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Cut the Deck: Kids love the basic games like Go Fish, Crazy 8s and War, but if they’re game, get them into the more advanced games like 500 rummy or hearts, or even a card game requiring a board like tripoli (similar to bridge), which will keep them thinking as it kills a few hours.
Arts ‘n Crafts: A quick trip to the art store and you can find plenty to keep the kids occupied. Make lanyards, rolled beeswax candles, shrinky dinks, mitten puppets…those and more ideas can all be found online.
Tent City: Call it nutty, but even though kids may have their own rooms, they love to make tents out of blankets and chairs, inside which they can camp out and read or play with toys. Help them construct it, or provide the materials and let them go to town. The tents can even double as a stage for your mitten puppets!
Indoor Sports: Keep them fit when they can’t play outside by turning a portion of the family room or basement into an active play area. Add a mini basketball hoop, create hopscotch out of tape, buy Nerf balls. Safe, fun, and calorie burning!
Play a Round of “Clean the Garage”: The toys are everywhere, the dishes are stacked up. They’ll learn personal responsibility–and help you out–with a few planned daily chores, for which they receive a reward for a job well done.
Make Your Own Movie: Pick a genre–be it a mystery (“The Case of the Missing Sock”) or an adventure (“Let’s Rescue Spot!”) and write up a short outline with the kids, who can come up with their own characters, storylines and props. Set up and film the scenes, and then watch the finished product that night with the whole family.
Or Just Rent One…or Three: When all else fails, there’s always bringing the big screen to the small screen, and you can even order off the Internet if it’s too blustery outside.
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