By Tara Wright
You wake up to see the white stuff coming down hard and the news advises you to stay off the roads. It's snowing too hard to play outside, so what do you do to keep the kids from tearing up your house or spending the day in front of the television?
The following list of fun activities for all ages was cobbled together from a variety of websites, recommendations from other moms and other “in-the-know” sources.
Keep this list of ideas handy, or write each idea, plus any others of your own, on slips of paper and put them in a bowl. The next time the kids are bored, let them draw a slip of paper to decide which activity to do first.
Have a Picnic or Tea Party – Lay out a picnic blanket or an outdoor tablecloth on the living room floor and enjoy lunch together down there. Or brew up some warm tea or cider and have a little tea time with crackers or sweet bread for an afternoon treat. Bring out the stuffed animals for extra company.
Do a Puzzle – Take out that 1000 piece puzzle, spread it out on the kitchen table or living room floor and dig in!
Resurrect Family Game Night – Dust off Candyland, Monopoly, Scrabble, a deck of cards or whatever other board games you’ve forgotten in the closet.
Look Through Old Photo Albums – Pull out the old photo albums, sit around the table and show the kids what you looked like at your high school prom. They’ll love the old photos of Grandma, Grandpa and the rest of the family too.
Scrap Book Together - Pull out that box of old photos that you have sitting in the closet that you’ve been meaning to do something with and let the kids make a scrap book of a family vacation or of themselves when they were young.
Build a Fort – There are always enough pillows, chairs and blankets around to build a fort or tent to go camping in the living room.
Create Your Own Snowstorm – No two snowflakes are alike. Grab some white computer paper and scissors and make it snow indoors. Hang the snowflakes around the house for a winter wonderland. If you have it, pull out glue and blue, white and/or silver glitter to help make your indoor snowstorm glitter like the outdoor snow.
Go on a Scavenger Hunt – Stash clues around the house (adjust difficulty based on the ages of your kids; use picture cues for little ones, tricky puns for older children), directing kids to hunt for hidden prizes.
Sit Around a “Camp Fire” – Turn down the lights, grab a few flashlights or candles, and gather around and sing songs or tell stories, scary or fantastic, as if you’re sitting around a camp fire under the stars. If you have a fondue pot, melt some chocolate and grab the marshmallows and graham crackers to make smores to really get that camp fire vibe.
Bake – What a great time to bake a cake, brownies or cookies together! Then, you can pour some hot chocolate or hot cider and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Write a Story –Even if your kids aren’t writing fluently yet, they can still create stories on their own. Create a collection of blank books from construction paper and ribbon or string, and let your kids illustrate a story of their own creation. Later, you can write the words for them as they dictate them to you, or they can sound out the words phonetically and write the story on their own. Make sure the authors sign and date their books. They make great keepsakes.
Have Story Time – Grab some picture books and read out loud together. Or have older children read stories to the younger ones. If your children have written their own stories, have this be the first “public reading” and make it a special event, with refreshments and a captive audience.
Be a Pen Pal – Old-fashioned letter writing is a dying art. Help your child write a letter or make their own card to send to Grandma, cousins, a friend, or even an elderly neighbor and make someone’s day when they open their mailbox a few days later.
Make Puppets – All it takes are some paper lunch bags and crayons or markers. Or go through the sock drawers for a handful of orphan socks. Get some yarn, buttons and big fat needles. Have fun creating wacky puppets and then have the kids put on an equally wacky puppet show.
It’s Show Time – Challenge a group of kids to stage a play or talent show. If they need a little jump start, give them a theme or some wacky opening lines to get them started.
Be a Treasure Hunter – Everyone has boxes in their basement or attic that haven’t been opened in years, sometimes decades. If your kids are a little older, pull out the boxes and go through them. The kids will love finding and hearing the stories behind Dad’s old wrestling trophy or Mom’s science fair ribbons. Make a rule that anyone who finds a treasure they like gets to keep it. Who knows, you might even be able to clear out some of the junk you’ve been meaning to get rid of or you might find some treasures of your own that you forgot about.
Have Fun with Play Dough –Play-dough made from scratch is easy, there are recipes all over the web, and you can make an endless array of colors with basic food dye or powder drink mixes (think Kool Aid, fruity iced teas or lemonades). Plus, you won’t have to worry about your younger ones putting their hands in their mouths while playing with it. Spread the outdoor tablecloth on the floor, and give them dull knives, a rolling pin, and some cookie cutters.
Finish Their Homework – No kid wants to do it, but getting a head start on their school work will get it out of the way so that, when the weather does clear, they can be out building snow forts and throwing snow balls.
Do Nothing / Use Their Imagination – Occasional boredom is good for kids. It’s rare that children are truly bored; they just haven’t learned to exercise the imagination part of their brain. Make a rule that if your child say’s “I’m bored”, they’ll have to do chores. Eventually, they’ll think of something to do.
[We'd love to hear some of your own ideas for indoor fun when the weather's bad.]
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