I'm watching my niece (4 years) and nephew (almost 7) for a few days at the end of the month. I can't fit 5 car seats in my car, so for the first two days we are stuck at home. The last day my husband took off of work and will take the older kids to a movie and ice cream. I have plenty of outdoor activities but need some indoor activities as we can't stay outside all day since my twins are only 17 months and won't want to. I saw using paper plates and making them into rings to try to ring the bottle and I think that will be fun and I'll have them make their own playdough, but it there anything else creative that will keep them occupied and doesn't cost a lot of money. I have plenty of toys and some board games but the kids easily get board with the toys. I want something that will get them moving. I was also thinking of making my basement into an obstacle course with different challenges.
Hi, V.:
What I did with my g grandchildren was put on kiddie songs and they would sing with the songs. (They had play guitars and a mirror they could perform.)
We had a small trampoline that they jumped on.
Hope this helps.
D.
Play doh and paints were usually my kids' favorites. And they LOVED to build forts, out of blankets, the couch cushions, etc. If you can get your hands on some large cardboard boxes they'll love incorporating those into their forts as well. You can cut out some holes for windows (adult job because you need to use a knife) and they can decorate the cardboard with markers. Sometimes it wasn't a fort, sometimes it was a spaceship or train.
Bake cookies or make cupcakes with them. Make lunch together, something fun, like making their own little english muffin pizzas or something. Have them work on a puzzle together.
When the twins are napping darken the living room, make some popcorn and put on a movie.
If it's hot outside make sure they get plenty of water play, sprinklers, kiddie pool or just spray each other with the hose!
Sprinkler in the back yard or squirt guns, I get foam plunger squirters at the dollar store, the we set up a "filling" station, aka a big bucket of water and let them have at it! They are entertained for hours! (Oops I just re-read your post and saw that you don't need out door activities... )
Bake cookies, science experiments for kids (lots on Pinterest or google). Kids love to draw with crayons or color pencils, turn on some music loud and have a jam session and dance around the kitchen singing your heart out. Bubbles! The kind that don't pop! Make your own pizza, pizza crust sauce cheeses pepperoni olives spinach (maybe) or just cheese but they can make faces with the cheese to make it more fun. My 7 year old loves to make food faces all the time. We can make a face out of almost any foods, and it makes eating fun! We used to play a game at my house were the kids would run through the house and put a foot in each room of the house and back to start, we call it Chinese fire drill, but they love it. Kids that age also like to have you read a book to them, you might get some at a library ahead of time for some reading fun (free).
Have fun!
Hi V., not sure of the area you live in but skating is lots of fun also go
To the website www.kidsskatefree.com you may find this helpful for your twins later on. Also look up some indoor water parks. Don't forget redbox for movies. trying to give you some of the more reasonable things. Good luck and have fun.
K. A-J
Make a tent with sheets and chairs, etc! Add a few flashlights and they've got an awesome fort. Plus, make it a "kids only" fort and you get a little break!
The obstacle course in your basement sounds awesome.
You can play music and encourage dancing for exercise, too.
For quieter creativity stock up on art supplies right now that stores are having sales on school supplies. Crayons, washable markers, colored pencils, construction paper, child safe scissors, glue sticks, white 8.5" by 11" inch paper in pads for drawing on, cheap white paper plates, etc. Let them simply create, and take home any extra supplies left over.
And check out Pinterest or Spoonful.com for all sorts of other ideas to use.
relay races, spoon and water races, indoor hopscotch (use painter's tape on the floor), bottle bowling, bake cookies, face paint, make macaroni art, make race cars using toothpicks, grapes and bananas, blow bubbles, make blocktowers, make a double of yourself, by tracing yourself onto a big sheet of paper, do silly walks, have a kitchen pot and pan band, make meatballs, make sugar cookies, read, watch videos, do competitive window washing, play jacks, spin coins.
Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.
My 8 year old found this tutorial on YouTube this morning about how to make your own slime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL6yauBbz5U
Basically, it's just a few inexpensive ingredients that we already had around the house (Borax, Elmer's glue, water, food coloring, and we added glitter for good measure ;) - voila, hours of slimy fun! I'm kind of surprised how fun she seems to find this stuff. You can also add glow in the dark fabric paint (about 1 tsp per batch) and then you have eerie slime. Oh, the possibilities!
My kids like to find bigger flat rocks outside, then we bring them in, wash them, and paint them with finger paints.
For getting them moving, they love to play Freeze dance (you play music and they dance, when you stop the music, they freeze in place, if they keep moving, they're out). Simon Says is another good one. If your basement is big enough, red light-green light or Mother May I.
Absolutely go for the obstacle course. You'd be surprised how many ideas you can come up with to keep changing it. A little painters tape can go a long way too. We do this in the yard, in the house and sometimes I do it with wiggly kids at Sunday school for a break. Let the kids get involved with making it too. Limbo, jump, hop, calisthenics, roll, carry things, dress up, sing a song, clap a rhythm... that's a great way to get out the energy and have fun.
