When you're stuck indoors because of bad weather, keeping your children from destroying your house or permanently locating themselves in front of the television can be a challenge. If your kids have a bad case of cabin fever or if you're just looking for a way to make your inside time a little more fun, there are plenty of great indoor children's activities.
Cook Something
Getting busy in the kitchen is a great way to keep the whole family entertained, and you get the bonus benefits of extra goodies at home. Though you can certainly go with standards like cookies and brownies, your kids will be just as excited to make big batches of spaghetti sauce or strawberry jam, so you can seize the opportunity to stock your pantry. Encourage your kids to read the recipe out loud to you and measure ingredients as you're working--they'll be having such a good time they won't even realize they are learning.
Put On a Show
Transform an old cardboard box into a stage for a puppet show or string up a curtain in your living room with fishing line to make a kid-size stage. Choose a simple story to act out--nursery rhymes like "Humpty Dumpty" and fairy tales like "Little Red Riding Hood" work well. Make puppets from mismatched socks and dress them up with doll clothes, junk jewelry and other embellishments, or let your children root through the dregs of your closet to create their own costumes. Set a curtain time, and let them spend the day practicing and preparing for their opening night.
Build a Fort
Collect pillows from your beds and couch, unload the blankets from your linen closet and give your kids permission to turn the family room into a giant clubhouse. Get them started by draping a blanket over four evenly spaced chairs, then let them take over, adding furniture, blankets and pillows to create the perfect pillow fort.
Make a Little Dough
Help your kids make their own play dough by combining 1/2 cup of water with 1/2 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of salt, 1/2 tbsp. of vegetable oil and 1/2 tsp. of cream of tartar in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture forms a dough. You'll need to remove it from the heat and knead the dough mixture on a floured surface until it's cool enough for the kids to touch. Let your kids divide the cooled dough and try different combinations of food coloring to turn the dough their favorite colors.
References
- "The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections"; Amanda Blake Soule; 2008
- Babble: 25 Ways to Fight Cabin Fever
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