Needing Indoor Activities, Games and Craft Ideas.

Let me first say I feel your pain! My hubby coaches wrestling from Nov-March and we get 100 inches of rain a year! During the winter it is dark by 4:30! I slowly go insane!!!
we did something last week that I thought was really silly at first but the kids loved it. My kids are also 4 and 2. My 4 year old daughter loves to shop. We got out a paper and I made a list of 4 things that we needed (red truck, blue shirt, yellow ball, green dianosour)...they got such a kick out of going and finding the right items and bringing them to me. We ended up making several lists and "trips" to the store (their rooms) to get the items. They of course cant read yet, but they would ask if they forgot one of the items. It turned out to be so fun and a good learning game also.

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Cook with your treasures!! -- ''easy biscuits in a tube'' -- bisquick -or things made from scratch-- jello -- simple ''pizzas'' with premade crusts --- children adore to grate, stir, tear, measure, pour - and say '''' I MADE this!!!''' -. You can also have fun ''playing Cinderella'' and let them vacuum - dust - sweep - ( kids often love to - if YOU make it fun) -- and even stand at the sink and wash plastic, tupperware- things that won't break in the kitchen sink.

-- Go into a dark room with a flashlight and tell each other ''kinda scary stories'' --- or just play with the light of the flashlight.

Blessings- have fun-
J. -- aka-- Old Mom

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I can't think of things off the top of my head but a resource I love to use is the book "Unplugged Play". It has 300-400 pages of activity ideas for both of your children's ages.

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Hi - I'm new to this forum, but I've already browsed through several awesome posts about playtime ideas. If you click on the Activities and Lessons link you can quickly sift through and find the posts that other Moms have asked a similar question and gotten TONS of ideas back. That's a place to start and then I'm sure you'll get lots of new ideas from other people now too.
I'll be watching the responses you get because I'm in the same boat! :)
Oh, and one idea I did see and really liked was bringing your inflatable pool indoors and blowing it up and filling it with those plastic balls. I just went and bought a package of the balls at Target. 150 balls for $14.99. Not bad for what I know will end up being hours of entertainment.

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Oh, while I also love this time of year, the indoor entertainment is challenging! Right now we are into collecting leaves and pressing them. Also, we have loaded ourselves up with books from the library, going to library story times, watching yoga tapes, doing lots more baking and cooking, having play dates, checking out the indoor play parks, going to the zoo/OMSI/Children's Museum, etc. How about making some flubber (recipes online) and using various cookie cutters to make shapes? We also have a tent and some tent tubes the kids like to crawl through. I go for anything that burns some energy when the weather prevents us from doing much outside.

Best of luck to you and have fun!

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H.,

Today I'm a parent coach, but I use to be a Nanny, and I know how it can be!! Once, I cleared the garage and set-up a play house and a bike area. The kids loved it because they could be active and I loved it becaue they stopped running in the house.

FYI- I took an old rug and put it on the floor for a soft play area.

I hope this works for you.

R. Magby

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Is there a community indoor park in your town? That was what saved my sanity when my children were toddlers. Not only did they get to run and around and play with other children, there were great toys and other moms to talk with! Talk about a win-win situation.

Hi H.,

I have a 5 year old and a 2½ year old, and I know how challenging it can be to keep them entertained during the winter months when they don't want to spend so much time outside.

Check out: http://familyfun.go.com/. They have a lot of great craft ideas and rainy day activities, as well as some neat family tradition ideas.

I think someone else mentioned Michael's craft store. We recently went there and got a few things. The favorite item has been the paint markers (Crafty Dab - Washable Kids Paint). They're great for indoor use, not only because they're truly washable, but they're not messy either. I'm sure you could make a mess if you tried, but my 2½ year old used them all the time (and he's the one the likes to draw on the walls), and I've found it pretty easy to clean up afterward.

Best of luck to you! :o)

I just spent several hours with my grandkids on a treasure hunt. It seemed that pirates came to the house last night, and I just happened to hear the captain telling his crew (on his cell phone) to come to my house to get the treasure he had hidden. He told them he had left clues for them to find the treasure. So we found the clues and the treasure (hidden in the oven in a lovely treasure box ie. cookie tin.) I wrote out the clues and my husband drew a picture of each place just in case they didn't get the clue. The four year old figured out the clues and ran to the next place, while the two year old carried around the last clue found shouting, "Clue! Clue!" with absolutely no idea of what was going on.
Then the four year old figured we had better put the clues back and put something in the treasure box for the pirates to find when they came back. So we did that, and it took almost as long as the original treasure hunt! It never did occur to either of them that dried fruit and children's books and toy airplanes probably would not be treasure to a pirate. It was treasure to them!

Go to Michael's. I just went there myself and found tons of craft ideas, and I am the most uncrafty person out there!! My son had a blast picking out stuff he wanted to do!! Have fun!

Yes, take a fluffy or thick soft comforter and bunch it up on the bed or floor. You'll find many caves, mountains and places to put dolls or cars and pretend whatever you want. Also, take a sheet and tie each end to a chair (use two chairs separated by a couple of feet) and you have a hammock for dolls. My daughter loves that one. You can let her rock the toys.

don't know what your garage situation is, but you can get a sand table to play with inside the garage, bake, do puzzles, plan a scavanger hunt around the house.

Legos, mega blocks, dolls and stuffed animals, make one corner of a room the "reading corner" and cram pillows, a blanket, and a basket of books that you change out now and then. As far as games go;my kids love "CandyLand" and "Kerplunk".
My kids don't seem to care what the weather is (I think that comes from being born and raised in the Willamette Valley of Or. :-) ) as long as they have a coat and boots on!
Happy Parenting!