I am all for getting outside in pretty much ANY weather….with that said, we have some REALLY cold days here on the East Coast and definitely need to find some fun (and easy) ways to stay busy indoors. These indoor kids activities use simple household materials and a bit of imagination for some endless fun!
Indoor Kids Activities Ideas
1. Paint with salt and watercolors. Make a design in glue on your paper, add salt to it much like you would glitter, and paint the salt with watercolors. The paint will travel across the salt, leaving the kids mesmerized, and leaving you with beautiful artwork! Check out how cute these by Juggling with Kids turned out!
2. Go on an indoor scavenger hunt. You can get fancy and create one to print out by making a grid and adding clip art to it, or you can draw your own! Give kids a grocery bag to put their treasures in as they find them.
3. Make a mini lava lamp. Baking soda + oil + colored vinegar. It makes for a super cool activity, trust me.
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4. Make your own recycled pom pom run. Use some old toilet paper or paper towel rolls and some painter’s tape to create tracks for pom poms or small balls on the wall!
5. Build a fort out of cardboard boxes. Rummage through the recycle bin and find some boxes that you can stack. If you have big boxes turn them into cars, trains or airplanes. Give the kids some crayons, markers and stickers and let them use their imagination to create and play.
6. Have an indoor camping trip. Build a tent out of sheets or blankets and furniture. We love to make a pretend fishing hole, a camp kitchen and some indoor lanterns too!
7. Write in shaving cream. Spread some shaving cream on your table and create a flat writing surface. Draw picture, write names, practice writing letters and numbers, or just play! Either way, your house will smell so clean and your kids will have a wonderful sensory experience.
8. Make bath paint. Add some food coloring to body wash or shaving cream and give your child a paintbrush. They can paint the empty bathtub before taking a bath or paint while bathing.
9. Make a road map on the floor in painter’s tape. Twitchetts uses recyclables to add some extra fun and creativity to their tracks!
10. Make an indoor laser maze out of crepe paper and painter’s tape.
11. Make some homemade puff paint out of simple household materials. You can use squeeze bottles to paint on a paper and pop it in the microwave to watch your paint grow! This boredom buster is sure to entertain your kiddos for quite a while.
12. These upcycled super hero cuffs by Play Dough & Popsicles make for the perfect prop for some imaginative play. Throw on a towel or blanket as a cape, and go save the day!
13. Grab some rubber bands, paint, and a loaf pan to make some fun, interactive artwork. I love how JDaniel4’s Mom did this one.
14. If you don’t like the idea of a messy activity, squeeze some paint into a bag or put it under some saran wrap for some fun mess-free painting.
15. Grab some kitchen tools such as tongs, give your child a pile of blocks and make a castle/tower/dungeon/igloo…by adding the tools it will work on some fine motor skills and make building with blocks a whole new experience.
16. Water! Fill up the tub, the sink, or a plastic bin with water, add some bubble bath and a washcloth or scrubber and some toy animals or cars! This simple animal washing center by Pastels and Macarons would keep my kids busy and entertained.
17. Make your own play dough! Kids will love the process of making this themselves. Add a rolling pin and some cookie cutters, cupcake liners and birthday candles…get creative!
18. Make sock puppets. Grab some socks from your bin of socks that have lost their other half and glue some eyeballs, various ribbon, or any lightweight loose parts that you have around. Make a puppet theatre out of an old cardboard box and put on a show!
18. Have a balloon race. Blow up some balloons, make a starting line and finish line on the floor in painter’s tape, and use a straw to blow the balloon across the floor in an exciting race.
19. Go indoor bowling in your hallway. Set up some empty bottles or cans and find a ball. Set your objects up in a triangle or stack them like a pyramid and try to knock them down.
20. Invitation to create with tape and recycled materials. Provide your child with various kinds of tape and recyclable materials (toilet paper rolls, cartons, etc.) and let them build with it.
21. Make your own indoor snow from just baking soda and shaving cream. You can build snowmen or even have a snowball fight in the bathtub!
22. Use alphabet blocks to spell words or go on a letter hunt. Check out other ways The Mommy Mix uses these blocks for learning.
23. Grab some pipe cleaners and some household materials such as a colander, paper towel roll, or an empty container like Rambling Stump does and work on some fine motor practice!
24. Build an indoor snow monster from toilet paper rolls, cotton balls and other household items that you have around.
25. Do some activities to help you think warm! The Good Mama has a list of ways you can create your own summer feel inside while its cold out!
26. Make a snowman on your fridge from paper and magnets with this printable from Healthy Happy Thrifty Family.
Enjoy those days spent inside with your kiddos! It’s a great time to bond and play together, you will create some memories that your kids just might not ever forget 🙂
If you want to reference this quickly, print off this simple list and hang it on your refrigerator. You will be happy to take it down once it warms up outside!
Get our FREE mini pamphlet with sensory play ideas, recipes and more below!
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Do you have any to add to this list? If you are a blogger and have an idea, I would love to add it! Leave me a comment below 🙂
Photo Credit: Deposit Photos, little boy indoors, toddler girl playing
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So many fun choices!! We are expecting over 14 inches of snow this weekend… We will see how many we can get through 🙂
My kids love the indoor later maze! Thanks for the ideas!
These are all amazing ideas!!! Scheduling to share tomorrow!! I saw you’ve wordswagged it up as well! Love that app!
Ha! Yes I’m seriously obsessed since you told me about it! Love that I can do it from my phone
Such a great post Katie!!! We have two little toddlers here and since one is always sick we find ourselves home a lot in the winter. Can’t wait to try some of these activities!!
These are such fun ideas! Our kids would be really into making a map on the floor with painter’s tape and recyclables. Love it!
Such fun ideas! I love the indoor camping trip. Pinning!
A balloon race sounds like a blast! Keeping these ideas in mind for the rest of the winter!