indoor fun with kids-- the round up!

Many of us are rolling onto week numero dos of being stranded in our homes with our kiddos, and in an attempt at keeping us all from going into convulsions at the sound of 'snow' from here on out, I thought I'd pull together some old school, teachmama 'indoor activities' that may help to get everyone through the next two feet of that cold stuff.

Good luck. . .

For the holiday:

• Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt: This was our post from last year, when we could see the ground outside and before we all began to bow down to the plow drivers. Maybe you could modify the hunt slightly and make it work for you.

With things you have around the house:

• Sensory Box: C'mon, everyone has an old box sitting around, just waiting to become a Sensory Box!
• Nuts and Bolts: Raid the tool cabinet and get your little ones to play with these things--they'll help their little fingers develop.
• Hole Punch Happy: You have one. Get it out. Let your kids punch something other than each other.
• Shape Tracing: Maybe you don't have licorice, but you probably have yarn. Or something like it. Print out these shape sheets and work on tracing, shapes, and colors with your little, little ones.
• Marshmallows and Toothpicks: This one might be tough, since marshmallows are a hot ticket item over here in the DC Metro area, as a necessary partner for the many cups of hot chocolate that are being consumed. But maybe you've got 'em, and maybe you have toothpicks. Make them friendly, and you have an activity for at least part of the day.
• Braid Basket: All you need is some string and something to tie them on for your kiddos to learn how to braid. So easy.
• Piggies and Ponytails: Who knew that these could entertain little ones for hours (okay, maybe not hours. . . ) but for a good long time and work their fine motor skills?
• Cut Cards: Give them scissors. And give them time. But make sure you're in the room.
  

Easy, Worthwhile Games:

• Action 1, 2, 3: Print out these cards, get your kids to personalize them (draw pictures or cut pictures out of magazines)--or just skip personalizing them and play the game. It gets them movin' and groovin'.
• Magazine Hunt: You have old magazines. Print these cards out and make your kiddos Magazine Detectives!!
• Indoor Snowman: I know, I know, everyone's sick of snow. But here's an easy snowman kids can build inside, and you don't even have to put on their snowpants for the 800th time.
• Indoor Number Hunt: I shared this idea with my friend, Ellen, and her super-cool familia and readers. It's really just an indoor take on our backyard hunt, but it's really a keeper.
  

Letter and Word Games:

• Alphabet Spin 1 and 2: Matching uppercase and lowercase letters. This game has spinners. And most kids I know love spinners.
  
• Mix it up: Grab your magnetic letters, throw in your magnetic numbers, and let your kids sort it all out.
• Alphabingo!: Lowercase letters and cute little animals. Fun, fun, fun.
• WORDO: Bingo + sight words = wordo!
• Tic Tac Toe 2.0: A new take on the old game. . .
  

Just more plain fun:

• Letter Writing: Kids miss their friends? Don't let them call their buddies; have them write letters to their pals!
• Digital Books: Try these on for size. My kids seriously love Carl, and this song is too catchy.
• Color Jars & Size Hunt: Do try these two activities, but make them inside games. . .
• Paint Bags: If you have any kid-safe paint left in the house, throw it in a ziplock and get your kids 'writing'.
• Cooking: We all love to bake when we're stuck inside (or at least eat baked goods, right?), so why not have your kiddos read the recipe?
• Bugs: Find your box of fake ones (we can't be the only ones with these. . . ), then count them, sort them, have fun with them.
  

That's it--hope the links work, hope that this helps a bit, and please--please!--if you have other super ideas, feel free to share them or link back.

And hang in there! Before we know it, we'll all be complaining that we're sick and tired of long and lazy pool days. . .