Baby, It's Cold Outside

My bloggy friend MckMamma wrote this post the other day about creative indoor activities she does with her many kids during the winter and they are stuck in the house. MckMamma and her many small children live in what she refers to the "frozen tundra." I am not sure exactly where that is, but her husband loves to go ice fishing. Needless to say, it is frozen up there.

It has been very cold here in the South, too. Today's high was maybe 40, and that is too cold to go outside. Heck, who am I kidding? Anything below 60 is too cold to go outside.

At any rate, we were stuck in the house all day long.

Rebecca would sit in front of the TV all day and watch The Wonder Pets if I let her, but I won't. So I had to come up with some creative indoor ideas for Rebecca and I to do.

In talking with my friends and reading their blogs, I have noticed that I am not the only one that struggles with coming up with ideas for indoor play. So I thought that I would share with you what Rebecca and I did today, and if any of my faithful blog reader have any suggestions, pass them on. PLEASE!

MckMamma gave me this idea. I sat Rebecca at the table and gave her a roasting pan with some cups. I gave her about a cup of uncooked rice. She had a ball playing with the cups and rice, and the pan helped contain the rice somewhat. It did require some sweeping after Rebecca was done playing, but it was worth it. It kept Rebecca entertained for 20 or so minutes.


I built a fort underneath our dinning room table, and put some of Rebecca's favorite toys in there along with some flashlights. This was a lot of fun. Rebecca loves a fort, and this one was big enough for the two of us. We played with the Wonder Pets and flashlights. We read books. We took up a lot of time in the fort.  Here Rebecca is with Daddy reading in her fort.

I tried to get Rebecca to finger paint, but she does not like to have gunk on her hands. So I gave her a brush, squirted some finger paint on the paper, and let her go. She had fun, and I have some beautiful art for my fridge.

 

After finger painting, Rebecca had paint all over her. It was towards the end of the day, so I decided to go ahead and put her in the bath. She usually does not take a bath until right before bed, but this worked out great. I let her play in the tub longer than usual because I was not anxious about bed time. She had fun because she loves a bath. It took up a lot of time! Everyone was happy!

 

Okay, your turn. What do/did you do with your kids on cold or rainy days?