Baby it’s Cold Outside {Indoor Activity Ideas}

With cold days fast approaching I need to be ready for restlessness and some terrible days where going outside is not an option. Baking is always fun but we need to keep them active for more then 20 minutes. As parents we need to have an arsenal of activities and some new ones are always necessary for when the kids say “not that again”.

So, here are a few indoor activity ideas to keep the kids entertained at home. These are some great winter activities that only require a few common household items you probably already have on-hand. This is indoor fun that doesn’t require a trip to the store, I hope.

Indoor Ice Skating – All you need is some wax paper, rubber bands, and carpet. Be careful, as it’s quite slippery, but lots of fun!

Coffee filter snowflake blizzard – If you have coffee filters and scissors, you can make these snowflakes for your own indoor blizzard. Toss, them in the air, compare how they fall. Then colour, paint or decorate them and decorate a door or windows.

Newspaper Snowman – No snow? Yucky snow? Try making your own “snowman” out of newspaper instead. You can make a small personal one to decorate or a big one and use a real hat. Then leave by the curb for the recycling crew.

Cup Stacking – If you have plastic or paper cups you can race to build them the tallest, build to make pyramids or other shapes or just stack and then bowl them down.

Paper Bag Puppet – There’s plenty of fun to be had turning a simple paper bag into a simple puppet that toddlers or preschoolers can get creative with and decorate. If you pick a favourite book or movie you can make the characters into puppets and act it out.

Indoor Basketball – This is a fun game for toddlers and boosts their eye/hand coordination. All you have to do is get a bin or bucket and some rolled up balls of newspaper and try and get the ‘balls’ in the bin.

Frog Jumping/Lily Pad Leaps – This easy activity turns your rec room into a fun frog pond. Place cushions or pillows around the room and get your kid to leap like a frog from one to the other. Build a Fort! I use to love doing this! Whether it’s a full snow day or just too cold to play outside get building and make a living room fort. Give your kids loads of sheets, blankets and throw pillows and help them build a fort using the living room couch or your dining room table (with chairs as anchors). Once it’s ready, hide inside with hot cocoa and a stack of story books.

Some employers grant their workers a half-day before a holiday break to squeeze in last-minute shopping. Do the same for yourself and your family — but skip the stores and the long lines. Instead, spread out the DIY supplies and make gifts for grandparents, neighbors, teachers and the whole lot. Make an unfinished wooden keepsake boxes, frames and ornaments and busting out the paint brushes. Also fun would be making iron-on T-shirts.

Gingerbread houses are a marvel of confection construction. All of that sugar, candy cane and gumdrop goodness… mmm.

We can have so much fun with our kids. We have to find what they like and change up their activities once in a while so that they don’t get bored and drive us crazy! Sometimes we have to stop worrying about the mess and break lose and start getting creative with them. It keeps the parents young too!