Do you find yourself wondering how to keep your busy little ones at home occupied during the winter days? As the kids are growing, it seems as if the little crafts and things we used to make are fading away. The girls are in school but our little boy is still home. Sometimes I even forget all the things I did with the girls when they were much younger to keep their little hands and minds occupied and learning. I did notice thought that boys are very much different than girls. While a little girl may be quite content to sit and do a craft, a little boy would rather jump around or play with toy animals, cars, trucks, etc.
So I motivated myself to look around a few sites online to see if could find any sort of “new” activities our little one could do when we are home during snowy days. I came up with the basic stuff – meaning that I didn’t find anything striking that would keep his attention or that he would absolutely love. I wasn’t looking for paper crafts or anything of that nature. So I resorted to playdough. It’s truly a never fail. I knew he already liked it but it had been a little while since we made some. The kids are more into slime these days as opposed to playdough.
In any event, in relation to winter’s theme I made some blue and white playdough with some glitter. My little one had fun adding animals along with using playdough cutters to make some animal shapes. He loves all things animals so it made sense that he would want to use them in playdough. I didn’t have snow animal cutters but that would be something to think about for a winter’s theme if your kids love animals. It would be a great way to learn about winter animals while they cut out the shapes. Find our playdough recipe here.
Another great activity for kids is playing with slime. Kids of all ages seem to be drawn to that stretch substance that they can shape and mold and stretch to lengths. The touch to slime feels very much like a stress ball and makes one just want to keep on playing with it. There are a ton of variations out there. Try one or two to see which ones your kids would enjoy.
An easy idea is to bring in a bowl of snow for the kids to play with. They can add food coloring and mix to test out color mixing. They can use scoops and little shovels to dig snow and put them in smaller bowls. Or put them in sand toys (beach toys) to create little snow castles.
What activities are you doing with your kids indoors during the winter? Would love for you to share your ideas in the comments below.
