Thursday, December 15, 2011

Help Kids Fight the Winter Blues!


The winters can be long when you have small children. Sometimes surviving those long winter days just requires a little creativity to make them feel shorter.

Here are a few of our favorite ways to keep our children entertained:

1.Have an indoor picnic with your children. Spread out a blanket and pack a basket of your favorite picnic foods. Take this time to chat about what you miss most about the summer.
2. Have a family night playing board games. Offer a grab bag of prizes (purchased from your local dollar store) or let the winner give up their chores for the day.
3. Indulge your children in fun winter craft ideas. Make sure you are stocked on plenty of craft supplies so you don’t have to make a trip out in the cold weather. Do these crafts with your children because they are the types of activities your children will remember for years to come.
4. Share a day of cooking with your children. Cooking with your kids teaches them valuable skills and also gives them precious time with you. Have smaller children help you measure, stir dry ingredients and count out ingredients with you. Allow older children to do things themselves under your supervision.
5. Find out what your local library has to offer. Many offer amazing classes and story hours for children during the winter months. You can also take them to pick out their own books, movies and music to be enjoyed together or alone.
6. Play in the snow with your kids. Help them build snow angels, go sledding, build a snow fort or create a snowman. After a hard morning of playing in the snow, come inside and have a nice cup of hot chocolate complete with marshmallows and whipped cream.
7. Plan a beach day in the middle of winter. What could be more fun than a little beach music, drinks with little umbrellas, a big beach ball and beach chairs?
8. Make your own snow. All you need is soap flakes, water, liquid starch and white powdered tempra. Mix soap flakes with water into a thick paste. Let your child mix this with a hand beater. Add a small amount of liquid starch and tempra. Let your child create designs by painting with this mixture.
9. Exercising is one thing often neglected by members of the family when cold weather comes around. Pop in an exercise video or some music and exercise with your children. Older children can be encouraged to use exercise equipment or join you in your exercise routine. For those who are more creative, let loose and just dance.