12 EVEN MORE Indoor Activities at Home (for when the weather is crap!)

Well, it’s the beginning of February and we’ve already blown through all five of our allotted snow days. Here are some easy and free ideas to keep hands active and minds engaged in between outdoor adventures!

Make a To Do or Activities Ideas List. Over breakfast, we took turns coming up with a list of things we could do on our day off from school. Besides the bonding of brainstorming and debating the merit of ideas, becoming practiced in the skill of making lists has tons of psychological benefits. You already know I’m a major lover of lists for personal organization.
Make a new puzzle. Tired of putting together the same old puzzles? Put together that Thomas the Train puzzle one more time – and then flip it over (or challenge the kids to put it together upside down!). Then give them markers or crayons and have them create their own drawing on the back. All of a sudden you’ve got a brand-new, unique puzzle!
Make Valentines (or cards for whatever holiday is coming up). For a simple project, have the kids scribble or paint an entire piece of paper. Then cut it into cards for classmates or neighbors. We used scraps to make these cards (i.e. an old to go coffee ring for the hearts). Or check out these ideas!
Host a Lego (or block) Competition. You can host one at your house (call the neighbors and let them know what time to send or post a picture of their creations!) or enter the Nashville Public Library’s annual competition. Make up your own rules or use theirs:
1. Use your own LEGO®, DUPLO®, Mega bloks® or other LEGO® compatible plastic bricks.
2. Entries must be your own creation, not a LEGO® designed kit, project found online, in a magazine, etc.
3. Your creation must be on a base no bigger than 24 by 24 inches. The base can be wood, cardboard, a LEGO® flat base, etc. and can be decorated to fit with your project. Your completed project may be no taller than four feet tall.
4. One entry per person.
Bake. I don’t know why, but snow days always inspire me to bake. I guess because the oven warms the house and yummy hot treats are always welcome after a romp in the snow. We’re planning to make easy sugar cookies after lunch and will refrigerate the dough and bake and decorate them after quiet time this afternoon.
Make a Mural. Don’t have huge rolls of butcher paper? Give your kids some tape and have them tape together paper to make a large ‘canvas’.
D.E.A.R. That’s right, folks. Remember Drop Everything And Read or Sustained Silent Reading time in middle school? Set your own time where everyone stops what they are doing and reads. Read independently, read together, read the Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedia. Just set a timer appropriate for your household and read! (Remember, you get to model this too!)
Send your kids on a photo hunt. Make a list of things for them to find in the house, hand over your old digital camera (or your phone, if you’re very brave), and send them off. List could include 5 cars, 8 red legos, 3 stuffed animals, etc. Or let your junior photographer take a photo session of you because we all know mamas are rarely IN the picture (and you might be able to sneak in a little workout while you ‘pose’ for the camera)!
Rotate the toys. I’m sure you’ve got some forgotten toys stashed away somewhere. Take a toy inventory (you can ask your little ones for help), pack some away and bring out something that’s been stored for awhile. When I was up in the attic the other day I happened upon a bag of costumes that didn’t make it into the costume box at clean up time (and were subsequently ‘cleaned up’ all the way to the attic). I threw them downstairs and before I knew it, we had Super Hero Kings once again defending the Known Universe.
Decorate the house. Make paper snowflakes. Make a paper chain (out of paper or paint chip strips if you have an old book!). Make hearts on strings for Valentine’s Day. Use the ‘found’ time today to talk about dressing up your home and celebrating with those you love.
Write Letters. Send something to Grandma. Find a picture of a friend whose moved and write to them. My kids love making things, watching me get out the address book and copy the address, affix a postage stamp. It’s a lovely thing. (And you know the recipient will love it!)
Create Leftover Restaurant for Dinner. I’ve got a full post coming on this, but the basic idea is to have the kids open up the fridge and decide what’s available… then make a menu for people to pick what leftovers they’d like. Let the kids pick our table activities (coloring sheets, homework, etc) for them to do while they’re waiting for their meals to reheat. Teach your kids the way to roll up napkins like the servers do and set the table so it’s ready for the ‘guests’. We usually declare the restaurant is open when Daddy gets home.