It can be tough to think of fun things to do to get out and about as the days get colder and/or darker. If you're finding that the DVD, TV, or computer (or all three) is working overtime to entertain your kids, here are some ideas to get everyone moving. If you're not at home during the day, share some of these ideas with caregivers.
- Play a Game of Hide & Seek: This is a great way to entertain young children. Ideally this game is played outside, where there is plenty of room to run. But you can also easily play this inside if the weather is awful.
- Build a Fort: Whether inside or outside, fort building exercises real muscles and brain muscles. Grab a few blankets for 'rooftops' and some broomsticks and couch pillows for walls and go build something.
- Puddle Jump: Neither you nor your kids will melt in the rain. If it's not too cold, throw on some wellies, a rain coat and a rain hat or grab an umbrella and go blow off some steam by jumping in puddles. Unleash your inner child and jump in some too!
- Have a Treasure/Scavenger Hunt: Organize a scavenger hunt in your back yard, at the mall, in the neighborhood, or just in the house. Check out this site for good ideas on how to organize one: Scavenger Hunt Ideas
- Try Some Imagination Play: Follow your kids' lead and just go where imagination takes you. You could end up playing a mom going shopping in your child's store. You could end up playing monster truck races. It doesn't matter what specifically, just let loose and play with your kids.
- Page & Page: Reading doesn't have to be a passive activity. If you have children who can read, grab a book and have one person read one page, another read the next page, and so on.
- Break out Traditional Games: Uno, Battleship, Candyland, Monopoly - there are lots of great board games out there to keep you and your little ones entertained.
- Be Card Sharks: Cards are fun for the whole family. Play a game of hearts, poker, gin rummy, war, go fish...
- Creative Kitchen Play: Let your child or children invent a recipe and then go experiment and experiment by making the dish. The results may be awful, they may be great. It doesn't matter - it's just fun.
- Bathtub Science: There's a really neat book called Bathtub Science that features 35 different projects involving water (some might be better suited to outdoors than the bathtub) that you can do together with your child.
- Go Mad: Mad Libs are always good fun - especially when you involve multiple people in filling in the blanks. Buy a few Mad Lib books at the book store or download the iPhone App:Mad Libs
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