Default Style Register
Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Let's Share Our Ideas For Special INSIDE Activities In The Winter!
SilverSabre25 06:06 PM 12-03-2010
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!
Reply
ninosqueridos 07:25 PM 12-03-2010
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
Reply
ninosqueridos 07:26 PM 12-03-2010
oh, the tents and tunnels are always a hit
Reply
Crystal 07:38 PM 12-03-2010
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!!!!!!!
Reply
busymomof2 09:02 AM 12-04-2010
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.
Reply
nannyde 09:45 AM 12-04-2010
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.
Reply
Lianne 07:52 PM 12-04-2010
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.
Reply
jen 05:51 PM 12-05-2010
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
Reply
Tags:christmas activities, winter
Reply Up