Indoor Winter Activities

These indoor winter activities can help take your winter from yuck to yay!  Honestly, most moms of young children dread the winter.  (Unless you are lucky enough to live somewhere warm year round!)  It can feel like month after month of cold and wind which means you and your littles are stuck inside.  Just thinking about it makes me feel gloomy.  But this week I want to share a few of the indoor activities that have helped us keep the winter blues away!

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Active Indoor Games

I decided to break this post into two big categories.  Active and calm indoor games.  Because as most midwest moms know sometimes in the middle of winter you need something to burn some energy off.  But other times you need something to calm everyone down!  First up, let’s burn some energy with these active game options!

The Floor Is Lava-  This is basically a variation of an obstacle course.  My kids started playing this on their own after watching the Netflix show.  They will space apart pillows and chairs and yes even furniture to make a course.  They even got the tablet out and recorded some runs, edited them in I-movie and made their own little mini show.  

Snowball Toss- Use white socks balled up as snowballs.  You can use those snowball socks in several different ways.  Set up tower of plastic cups and let your child throw several snowballs and see how many cups they can knock over.  Or set out several baskets on the ground.  Have your child throw the snowballs into the baskets.  They earn more points the farther away the basket is from them!

Balloon Hit- Throw up one to three balloons (depending on how many kids you have!)  and see how long you can work together to keep the balloons in the air.  Use a stopwatch to track your time and keep trying to beat your best time!

– Twister- This classic game is a great way to get those wiggles out!  And they have all kinds of new versions now too!  Definitely lots of giggles when we play this game!

-Scavenger Hunts- There are lots of scavenger hunts you can find online, but you can also grab THIS fun game!  This is an indoor scavenger hunt game that will not only get your child moving, but will also help them practice letter, colors, and more!

Calm Indoor Activities:

Now as promised here are some ideas when you just need for everyone to take a breath and calm down.

Snow Painting– If you have snow on the ground, put it to use!  Grab a giant tote and fill it up with snow!  Bring it inside, grab some watercolors and start painting!  You could also use washable paints if you want or mix and match both kinds of paint!!

Directed Drawings– I LOVE doing these with my kids!  Our favorite is Kids Art Hub on YouTube.  One of the reasons I love this channel is because he always draws with his kids so your kids get a chance to see that their drawing doesn’t have to look exactly the same to turn out great!  

Salt Painting– Use a simple coloring sheet or draw your own picture.  Have your child outline the picture with glue.  Pour salt over the glue.  Discard the excess sale and then have your child use watercolor to drop pain on the salt and watch the salt soak up the color!   

Paper Snowflakes- I remember making paper snowflakes when I was a kid and my girls are still enchanted by them now!  If you have never done it HERE is a quick tutorial! 

Kid Yoga– Stretching and breathing are great ways to have your kids calm down.  One of our favorite options is the Cosmic Yoga for kids on YouTube.  These are quick and easy videos that anyone can follow but will help bring the crazy down in your house!!   

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