It'll be winter before you know it. Trips to the beach, playground, and picnics must wait until next year — and the night becomes longer while the days begin getting shorter.
Plus, you know your children can get stir-crazy when they're cooped up all season, especially when their eyes are constantly glued to an iPad. You can turn this winter around by preparing thirteen fun indoor activities. When they're complaining about feeling bored, you'll know just what to do.
1. Make blanket forts with twinkle lights
There's nothing more cozy than a beautiful blanket fort lined with strands of twinkle lights. They're all over Instagram so these picture-worthy forts must be a hit. You can play boardgames inside and color pictures, but the most exciting part is joining together as a family and building your fort, blanket by blanket.
Besides blankets, twinkle lights, and furniture to hold it all down, there's only one thing you'll need — electricity. Without that, your lights will not twinkle like magical fairy dust. Electricity providers will ensure no power outages happen in the midst of your family activity. Compare energy providers with iSelect before the winter arrives. It's simple: You can call customer service and speak with a trained consultant who will provide accurate advice on which electricity plan to purchase. They take care of everything, and with their wide range of electricity plans, products, and policies, they are equipped to find you the best providers for your needs.
2. Don't forget bedtime stories
As daytime blends into the evening hours, you can't forget the perfect end to your great day — reading bedtime stories. When you read stories aloud to your little ones, it stimulates their imagination and cultivates creativity. Listening to different books being read aloud will also expand their knowledge and understanding of the world. Reading assists children in developing language and good listening skills, which better prepares them to understand the written word. For older children who can read already, it's still important for you both to read aloud together. This nighttime ritual will strengthen the bond you and your little ones share.
On gentlylovedbooks.com, you can scour through a wide collection of over 80,000 gently used books. One of their primary purposes is keeping used books out of landfills, and instead, bringing them into the hands of readers at the best price possible. So not only are you showing your kids the magic of books and reading time, you're also helping save the planet!
3. Indoor bowling, anyone?
Another creative indoor activity for the winter is indoor bowling. You can line up empty plastic bottles as your bowling pins and use a pair of rolled up socks as your bowling bowl. For older kids, you can make the game more challenging by adding sand or water into the bottles — this weighs down your pins, making it harder to knock over. You can recycle the socks for a puppet activity afterwards.
4. Make sock puppets
Kids thrive off making things with their own two hands. Making arts and crafts enhances creativity, allows them to explore their senses, and it's just loads of fun. When you're finished with indoor bowling, unroll your pair of socks and get ready for making handmade sock puppets. You will need googly eyes, markers, pipe cleaners, and pom poms.
5. Make ice cream from snow
Making a batch of ice cream from real snow is a blast and it's super simple. You need: granulated sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Let your kids whisk the four non-snow ingredients together before you all run outside and collect eight cups of clean snow. When you return inside, immediately stir the snow into your mixture, adding one cup at a time. Once you've achieved an ice cream-like texture, you're finished. You want your dessert to be fluffy and scoop-able, not runny and thin. For chocolate snow ice cream, you can add chocolate syrup or cocoa powder to the mix. Before indulging, don't forget to throw on a dash of sprinkles.
6. Make paper bag snowman puppets
If you and your kiddos want to make snowman and gingerbread puppets, grab some white and brown lunch bags. You'll also need markers, googly eyes, and construction paper — let their creativity run wild. When the puppet is finished, you can host a puppet show.
7. Host a puppet show
Why not host a puppet show using your new holiday-themed puppets? Open a large cardboard box and cut a big square hole for your kids to stick their puppets through. You can be the host, announcing each character as he or she comes out to play. Let your kids take turns if the space isn't big enough for two little hands to fit through. Make sure you break out the camera — this memorable activity will make for a great candid photograph.
8. Have an indoor beach day
It's too cold for the beach, but that doesn't mean you can't recreate memories inside your own home. Turn the heat on high, let your kids wear their favorite bathing suits, and put on some summer tunes. An indoor beach day will be fun for the whole family. If you want to go all out, bake a batch of beach-themed cupcakes.
9. Learn about your family tree
Children of all ages are interested in learning more about their ancestors. Get the whole family together and let your kids ask their grandparents and great grandparents as many questions as they want. Make sure their favorite journal is handy, as they might want to take notes or draw their very own family tree.
10. Set up scavenger hunts
Many scavenger hunts are done outside, but you can certainly have yours indoors. Set up a bunch of clues or draw a map that leads your little ones to the hidden treasure. You can hide toys, or even candy. Once everything is found, let your children make a scavenger hunt for you.
11. Bake cookies
Everyone loves warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies with hot cocoa on a cold winter day. You and your children can peruse your dessert cookbook and vote on which cookies to bake. For a cookie competition, each family member can bake their own batch. When all the cookies are baked and cooled, you can all perform a taste test and then vote for your favorite cookie. The winner is awarded a handmade certificate — you can print one out online or make your own with paper, stickers, and markers.
12. Hold a stacking contest
Who can stack the most blocks or paper cups before they topple over? Who can balance a book on the top of their head for the longest period of time? Let your kids come up with ideas for what to stack and where to stack it, and then, set some fun records.
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