Nothing spoils the fun of a snow day like the weather being too nasty to play outside. No one likes being cooped up indoors with nothing to do! That’s why we’ve come up with a list of 10 great indoor activities to beat boredom!
Indoor treasure Hunt
Put some toys or snacks in a shoebox and and hide it somewhere in the house. Make a treasure map with clue and riddles for your child to solve and find the hidden treasure! You can even make it more fun by dressing up as a treasure hunter!
Dance Party
Need to expend some extra energy? Throw on some tunes and clear out a space to use as a dance floor! Challenge your children with different types of dance moves or have them make up their own! Once this is done they’ll be ready to settle down for a snack or maybe even an afternoon nap!
Photo Challenge
If you have a small disposable or inexpensive camera around the house, this is is a great scavenger hunt type of activity. Make a list of things your child has to find and photograph. You can do this straightforward such as “find a yellow toy”, or you can turn them into riddles for older children who might want more of a challenge!
Create Your Own Board Game
If you’re looking for a unique craft for school-age children, this one never fails! All you need is a large bristol board or cardboard sheet, some markers, some bingo chips or small toys, some dice, and possible construction paper and scissors. Have your children think of a setting or theme, and make up some game rules. A simple board game basis is to create a path of squares on the game board, and roll the dice to see who can get to the finish first! Make it a little more interesting with some game cards with different actions you have to complete to move on.
Masking Tape Play
Masking tape is extremely versatile for play! You can tape out a hopscotch pattern in the carpet, or tape some different size circles for a bean bag toss! You can also tape out some “roads” for toy cars to drive on, or play tic-tac-toe!
Make Your Own Pizza
Hungry yet? Pizza is a great menu option for new little chefs. You can get some pre-made pizza kits to make it easier. have your child spread the sauce and pick out their own toppings to go on top! They can spread the toppings randomly or make a picture or face! They will love eating the pizza THEY made, and it’s a good learning opportunity for kitchen safety.
Puppet Show
If you gave your own puppets that’s great! If not, you can make some simple ones with characters cut out from construction paper and glued to a popsicle stick. Tale a cardboard box and cut out the middle to make a “theatre”! Have your child put on a show for you and some stuffed toys as their “audience”.
Make a Rainy (or Snow!) Day Jar
Get a big mason jar or other container. Get some popsicle sticks or scraps of paper, and think of a bunch of fun ideas to write down on them. SOme examples might be, play go-fish, play a board game, color/draw, or play hide-and-seek. You could also include some of the ideas on this list! When you’re done, you now have a whole jar-full of rainy day activities you can bust out when you're stuck inside!
Build a fort
This was one of my favourites as a kid and would keep me entertained for hours on end. Take the cushions off the couch and grab a blanket. Set them up into a little fort in the family room. throw some stuffed toys, some books, and a flashlight in there and you’ll have hours of imaginative play!
Sensory Table
Kid’s love these and they are great for learning as well as play! Get a large tupperware and fill it with different things! You could get some snow from outside, and add some food coloring, cups, and beach shovels. You could also get several different bowls and put different things inside like dried beans, cooked spaghetti, grapes etc.. then blindfold your child and have him describe what he feels in each bowl. You can even ask him to guess what each item is!
We hope you can use some of our indoor activity ideas the next time you and your child are stuck indoors because of bad weather.
