to your local dollar store.
•Fold the pieces of cardstock in half then cut a small slit (about 3/4 of an inch) on each end of the crease.
•Roll the cardstock and place the ponytail band along the crease using the slits.
•You can see how the ponytail band becomes the binding of the book.
•The kids have created many different ponytail band books, including this one my oldest daughter did about the parts of a flower.
There are so many different ways to use this craft project! You can have your older child write their own story and illustrate it or create a collection of ABC books with your younger child.
Put on a Puppet Show
We are constantly losing socks, but instead of throwing away the sole survivor that has lost its partner, I save the socks for a rainy day project. Using pompoms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, sequins, buttons, fabric markers, and ribbon that I keep on hand, we create our own personal sock puppets. After the kids are done creating, they put on a show for me! This particular activity has proven to be one that takes up a large amount of time.
Movie Fun
By the time the afternoon hours roll around, I’m ready for some quiet time and my toddler is ready for a nap. To keep the older kids quiet and calm for a little while, we often pop some popcorn and watch one of their favorite movies. To make it even more fun, pull out some sleeping bags and pillows and have an afternoon sleepover!
Cookie Time
Kids love to help cook and they love cookies. A fun way to keep them busy indoors is baking cookies. Finding a recipe that has few ingredients, and includes either rolling the dough into balls or cookie cutters and lots of sprinkles is key. This allows the kids to be involved as much as possible with the mixing and preparing. If you have a cookie press, Spritz Cookies are easy for the kids to make and the variety is fun too. Most cookie presses come with several different design discs. The kids love the mixing, decorating, and of course the eating of the cookies afterward!
Hide & Seek
When we’re stuck inside all day and can’t seem to agree on a project to do, a good old game of Hide & Seek usually gets us all laughing together in no time. Over the years, my kids have discovered some pretty ingenious hiding spaces, from inside clothes hampers to hiding behind the mound of pillows on our bed. I usually help the little ones so it’s fair. Our only rule when playing Hide & Seek is no running. Other than that, everything goes, and the kids never seem to want to stop playing!
Dance Around
When all else fails and the kids are bursting at the seams with energy, turn on some music and dance! After a few silly songs and some crazy dance moves, the kids will have expended some of that extra energy and be ready to tackle something calmer.
Want more ideas, or looking for something with a specific theme or specific supplies needed? The internet can be a very helpful resource when it comes to finding quick and easy activities to do with your kids. A simple search for “rainy day activities” brought up several different websites and blogs with craft tutorials and ideas. You could even search for crafts that use a certain craft supply like pipe cleaners if your craft supplies are limited. There are so many talented moms out there who blog and they have lots of fun and easy ideas!
Instead of dreading those days when the weather keeps you inside, create a day that your children come to look forward to, a time when you get the chance to spend quality time creating and playing together. Make the time special, so that next time you wake to rain or snow, instead of whining about boredom, you hear excitement about puppets and games of Hide & Seek!
These three bloggers have enough ideas to keep us going for a week or more of bad weather! I should note that they all suggested baking, which leads me to wonder who eats all those sweets?! I do most of the cookie eating at our house which is why baking is usually my last resort to keep the kids busy. The only thing worse than being stuck inside with nothing to do is being stuck inside with a plate of chocolate chip cookies calling my name all day! Thank goodness my kids are satisfied with one or two--usually!
How do you keep your kids occupied on those days when you can make it out your front door?