Originally Posted by nanglgrl:
I don’t know how you all do it with going outside. All of my outdoor equipment is put away for winter. If I leave it out it always gets ruined by the temps (Iowa). Without equipment there is nothing to do but run but they can’t do that when they’re all bundled up. Last year a made a snow course that curved around and let them sled down it and most of the 3 and up crowd had fun but the younger children were miserable.
I finally have enough snow pants, hats and gloves so I don’t have to rely on parents remembering but in prior years it just seemed to be a waste. It seems like our entire morning is gone in the time it takes to put everything on, go outside for an hour, take it all off, clean up the wet floors etc. then we have to rush to change diapers, eat, wash up and maybe get in a book before nap. This, on top of about half of the children looking miserable the entire time, and it’s the last thing I want to do.
We do spend basically all day, all summer outside but rainy, snowy, chilly weather keeps us indoors.
How do you do it?
Its hard when the snow gets deep but some of the things we do outside are digging.. I keep shovels and buckets in an area for "sandbox" type play. I use garden trowels as they dig in the snow better than plastic sand shovels.
We make a small sliding hump. Just big enough for toddlers to get to with bulky snowpants and sit at the top and slide down (like 3-4 feet total). It's enough to keep them occupied.
I also have an area where we keep small paths cleared and the kids push bigger cars/trucks around and around the path. We have a curved road way and a circle track.
We have an outdoor kitchen so as long as that is clear of snow the kids love playing with snow in the pots and pans.
We sidewalk chalk in all seasons. Sometimes the older kids use snow spray (water in spray bottles tinted with food coloring).
There is always the classics too! Building a snowman, digging a tunnel and making snow balls or a snow fort.
My older kiddos are pretty good about dressing. We do it as a group. I lay everyone's snow pants out and put the other items next to the snowpants. TOGETHER we all get in our snow pants.
Then we get our coats on. Then boots.
Then I go around the circle and zip, tie, tuck, straighten and fix any fasteners that they can't do themselves.
I plop their hats on and out we go. The whole process is pretty quick (>15 mins) and the kiddos learn how to do alot of it on their own simply by watching over and over every day. Of course there is the element of competition there too so that helps.
