Anyone Else Sick of This Weather?? How Do I Entertain My Kids?!

Today it's snowing. Go out, make a snowman, snow angels, snowball fight, and then go indoors, make hot chocolate and sing around a pretend campfire. Put a sheet over the kitchen table and let the girls pretend they are camping, while you take a moment to vegetate/rest. This time of year is a good time to catch up with friends--most people are home; do spring cleaning; and check out local attractions (weather permitting, of course). My 5-year-old (and 10-year-old) enjoy a visit to Petsmart. On weekends, we sometimes catch a program at either Lowe's or Home Depot. Both offer free children's workshops on alternating Saturdays. You can get the schedule and register online at their Web sites. Do you take them to storytimes for preschoolers at your local library? Other retail bookstores also offer special storytime sessions for preschoolers. If you have computer access, you can also take a virtual tour of a Smithsonian museum (Check out the National Gallery of Art-Kids' Page; National Museum of Natural History; and the National Museum of the American Indian, as well as the Air and Space Museum). Just googled National Zoo and found they also offer virtual tours: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WebCams/. Google also now offers Google Earth, which is a GPS you can download that lets you virtually visit anyplace on earth (and even in space). Your girls might not understand the details of how it works, but it might be fun to take a pretend flight to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. If you have ever seen the Little Einsteins, you can recreate that experience at home. Don't know if your girls like baking, but there's recipes, puzzles, storytelling, and making puppets activities that might add a little variety to your program. Also, you can create your own junkyard band by pulling out pots and pans and glasses (filled at different levels with water) and let them make music. Finally, if you don't mind the mess, you can make your own playdough and finger paint with just flour, cornstarch and food coloring. Those recipes are also online for free. If you can't find them, let me know personally and I'll send you some links. Another great Web site for preschoolers is www.aplaceofourown.org. This is a program that airs M-F, 5:30 a.m. and again at 8 on PBS. The show offers tons of ideas for caregivers of preschoolers and their parents. Have fun!

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I always tell everyone when they ask for creative fun crafty ideas for their kids...Perler Beads. They are those tiny beads that you place on plastic pegboards, then iron them all together. Things you can make with these are endless! Picture frames, ornaments, toys, bathtoys, games, anything! You can find them at craft store, walmart, and even online.
Other ideas...got any old magazines around? Pull them out and let the kids cut them up, gluing pictures they like onto paper or poster board to make a collage. With all of that funky winter weather, look up weather experiments online, and you will find a ton of fun child friendly experiments that will maybe foster some appreciation for what is keeping them indoors...not to mention they will learn something.
I know you don't like the TV thing...but my girls have a blast watching Magic Schoolbus Dvds, and they are extremely educational for them...and fun. Pop some popcorn, and have an afternoon about learning of the human body...creepy crawlers...the ocean.
When I use to live in Alaska, we were stuck indoors with my little ones most of the year. I took one of those large rubbermade containers (but the shorter ones), and filled it up with dried rice, put it on the kitchen floor and let them play in it like a sandbox. Gave them sand toys, pretty much let them take whatever toys they wanted in it. Be prepared for a mess, but on a hard surface floor...sweeping up afterwards is all it takes. Simple, cheap...and they have a blast. Hope some of these ideas helped.
K.
Oh yeah...and how about leaving your car out of the garage (if you have one), put the kids in their coats and let them ride their bikes around in the garage. We did that lots in AK as well.

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Some of our favs:
Obstacle course - use anything around the house to make an obstacle couse for them to do. We always cahnge it up, but ideas: in and out of the landry basket, put on daddys shoes and walk to the end of the room, jump over the poles (broom, mop, ect..), do a tumble and go back to the beginning again. Stuff like that, gets out lots of enery and can always be different.
Another thing we love to do is paint. We get end rolls of newspaper (without the print), check to see if your local paper printer gives them away. Then we bust out the paints (finger or brushes, or crayons if I don't feel like the mess). Lay a big sheet on the kitchen floor and let the kids go to town painting it. When it dries you can roll it up, put it away and use it whne you need wrapping paper for gifts. A quick mop of hte floor cleans up any paint gone over hte sides. Do green and red around the holiday for cheap holiday wrapping paper. We also take out regular paper and paint on it for matching birthday cards.
Run the tub first and them just drop them in when they are done and dirty! (we paint in underwear - and they love to do hand and foot prints at the very end).
Tub fun in the middle of the day is good as well. Let them blow bubbles in the tub, use body paints on each other, blow up some ballons and play keep it up. They even love putting on their bathing suits and pretending it is summer!!
K. (who is watching it snow like crazy as I type!!).

