Those winter ruts
It's January. Christmas is over, there's a crazy inversion in the valley I call home, it's cold, the snow is hard and crusty and I'm 33 weeks pregnant. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but it's safe to say that we're in sort of a funk at our house. I've been doing my best to keep my kids entertained inside and I'm running out of ideas. Here are some things that have helped keep up sane up until this point. ;)
Turning off electronics. I don't know why, but having our faces glues to screens make us feel even more trapped and indoors. My kids haven't been into movies or "shows" for a few months now and that forces me to be creative. I'll be honest and admit that at first, it was hard. We have lots of iPad apps that they used to love, but anymore they want to do hands on things. I can't say I blame them because actually turning off the screens makes conversations happen and the time go by faster. It's amazing how much more you can connect with people when you disconnect from everything else.
Lots and lots and lots of arts and crafts. Glue, scissors, paper, crayons, stamps, markers, paint, colored pencils, felt, pipe cleaners... you name 'em, we've done 'em. It may be messy, but I usually just add medium upon medium upon medium until they have a random collage of messy, nonsensical art.
Lots of books. Not sure what to say other than we read a lot of books around here. Stacks and stacks of them everyday. Luckily, most of the time they don't want to read the same book,
but sometimes they do
Trains. My girls love trains. They can usually keep entertained with trains for up to an hour. They go all over the world and meet all kinds of people with their trains. The characters from Frozen, pirates, puppies, etc, etc. I love when they play with trains because that's when their imaginations really are sparked and I get to sit back and soak it all in.
What are some of your ways to keep your kids entertained when going outside isn't an option? I know my ideas are pretty basic, but we're pretty basic people. We also play with puppets, dress ups, blocks, puzzles and things like that, but we don't do huge elaborate, pinterest worthy things.
What do YOU do??