Saturday, January 24, 2009

cabin fever

I am running out of fun things to do with my children at home, day after day. We don't get out of the house at all, except for sacrament meeting, because my daughter has CF and it is flu season. I really need some new ideas to make things fun again. What are some of your favorite games to play with your kids while you are stuck at home? Any fun crafty ideas? Favorite songs? Anything would be great!

10 comments:

Claire said...

Have you ever played the game Elefun? Walmart and Target sell it. It is Cecelia's favourite. I swear, we'd play it all day if she had her way. It would involve someone going and buying it, but it would definitely provide hours of entertainment. :D I'll try to think of some other things... free things!

Tiffany said...

my daughter's been sick (contagious style) but feeling okay and has been so mad that we can't go out. it's the worst! anyway, my friend recommended this website for some fun activities and we've enjoyed them:
http://toddlertoddler.com/

Also, I've heard that Cranium Hullabaloo is a fun game for toddlers.

Good luck finding stuff!!

highdeekay said...

One of the favorites around here (with my daughter and her 4 year old friend) is "hide and seek" but we hide different objects and then look for them (think Easter Egg hunt). They could do it for hours and they keep coming up with different items to hide.

I haven't used it yet, but I hear "foam" is really fun. It is like playdough but not as messy.

Do you have a recipe for slime? You'd have to go buy elmers glue and borax. That is pretty fun and kind of like a science project.

Sesame Street has a good interactive website.

Also, my sister just told me about starfall.com (she thinks it is .com if not, try .org). She says it is a great site.

Then there is always spring cleaning. I'm kind of kidding but, Eden loves to wash the windows and dust...

good luck!

Liz said...

i agree with bamamoma, starfall has good ideas.

collages? painting? paint with water? cooking together? forts?

other favorite games at our house-pretty pretty princess, cranium cariboo

The Schacher Family said...

We like having dance parties. Just put on some music and dance around.

My son is into playing games lately and he loves this dinosaur game I made from print offs on the internet. Your print the dinosaurs color them different colors and hide a paper egg under one. Thenyou sing oh where oh where is the dinosaur egg. Then they have to pick the color. This entertains us for a long time.

We also love craft projects. Painting, gluing, cutting, playdough, all these are fun. Stickers are a big hit. Cedric is just learning to cut and could sit for an hour or more just cutting up paper.

Corn starch and water is always a winner to play with.

Cooking is fun too. We like making cookies and pizza. Peanutbutter balls too. There are recipes online for peanutbutter playdough that is edible.

Go swimming in the bath tub. Swim suits and all so it's like going to the pool. Can even blow up a beach ball or small intertube.

Bring some snow inside in a bowl to play with. Thats always a big hit.

I am out of ideas right now. Hopefully something I said is different then what you normally do. GOOD LUCK! I really feel bad. I am such an on the go person!

Linz said...

Wow, these are awesome ideas.

I have to say that I've been involving my tot with cleaning and cooking a lot and she loves it. It can be messy (the cooking part), but it's so fun.

There also some great paints out there for kids by Crayola or whoever. She puts on an art smock and does whatever she wants on a paper or like a small box or wooden plaque from Wal-mart (like 50 cents each).

We have been making Valentines pretty much everyday with just what we have around the house. She loves to try to use scissors.

I'll try to think of some more, but I sympathize. It'll be great when it's Spring.

katie said...

You ladies are the greatest! Thanks for the wonderful ideas!

Joni said...

One thing my kids have enjoyed is putting masking tape shapes on the floor. You can play jumping games or tossing games with them. You can also use the masking tape to make tracks on the floor for cars or follow the leader.

Bethany said...

WOW! You gals all have way better ideas than me considering my only idea was bubbles. My boys love blowing bubbles. I put a towel over our laps so we don't drip all over the carpet. We also like to blow bubbles during bath time.

We've done the snow in the house idea. I put it in a big turkey pan and put in a few drops of food coloring.

Stephanie said...

Wow, my ideas don't compare to these at all. I was just going to say that doing this little Jr Preschool with some friends has helped my creativity a lot. By concentrating on one letter, it helps me narrow down what we're going to do and come up with specific activities. For instance for the letter E today, we had an egg hunt with easter eggs, made egg shakers with rice, macaroni noodles, etc. pretended to be elephants, read book about things that started with E, etc. Maybe if you pick a letter or a shape, or color for every day you are home, it'll help you decide what kind of crafts, songs, games to play. Good luck!