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The Washington Post had the following ideas in their weekend paper about a month ago or so:

1. Ikea - has a free ball pit and eating in the cafeteria is fairly inexpensive.

2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Visitor Center

3. The Kennedy Center - just to explore the vicinity - don't have to purchase tickets to see a show. Apparently, there's a family friendly cafeteria there.

4. National Building Museum

5. Hirschorn Museum

6. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

7. Reagan National Airport - just to explore the corridors

Additional spots in VA

8. Arlington Planetarium
9. Forty Myer Bowling Center (Arlington)
10. CUB Run Rec Center (Chantilly)

Seems like all the above places are Metro accessible and could possibly contribute to a fun exploration day. Good luck!

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Dear R.!

I feel your pain! Although my kids are older now...I do remember years ago we got a new refrigerator. The box was cut into a puppet theatre. I then folded flat and slid along the utility sink. We had hours upon hour of fun decorating the 'stage' (complete with curtains) not to mention the puppets...and then the story lines...and then the 'performances!!'

It also doubled as a 'drive thru bank'...toll booth...you name it!

After a time, it got worn out...but called my local appliance folks...and they saved me a new box...again...and again...!!

Fun...free...creative...and they still talk about it years later!!

Good luck!

Take care
Michele/C.

Yes, I remember those days! How about making a tent. Put a sheet across some chairs, like a little hide out. Empty boxes are fantastic too. Big ones can be anything and little ones usually end up being cars!

How about an afternoon of beauty? Everyone gets their nails done, fingers and toes, even Dad if he is willing. Also do a hairdo, let them do yours with whatever clips they have. Finish off with a tea party or coco clutch.

Do you have any indoor places you could take them without having to walk too far in the snow? Nearby metro? I'm going to dress my toddler up in his snow suit so he can play in the snow this afternoon, because we're getting stir crazy too. Other activity suggestions: color with crayons, sculpt playdough, look up some seasonal crafts online, make up silly songs, play on instruments, play dress up and have a fashion party - if you have a video camera, record it to share with others and play music in the background. Take some pictures from old magazines and cut them into 8 puzzle shapes for the kids to sort, or have them make themed collages...

Im with ya on this. I am ready for warm weather but then again I am a born and raised east texan and this is my first winter with snow...Im tired of the cold and so is my boy..sad to say that in a month we are moving to where my husband is stationed-Kodiak, Alaska..LMAO!
Good luck on finding things to do..I would love to know a few new things as well since Im used to spending most of my time outside in the extreme heat..lol :)

Get out of the house. The Smithsonian museums are all free -- Natural History and Air and Space are the traditional favorites for kids, but if you make a "treasure hunt" of it (e.g. can you find a picture with a dog? with a man with a hat?) kids will often have fun even at the art museums. We also used to take our kids to National Airport just to let them walk around and watch the planes take off.

And enjoy today's snow -- bundle up and get outside.

I'll, literally, be the first to say I HEAR YA!!
That being said, get your little ones on a scavenger hunt thru the house with a Target $1 prize at the end. May picture clues or letter clues if your 5 yo can't read that go from place to place. Or you could read the clue to her and move from there. Also, write letters to grandmas/relatives with their projects/art work. Our kids also love to do a taste test in the kitchen where they blindfold one and have the other guess what they're tasting. Put toys/things they know in a paper bag and make them FEEL them and guess what they are without looking. Our kids LOVE that!
Best of luck.

