our favorite indoor activities for the winter!

Sometimes it’s just too damn cold to go outside. The four walls of our home is what it’s gonna be, but you want to prolong the onset of cabin fever. I’m not someone who’s always orchestrating activities for my kids at all. They’re both very good independent players but that doesn’t last forever and then I’ll step in to come up with something new or different to help the day run smoothly. And sometimes that just means pulling something out that they haven’t seen in awhile. There are a few things that are always out, all year round. But then other things–like the Fisher Price houses, or the Blue Track–that go away to their spot in the basement and they’re like new again when we bring them back out! It’s pretty amazing the way that works.

So here’s a few things my boys (6 and 3) are really enjoying right now and that keep their attention for more than ten minutes. Please give me some of your ideas in the comments!

01. Blue Track. Parker first discovered this toy at his preschool. He’d talk about it all the time when he came home and finally I asked his teacher, “What is this Blue Track thing?!? Parker is obsessed with it.” She showed me, and it was something we added to our own home soon after. It’s like the simplest thing ever, but given that we are inundated with Matchbox cars (which remain one of their favorites), this ups the fun factor of them a lot. We usually suction it to a window up pretty high and then they stretch it so it slowly slopes down. Sometimes they make little jumps for it by propping some books under it or by sloping it over a couch cushion. Then, depending on how high it is, they can use a stool to reach the top and let the cars go. The cars fly down it. Since it has two tracks, they can race their cars and figure out the fastest ones. Also, ramps option! I might actually get these. (Bonus: it rolls up to be stored away.)

02. Playdoh. Obviously. The boys always get into this when I pull it out, especially if I keep fresh playdoh handy (it is always at our Marshalls for crazy cheap so once in awhile I’ll grab a few new ones and store them away). We also have these tools (which I prefer to the elaborate Playdoh brand sets). They make me playdoh burgers, pizza, etc. I can get into playdoh too. Bonus.

03. Chunkies. These are so fun. They glide almost like a paint stick, but then dry completely smudge-free. I truly don’t get it. I usually uncap them all and put them in front of the boys (particularly for Anders who has a hard time pulling the caps off sometimes) and they keep their attention longer than your run-of-the-mill markers. They’re really awesome.04. Cosmic Kids Yoga. When you don’t feel like letting them sit for a fourth episode of Spirit but you’re still not ready to turn off the TV, enter Cosmic Kids! I love that it’s familiar stories to the boys–Star Wars, Moana, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Also cool: you can choose videos by length or by energy level.

05. Magic Track. This was a new toy for Christmas and the boys liked it right away. It’s user friendly and fun to make the tracks go various ways.

06. The Kids Should See This. I don’t utilize this one enough, but it’s got some pretty cool videos. Think of it as a cleaner, smarter, more kid-friendly version of YouTube. Each video is pulled from there, and broken into different categories: science, animals, space, art, animation and more.07. Art. When Parker gets all twitchy and throws himself on the ground with boredom, I always suggest art and he never wants to do it. But then I’ll just quietly get it out and put it on the table and he slowly creeps over to it and before you know it, there he is sitting there for an hour coloring. That kid can get into coloring and painting. We have these paints, markers, colored pencils (keep them sharpened and they’re so much more likely to be often used), and this art set. These little no drip paint buckets are nice too, but I don’t have them.

08. Army men. This is more something Steve and Parker do, than Anders, but they get into it, man. I’m talking elaborate army set ups. Steve has spent more time in the last month on Ebay trying to recreate his childhood Marx set for Parker than I care to admit, but every time a package came and the two of them would huddle over it like it was Christmas morning, it was pretty sweet. I can’t say I’m totally psyched about the whole war set ups in my living room thing, but it’s something that they do together and Parker loves it.

Notable mentions: Magnatiles, bath with bath crayons, this fort kit that I don’t own yet but think they’d be all over (they love a good fort and I am the worst at making them), Nerf wars, and more. That’s all for now.

{Some of our favorite books here and here}