Large parts of the US are under a winter weather advisory with roads & schools closed this week. That means your kids are stuck at home with you and they are going to get stir crazy. Here are a few ideas on activities you can do with your kids to help pass the time quickly and memorably.
Cook Together
This is the perfect time for you to pass on your favorite childhood recipes to your kids. Make some Rice Crispy Treats, homemade pizza, caramel corn, or hot chocolate.
Movie Night
Pick a movie (or movie series) that you and your kids can watch together. Don’t have one you want to watch at home? Sign up for a free Netflix or Hulu trial to see movies like The Lorax, The Avengers, the Star Trek movies & TV shows, America’s Funniest Home Videos or Thomas & Friends. Or watch The Three Stooges for free on Crackle if you don’t mind giving the kids ideas on how to annoy one another.
Board Games / Card Games
Dig out the board games in your house like Checkers, Battleship, Dominos or Jenga. Don’t have any board games? Dig out a deck of playing cards and try out these 10 Kid Friendly Card Games. Don’t have either? Play some classic games on paper like Dots and Boxes (instructions | printable game sheet), Hangman or Tic Tac Toe.
Puzzles & Mazes
Clear off a table and get out those puzzles out of the closet. You can print out some mazes, crossword puzzles and sudoku if you want something new. You’ve got the time!
Build a Fort
You can build a fort out of a couch, pillows or blankets.
Video Games
Break out the video game system and play your favorites. Looking for something different?
- You can play the original Super Mario Brothers for free on your local computer. Just download the ZIP and run mario.html on your local machine.
- Thanks to the Internet Archive Console Living Room you can play classic video games online including Spider-Man (1982), Mario Bros (1983) Asteroids (1987), Donkey Kong (1988), Space Invaders (1980), Frogger (1982) and Star Trek – Strategic Operations Simulator (1983).
Dress Up & Play Pretend
Get those costumes out or make some accessories of your own: pirate eye patches, paper hats, or printable medals.
Read A Book Together
Take a favorite book off the shelf and read it together. Check out the Reading Rainbow app. Download free ebooks from Amazon or Apple.
Wes is still a bit young for most of these, but I’m starting a folder of things to do for the future. Have some other ideas? Please share in the comments.
All perfect and great ideas. Thanks for sharing. Always had students complain to me that they can’t go out in the bad/cold weather and have nothing to do. This is good proof that there is plenty to do and memories waiting. Nothing needs to be complicated, just simple fun family time.
Pillow fights
make your own play-doh
do experiments w/ water and ice
get creative and build (and paint) a castle (or else) out of boxes
use üp mommys make up (boys love it too)
make up a theater play w/ hand-puppets
use all chairs, movable tables, pillows,… whatever you find to make a gym out of the living room
Sing and dance along to your CDs – alternate CDs your kids choose and ones you choose
dress up w/ all things you can find
use fingerpaint for a nice bodypaintig (best in the bathroom 😉 ) and take a bath afterwards
if you have enough pieces: build a huge train track through all the rooms of the house
make a picknick in the living room
make a candle light dinner w/ fancy table decoration
paint the windows w/ fingerpaint or window colors
…
And don’t forget to take loads of pictures – you are gonna build some lasting memories…