My sons are younger than your girls, but we have fun doing "Dance Parties" where I turn on music (all kinds that you can dance to like club music and even waltzes and polkas) and we dance around for a while. Also, with my 2 year old, I started having him help me cook...so far we made quiche, pumpkin bread, bread in the bread machine, and cookies...I measure the ingredients and he dumps them in and then he helps me stir. Good luck!

my suggestion to this type of situation is to add people to the mix. Adding a neighbor/friend adds just enough difference to make creative play more interesting because they come with their own ideas. Didn't take me long to discover that having 3 kids was way less draining than having just my two. Its as if my kids looked to that other kid for attention rather than from me.
Of course, it helps tremendously if your home is already geared towards imaginative free play rather than toys that entertain (the noisy push button kind).

Try your own version of an egg hunt indoors. I used to use plastic eggs, but you can use anything colorful that you have a lot of (craft supplies, Duplos). Hide them in a few rooms or all over your home, give each child a bag or basket of some kind, and let them search. They'll do it several times, and hide them for each other and you too. You can also play indoor versions of "carnival" games, like throwing little balls into plastic containers placed a foot or two away. Good luck...it's be warm again soon!

Excellent ideas so far. I would say try to go outside as often as possible. Some days are just too cold or wet or muddy but a lot of days, if you bundle up, a nice walk around the block or a trip to the playground are a good activity. Also, my kids love to play outside after dark with flashlights. It's the same yard but it's so different when it's dark and they each have their own flashlight to run around with. We don't do it all the time but every now and then it's just what the doctor ordered!

Thanks for posting the question... I think we can all enjoy the wonderful ideas people have posted. I noticed you mentioned you had read all the books on the shelf and knew them by heart. I'd suggest you take them to the library and let them pick out some new books to borrow... or books on CD or a DVD. Also, have you been to a used book store? You can often buy books for $0.25 a piece. If you have some old ones you want to trade in, you get credit and can buy new ones. We will take $3 and come home with a stack of new ones.

Good luck.
Liz

R.
I know it would be a little messy but maybe baking cookies, especially something the girls could decorate.

Make play dough, there are recipes for this on the internet.

Use paper cups & plant some seeds & take care of them to watch them grow.
I hope these suggestions help, I think by now we are all ready for some warm weather.
Good Luck
A.

I'm not so good with indoor stuff, but I do get out of the house with my 2 yo as long as it is above 36 degrees and not windy. Wind is okay above 45 for us. It's a lot of work getting bundled up, but kids don't tend to care about how cold it is, just how much fun your having. She also naps for much longer and is much less cranky. We live in Stafford so it's not so bad here, but we just can't stay in the house!
Good luck.

If you're snowed in, let the kids create a dance routine or a skit. They can practice it on their own and then do a show with you as their audience. When my sisters and I were little we made up dance, baton twirling, and gymnastics routines all the time for my parents to watch. Someone else mentioned puppet theater. They can also make up a puppet show with their stuffed animals or dolls and use the back of the couch as a stage. Again, you can be their audience. It's also fun to get some blankets and pillows and make forts and caves around the living room. Hope this helps!

Play outside and enjoy the change of seasons.

Good ideas so far...you can also go sledding, make slushies with some clean snow and juice on top (it won't hurt them...I did it ALL the time when growing up), make snow forts, build a snowman, have a snowball fight...also - indoors you can print out activity sheets for the girls and it will help them learn as well as keep them entertained for a while. I would always print off age-appropriate (or one year higher) worksheets for them to do - like practice writing their ABC's, coloring pages, connect the dots, etc. You can also practice a new skill, like sewing for kids (using yarn and pre-cut materials), doing aerobic/martial arts videos - that will teach them coordination and provide exercise while indoors, dancing, etc....I would rent a ballroom dancing video or something similar and have them try it out. There are also some good websites for kids to go on and learn computer skills.
Good luck!!

I feel your pain! On days like these, I let my kids help me cook and bake. We bake cupcakes and I let them decorate them. Tonight they will help make pizza for dinner, just be prepare to clean up afterwords. We also do spring cleaning on their toys and clothing. They get to decide if they want to keep, donate, or put in the yard sale box for later. Good luck!