I love when my kids can play outside. I try to get them outside every single day. However, the weather doesn’t always cooperate for outdoor fun. At those times when you are stuck inside the house for whatever reason, try some of these activities:
Pull out toys they haven’t seen in a while
I really like to rotate my kids toys. It keeps the upstairs less cluttered and makes it easier to clean up. They focus and play longer with the toys they haven’t seen in a while, which is awesome on days when you can’t go anywhere.
Invitation to create
Use what you have on hand; set it out and see what happens. You can group materials around a specific theme (like this springtime invitation to create) or just put out random materials that you have. It’s interesting to see what they can come up with and where their creativity takes them.
Obstacle Course
When we were stuck in the house over the winter, we made obstacle courses through our first floor. We put up tents, we brought down mattresses and we even used the pillows on the couch. We’d rearrange our obstacle course after a few runs; it was great, busy, active fun.
Take out something new
Keep a stash of new coloring books or toys for those long endless days where you’re unable to go anywhere. I either check the dollar bins at Target or go to the Dollar Store and pick up 2 or 3 new items for each of them, and save them for our indoor days.
Activity Books
Try a puzzle or activity book. When I took out this Totally Amazing Brain- Bending Puzzle* book for my son, he was occupied with it for over an hour. He needed some help reading the directions, but he enjoyed it and we’ve gone back to use it several times.
Balloons
I wrote a whole post on simple and easy fun with balloons. All of the activities can be done inside the house and can keep kids occupied for a while. We’ve done balloon rockets inside too!
Mattress Bouncing
This is what I did during the 4th snowstorm this past winter, out of desperation. We couldn’t go anywhere, and the kids were bouncing off the walls. We didn’t have a trampoline, so I took their mattresses and brought them down to our living room so they could literally bounce. They kept asking to do it for a few days in a row. Success!
Hidden Pictures
My kids love hidden pictures. You can print out pages from online, or you can get a whole book of them.
Make your own book
You can use a pre-made book, with lines and sections for drawing or you can make your own by simply stapling a few pages together. The kids and I have made books before. My daughter can write and illustrate her own, but my son still needs help with the writing piece. He dictates and I write down his story for him and then he illustrates. Plus we can go back and read them later, which can be quite funny.
Dress Up Fun
Pull out all sorts of pretend play and dress up items and let them make up stories. Maybe they could make a doll/stuffed animal hospital, or pretend to be pirates. They could pretend to have a store or be in a restaurant. It’s so wonderful to see where their imaginations can take them!
Kids Activities Blog
If you are looking for a new activity for the day, the Kids Activities Blog has a ton of ideas and activities.
The Social Connection
These play activities include open-ended play, movement play, and creative play. Open-ended play and creative play help kids expand their imagination, and work on executive functioning skills. Movement play helps kids learn self-regulation, and expend some of that extra energy that happens when you are stuck inside all day.
