Snow Day!
Indoor Activities to Keep Kids Busy All Day
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Simple to set up with common ingredients!
WOW, yet another snow day has been called here for tomorrow and it got me thinking about what to do all day! We need indoor play activities to keep busy, have fun, and get some energy out! Now the tough part about a snow day is that you can’t always gather a bunch of crafts, materials or super fun things because of the weather. Indoor play is all about finding fun in what you already have. My first set of simple snow day activities (post here) used practically nothing out of the ordinary so that almost everyone could use them. These indoor play ideas might have a few more things needed but most are pretty typical to a household. Here’s hoping to a fun filled simple play day!
1. Cloud Dough Sensory Play
2 ingredients makes for simple sensory fun. This is a crowd pleaser and will occupy your child for quite a long time I bet!
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2.Baking Soda and Vinegar Sensory Science
This is a fun and easy activity with a great WOW factor. No cookie cutters? Muffin tins or even a baking dish of baking soda works great. There are so many variations to try.
3. Kitchen Sensory Bin Play
Big bin or small pan, doesn’t matter. Take a look in your pantry if you don’t already have sensory fillers stored away! Oatmeal, flour, cornmeal, rice and pasta all make good fillers. Add kitchen drawer items, bowls and cups for play!
Here’s a large scale idea if you have a lot of rice! My son wasn’t into a pretend kitchen but he asks for this often!
4. Make Some Play Dough
There’s nothing better than a fresh batch of no-cook play dough with my favorite recipe from The Imagination Tree! Check out how we added our tools and legos and wood pieces or popsicle sticks to build and create. See what’s also in your recycling bin to add to the activity.
5. Play with A Deck of Cards
The other day, daddy went to play poker with our neighbors before the Super Bowl. To give daddy a chance to play a little uninterrupted before we headed over, I took out a deck of cards and showed Liam what they were all about. Now he will ask to play cards. Our first game was to place them all face down and each draw a card. Who has the bigger number? Then we sorted by color, by suit and then put them order. We also talked about the face cards! Oh and yes, he wanted to jump over them!
6. Go On an Alphabet Sounds House Hunt
We have searched for puzzle pieces around the house to complete puzzles, and we are getting past the matching stage and need to work on sounds of letters. This alphabet sounds treasure hunt gets everyone moving, looking, thinking and speaking! This activity was inspired by the book Alphabet Mystery by Audrey Wood. Each letter gets to select a gift based on the sound of the letter. We went around the house and checked out different items, practiced sounds and selected anywhere from 1-4 items for each! Great way to build vocabulary and find out of the ordinary items to represent letters! These were gifts for Daddy. Each item in the book had a letter by it, so we added a puzzle piece beside each. Cleaning up was good work too!
7. Washing Station Set Up or Water Bin Sensory Play
Fill a bin, the kitchen or bathroom sink with warm soapy water! Throw in sponges and clothes and let them wash toys! Doll washing, car washing, super hero washing. Wonderful free play and sensory play. A water play bin is always interesting. Not interested in washing? Dumping and filling is fun too! Check out the kitchen drawer for fun items to add!
He likes simple ideas, so I set up this for when he woke up this morning!
8. Make Puzzles from Cards, Postcards, or Boxes
9. Need to get a little crafty? Make a collage!
Set out some paper and glue and odds and ends! Old pictures or magazine cut outs. Make a poster or a card for somebody!
Valentines Collage & Cutting Skills
Tomorrow is Valentines Day or maybe you just have lots of pretty red and pink to use!
We made a card for Daddy and we spent quite sometime at it! Surprise someone today!
1o. Bake Something! {Anything}
So I don’t have a well stocked pantry unless it is for sensory play! We don’t do a lot of baking and we certainly don’t do it often! I am the first to admit that my ability to bake is limited. However, I know a snowy, wintery day is the perfect opportunity to turn on the over. Baking with kids can also be such a valuable experience. Worst comes to worst, I always have a package of cookie mix on hand. His attention is still limited, so it is the perfect length of time. Don’t have the stuff for cookies? What about special pancakes or waffles or even muffins? Sometimes I just check out what I have and then search for those ingredients! GOOD TIP: Keep a back up plan! I have mine for tomorrow!
I hope you have found some awesome indoor activities to help mix up your snowy day! Remember to use them as a frame for your own activities based on what you have and what your kids enjoy. Each one of these can be modified in so many ways for fun play and learning opportunities! Of course we always do lots of reading, board games and a family movie to keep it relaxed.
Need even simpler ideas?
Check out last week’s snow day ideas!
[email protected] Measured Mom says
WONDERFUL post! Thanks for all the great ideas!
littlebins says
Thanks Anna! Got to keep them busy 🙂
Irving says
What a plethora of great ideas! This is really helpful, thank you for such an informative post!
indoor playground equipment says
That’s quite a selected ideas to turn kids mood happy I remember at my age I love to play with water, Solving puzzles, making bubbles etc. But some of the ideas are really amazing it didn’t clicked to me at my days.