How I am surviving winter with kids indoors
Winters can be challenging with kids. And February 2019 has been extra difficult. Whether you survived the midwestern polar vortex, were a part of the Pacific Northwest snowmagedden, or if you are a Minnesotan awaiting more inches of snow this weekend adding to the accumulative 31.5", cabin fever has been at an all time high for many of us. And this can mean your kids start doing things like this
And this
What are parents to do? We know endless days of movies and Netflix is not the best, but how do we contain that energy? When we were house bound for 4 days a couple weeks ago, I decided it was a great time to organize all our legos and put them back together. This definitely gave us hours and days of engaged activity. We have also been playing lots of board games and putting together lots of puzzles to keep the kids focused. But there does come a point when kids need to be active. Every December I intentionally seek out indoor active games and put a couple on my kids Christmas lists. Right now these activities have been helping our sanity. We definitely have our moments, but these are really helping get some energy out.
We got this trampoline a couple Christmases ago and it has become a staple activity. It really helps with the antsy energy. When my kids start trying to use the furniture as a jungle gym, I know its time to get out the trampoline. To make it more interactive, there could be contests on who can do the most jumps in 1 minute. Or who could jump the longest. Here is where I found this one.
My son got this for Christmas. There are multiple ways to use it. You can sit and rock side to side. You can also change positions and rock forward and backward. My son has also enjoyed pretending to surf on it, which adds a challenge physically and balance wise. I find if he is really having a hard time focusing, this can help him because his whole body needs to focus to try to surf. I mean look at that face! He is completely focused. Its available here
Ok. This game you need to just head on over and order (click here). It is currently $10. I learned about this game from a woman at my mom's group. And this is by far my current favorite active outlet. For the purpose of making a simple video, we kept the game within our living room, but literally this game can be played throughout your house. It is a relay game played individually or as a team. The wand lights up with a color and you place the wand on the color base. It then switches to the next color and your kid races to the next color. This continues as they race to the different colors. When the time is done, the wand beeps and their score is shown. My kids LOVE this game. What I love about this game is they can run but it is focused. And their energy is also channeled in the competition of beating their score. Seriously, it will be the best $10 you spend this winter!
My son won this for a Cub Scout prize last year. It is a soccer disc wrapped in foam. The kids can kick it around and it doesn't damage the furniture. It also lights up. My kids will pass it or will try to get it from each other. Either way, it is another way to keep those feet moving. I found it online here
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliated sales.
*This is the legal wording for whenever I link to products I like on Amazon, and you click through from this website, I will get a commission, at no extra cost to you*
