As the weather started getting colder, the extent of my dread increased. "What am I going to do to keep Malea happy this winter?" During the warm months we went outside EVERY SINGLE DAY! How were we going to survive? I realize that you can still take your kids outside during the winter, but it takes a lot of work and it usually doesn't last very long. I started doing some research to come up with ideas of activities we could do inside. Keith's aunt Marrianne let me borrow this great book called "365 TV-Free Activities for Kids". The only problem was that a lot of the activities in that book were for older kids, especially when it came to art projects (Malea is not quite even 2). But then Marrianne gave me some ideas of things you can do with younger kids, and I was amazed at what Malea could do at such a young age! Here is a compilation of pictures of the activities I have done with Malea so far:
Macaroni Art
Malea is too young to spell her name and do the glue, but I put the dots of glue and she put on the macaroni....it only took me showing her once for her to get the gist of it.
The other project is good for teaching hand-eye coordination. I took a shoe lace and had Malea string uncooked pasta (Rigatoni works best) through the shoe lace. She's still to young to do it herself, but if I held the shoe lace for her and she could put the noodles on. 
Christmas Tree Colors & Shapes
So I had this idea while I was driving yesterday of teaching Malea her colors/shapes while also doing a fun Christmas tree art project. I used construction paper and cut out 3 green triangles to make the tree, a yellow star, and orange rectangle for the trunk (there wasn't any brown paper :P), red circles for the ornaments, and different colored shapes for the presents under the tree. Then Malea helped me glue the shapes on the paper to make a tree! So fun and easy.
"Bean" Box
You put different kinds of uncooked beans in to a storage container and put in funnels, measuring cups, etc. She played with the beans for like an hour and it was such a simple thing!
Swimming Lessons
I already did a post solely about this, but swimming lessons were a
great way to get out of the house and stay active.
Water ColorsWater colors are really fun and not too messy! She had fun and caught on to it really fast.
"Kangaroo Zoo"
Bouncy houses are a great way to get the wiggles out!
Sink Play Malea's new favorite thing lately is to play in the sink with measuring cups, bowls, etc. We got her a potty and she pretty much just uses it as a stool. At least she is using it for something!
Play DohThis was the first time we attempted Play Doh, and she did really well with it! I gave her different things to poke in to and and she mostly just broke it apart but we had fun. And she didn't even try to eat it!
Finger Painting
(I promise my child doesn't just go around in a diaper all day!!)
This activity might actually be a work in progress....you see, Malea is very danty and doesn't like to make a mess on her hands. We discovered that on her first birthday when she hardly even touched the frosting on her birthday cake. Well I tried to get her to put her hands in the paint and all she wanted me to do was wash them! Maybe we'll try it again when she is a little older.
If anyone has any other ideas for indoor activities for kids, leave me a comment! I am always looking to try new things.:)
6 comments:
Those are some great ideas!!! Everytime I go to the store if Porter is good I try to get him an activity to do instead of a treat. My mother in law used to teach preschool so she has a ton of those good developmental ideas. I'll pass some onto you.
Your are such a cute momma! Right now my child is watching T.V.:) It gets old, FAST! I will have to try some of these ideas.
You are such a fun mom! I'm totally going to do some of these with Leila and Jack. Malea is such a doll!
wow what a good mom. half of that I just dont do because its messy. But maybe that will change now that we have space. Please come visit us and stay in our guest room and we can bake together!
Try making sock or felt puppets, crowns or wands, and we like handprint art. A hand can make a santa, a christmas tree, a reindeer, lots of hands make snowflakes. and its fun to keep them year after year and see the sizes change. We will have to make some and post.
Those are all such good ideas. You're a creative mom. I was inspired by you so I pulled out a box of crayons to show Sarah how to draw. She may be a little too young since she just wanted to eat them.
I'm so glad you wrote this post! I got so many ideas and I've been struggling with entertaining Tyler! Thanks girl! We should get together sometime & let them play, too.
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