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-   -   Let's Share Our Ideas For Special INSIDE Activities In The Winter! (https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23958)

SilverSabre25 12-03-2010 06:06 PM

Let's Share Our Ideas For Special INSIDE Activities In The Winter!
 
Now that winter is in full swing in most of the country and outside time is more limited, I was thinking we should share our ideas for special indoor activities we do or toys we bring out to keep our sanity (and the childrens'!) intact. In my case, these are things I don't bring out/do very often, to keep them super extra special and get the kids something different in place of going outside

Large Plastic Bowling set
Ball pit balls (bring in wading pool, fill with balls)
Large cardboard blocks
Hopscotch (laid out on the floor with masking tape)

Please share your ideas so we can all benefit!

ninosqueridos 12-03-2010 07:25 PM

quick christmas-related one..........making a list of everything the kids can find on the christmas tree.........and then a few days later, go back to the tree and try to find everything on the list..........and dance to some holiday music afterwards :)

ninosqueridos 12-03-2010 07:26 PM

oh, the tents and tunnels are always a hit :D

Crystal 12-03-2010 07:38 PM

Lots of ideas, here are a few:

Sensory table, fill with a variety of items, rotating every week or two:

*crushed/shaved ice and polar animals
*sand/water with various activities
*cut up pieces of seasonal colored construction paper,seasonal items buried inside (take a pic of all the item priors to hiding and hang for kids to play I SPY)
*anything you can think of and whatever "stuff" you have left over or laying around


Share the book "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. Add mittens and animals in the dramatic play or block area for the children to act out story.

Put out Nap Mats help them with somersaults, backflips, headstanding, etc.

Read "The Gingerbread Man" and mix and bake cookies.

Add scents to playdough- cinnamon, ginger, peppermint, vanilla.....(make your own)

fingerpaint on the windows

lots of winter themed flannel board stories (make your own)

if it doesn't snow where you live ( like here :) ) take a truck to the mountains and bring a truckload of snow home, put it in the front yard and let the kids experience REAL snow! Some kids have NO IDEA what SNOW is!

beanbag games (make your own)

indoor hopscotch

when it's stormy and naturally dark, give the kids flashlights and let them explore, just listen to their conversations, it's AWESOME!

roll up newspaper into balls, add a basket and play basketball...works with socks too.

turn on some music and DANCE!!!!!!!

busymomof2 12-04-2010 09:02 AM

I save things for rain and really cold days too. We get more fog and freeze days than rain.
tunnel
play-doh
board games

Will have to try the flash lights. I have lots of windows and when it gets dark out it is dark inside unless I put on the lights. :Sunny:

nannyde 12-04-2010 09:45 AM

We don't change activities from summer to winter. We have the kids play toys. We just rotate out our toy collections more in the winter because we are indoors during the walk time if we can't go out.

Lianne 12-04-2010 07:52 PM

One of the kids favorite things to do is to have an indoor snowball fight. I wad up white scrap paper (misprints from the parents' work) and the kids have a blast throwing them at each other and me.

jen 12-05-2010 05:51 PM

Build igloo models out of sugar cubes (paired with a winter theme book)
make jello wigglers,
we make pine cone bird feeders with Karo syrup and bird seed (book too)
parachute games
Mix white shaving cream with elmers glue (50/50) it makes cool puffy paint
Give them a marble or two, dip them in different color paint, let them roll them around in a paper lined baking dish.
For kids a little older, origami is always a big hit
Dress up...I have mostly girls we do nails and hair sometimes!
Clear the floor, make "roadways" with colored masking tape, the kids can build the city with lego buildings and Little People buildings
Books on tape, HUGE hit
BIG boxes

CKSher 12-05-2010 06:53 PM

-We are putting blocks of ice in the sensory table and letting the kids spray with water bottles of colored water.
-We are going to make igloos out of white shirt boxes I bought at the dollar store.
-We are having a Polar Express Day We will wear our PJ's, have breakfast for lunch, set up the living to seem like a train, collect tickets, and have popcorn and hot cocoa while we watch the movie, then each child will get a silver bell to bring home
-I bought a small tree for the playroom, we are going to make several crafty ornaments for the kids to decorate their tree with and they can play with it as much as they like.
-we are making a gingerbread house out of a large cardboard box
_Christmas beads for necklaces, paint with water books, scented playdough, playing in cool whip,and baking cookies

MG&Lsmom 12-06-2010 04:35 AM

Adding to the sensory table idea: use cornmeal, oatmeal or rice instead of water/sand with some clean sand toys. You can store each in a large rubbermaid (think under bed storage container) with top that you can just pull out when you need to.

Obstacle course: we have a long room so I set up the indoor slide, tunnel and hopscotch (I made a felt version almost like a blanket), hula hoops

Hulabaloo preschool style: I love the game but the speaker is horrible and hard for the little ones to follow sometimes, so I wrote down some of the instructions on note cards and play that way

Picnic lunches: spread a large quilt on the living room floor for easy clean up.

Inside side walk chalk: using a huge roll of paper spread out and taped to the floor for the kids to draw on. Can use crayons too. I've also done outlines of the kids and let them draw themselves and decorate.

melskids 12-06-2010 08:46 AM

just bumping this thread back to the top cause i love all the ideas and want to hear more!!!!!!!:)

Unregistered 12-06-2010 09:40 AM

Keep busy!
 
I make sure to keep the kids occupied when there are days that we can't go outside to play. We do extra large motor activities in the house. No running, however, because my floors are slippery (laminate) and I don't want any accidents. Here are some things that we do:

Yoga (more difficult postures than we typically do)
Crab walking races
Butt scooting races
Contests of physical abilities, like wall-sit contests & sit-up and push-up contests

We also do more arts and crafts, so that's always fun. We also read many more books and we watch more Christmas specials, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Blackcat31 12-06-2010 01:15 PM

Okay I want to stress that this is a game we ONLY play on Fridays...lol!! :D
All you need is a mini-candy bar (one for each child) I have all the kids sit in one room while I hide a candy for each one in a different room. Then I set them free to hunt for the candy. Once they find one, they go sit at the table to eat it and the others continue to search til they find their treat. It keeps them occupied for a long time (depending on how hard I hide them) and everyone stays interested becuase they REALLY want that candy!! Sometimes we use gummie bears and I let everyone find 3 or 4. It is an amazing way to keep them occupied!! Hey it isn't the most educational activity but the kids love it and as ong as they have fun..I'm good. ;)

DanceMom 12-07-2010 06:38 AM

* Tunnels and Tents
* Ball Pits
* Puzzles - they love to do giant floor puzzles
* Sensory table - filling with rice or cut up paper etc with small farm animals
* I have a few dancing/toddler song videos that I save for winter..they love love love them and they arent just sitting and watching they are doing the moves the kids do on the video and signing the songs
* Lots of Christmas music/Cds ( Disney, princess etc )
* Daycare is on my main floor I have a playroom in the basement - we visit that a lot more in the winter and let them tear it apart and play.
* Lots of baking - They love to bake anything - help me with cookies, cakes, etc
* I set up stations on the main floor - puzzle station/coloring station/playdough station/books station etc and I split them up into 2's so that way they get a little break from all playing as a group and play one on one with another child.


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