During these cold/wet/snowy winter days, some of us find ourselves wishing for that elusive way to keep our toddlers busy indoors, without resorting to screen time. And we want it to be something that doesn’t make a mess, doesn’t cost too much and doesn’t require too much of our non-existent energy. Just like “good, fast, cheap”, it seems like you can only pick two. Fret not—whether you have a destructo-baby who needs to release energy, or a sensory seeker whose curiosity needs channeling, we’ve rounded up a list of things you can try this winter that meet all three requirements (as much as possible!).
Turn household items into toddler-thrilling adventures
- Play “The Floor is Lava” using pillows and blankets. Put pillows and blankets around the house and tell your kids the floor is lava, and they need to get around without ever touching the floor. Then watch them jump around from your perch on the couch.
- Make a fort. Throw a blanket over two chairs, toss in a flashlight and your kids will be thrilled.
- Do you have a plastic laundry basket? Congratulations, your toddler now owns a car! And a boat! Have your kid get all the stuffed animal friends and blankies and snacks in there to prepare for the adventure! Have fun doing nothing while they play in and around the basket, or if you get adventurous, rock the basket with your feet because it's a curvy road or a stormy sea. Feeling particularly well rested? Tie a rope or long scarf around the basket handle and trudge around the house a bit.
- Create an obstacle course! Anything you have around the house is fair game: gym mats, ottomans, toddler tables, pillows, booster pads from dining chairs, an old crib mattress or daybed mattresses can all be used to make all sorts of obstacle courses. Pillows can be used as leaping pads (if the floor isn’t slippery) or to sit/lie on and slide across a slippery floor. For extra fun, grab something that can double as a wand and stand somewhere along the course slowly moving it up and down. Kids think it’s hilarious when they get tapped on the head as they go through.
Activities that help you get stuff done
- Get your toddler helping with the chores. Little kids love being involved and mimicking anything they see mom and dad doing. It might will take you longer, but at the end of the day, it’s getting done and your toddler is entertained at the same time.
- Toddlers can help with loading and unloading the laundry, taking out the trash and wiping down surfaces. A real favorite for kids is doing the dishes. Start by giving them a plastic bowl and letting them play. You can then progress to a big pot that really needs to be scrubbed and a scrub brush and let them go to town on it. It might even end up being genuinely helpful for you!
- You can also have them help you make their food. Toddlers can make sandwiches and cut fruit with toddler knives. It’s a really nice way to get them involved and also a fun, purposeful activity for them.
Just add water
- There are so many activities that change from boring and blah to something your kids can’t get enough of when you add water to them. Playing at the sink is a toddler favorite. Add a few toys, maybe some soap to give a plastic doll a bath, a silly straw to blow bubbles in the water, jugs and (plastic) cups. Put some towels down beforehand to contain any backsplash and the most cleanup you’ll have to do is throwing a load into the machine.
- Any art activity is easily cleaned up if you have them do it in the tub. Fill the tub with water, tape some paper to the walls and give them paint, brushes, shaving cream and bath crayons (if you’re feeling fancy). Afterwards, just turn on the shower to rinse everything off.
- Let them take a bubble bath with all the works. Add some bubble bath, bath bombs and even food coloring (the colored water won’t get them colored – as long as they don’t touch the undiluted food coloring itself). Add a few toys – bath toys or any toys that you don’t mind getting wet – and you’re golden. If you’re looking for a change from the classic bath toys, our Bath Time Basketball Set is great for entertaining kids in the tub.
Games that use minimal energy (on your part)
- For those times when you can’t move, but your voice still works, I Spy and Simon Says are two games that can be played from the comfort of your couch. You can also get your kids to play make-believe activities like tea party or restaurant (where you are the patron and they wait on you), setting animals up to play school, building a castle or home for animals with blocks.
- A great winter activity that does require you to get up but isn’t super intense is flashlight hide and seek. Turn all the lights off and take turns finding mom or dad with a flashlight. It’s good for playing in the winter afternoons when it gets dark around 5:00 and you still need to use up some time before bedtime. Another hide and seek spinoff that kids love is hiding objects and taking turns finding them.
- If your children are into puzzles, try putting the frames for a few of them across the room and all the pieces into a container. Have them take a piece and then run across the room to put it in the correct puzzle and repeat until they’re all finished.
Really cheap items that can keep your kids busy for hours
- You can use masking tape to make indoor hopscotch on the floor or use it to make roads for your kids to drive their toy cars and trucks.
- Stick empty toilet paper rolls to a door/wall (masking tape or washi tape works well), then get them to drop pompoms in the top and collect in a container underneath. Then repeat. You can get them to do specific colors or count a certain amount. Or if you need to burn energy, put the toilet paper rolls at opposite sides of the room and get them to run between the two.
- Bubble wrap is another great one—inexpensive and provides endless fun for toddlers.
- Create a sensory bin using rice and scoops, containers or nesting cups. And before you stress about the mess, here are some ways to mitigate (if not eliminate) it. Get a very large plastic bin and fill it only partially with rice. Put a large towel underneath the bin to catch any stray rice and dump it back in before putting the bin away. You may also want to restrict this activity to kids who are of the age and discipline to follow the rules: no eating, no dumping, no throwing.
- Another must-have, especially if your kids are into coloring, is a water coloring mat. There’s no worrying about getting marker or crayon on clothing or surfaces because it uses only water. And it’s reusable, so you can enjoy it again and again.