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.
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