Indoor Activities for Toddlers

The cold weather keeps coming back in between sporadic beautiful January temps, and with it comes long days where leaving the house just isn’t an option.  If your child is anything like mine, it doesn’t take long for the standard planes, trains and automobiles to lose their luster.   And, if your anything like me, you panic trying to drum up new activities to keep the natives calm for a few more hours.

Here are a few fast, super easy (and low mess) activities to keep your toddlers entertained when it’s too cold to play outside.

Blanket forts provide lots of fun on cold days!
Blanket forts provide lots of fun on cold days!

1.Blanket Forts 

It doesn’t get much easier than building a fort.  Grab a blanket and toss it over almost anything – coffee table, couch, crib, dining room table – anything works. I’m not sure why, but old toys seem to magically become new again in a fort.

2. Go “swimming” in the bathtub

I’m a type A personality, so the idea of bathing any time other than right before bedtime is a little foreign to me.  But desperate times call for desperate measures.  Add a few extra bubbles and my toddler will play until the water runs cold.  A simple Pinterest search will provide you with all sorts of extras you can use to change bath time up – glow sticks, pools noodles, finger paints, and so much more!

Channel summer with an indoor picnic
Channel summer with an indoor picnic

4. Have an indoor picnic

Throw a blanket on the floor, make some lemonade and channel warmer weather with an indoor picnic. Invite a few friends or make some of your little one’s favorite foods and you are sure to brighten everyone’s day.

5. Help/Play in the kitchen

My guy loves to “stir.”  If I don’t happen to have baking to do, I get two bowls and fill one halfway with water.  Then I give him measuring cups and let him go to town transferring the water back and forth from bowl to bowl.  When he tires of that I replace the measuring cup with a large spoon and let him stir to his hearts content. I learned the hard way to put a large towel under the bowls as there will inevitably be spillage.

6. Snap some pictures

With the arrival of the smartphone, our old digital camera was getting little use. When our toddler started asking to “take piiichers” we decided to dig it out of our junk drawer and let him run wild.  He loves to run around the house snapping shots of anything he sees.  The best part is seeing the world through his eyes when we look through the photos later – he surprisingly takes some good shots!

What are your go to activities for winter days?

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Lindsey
Born and raised throughout the Midwest, Lindsey has officially called Oklahoma home for nearly ten years. Wife to Michael and mother to Ivan, she left the corporate world to be home with her family full time in 2012. When not chasing her ridiculously active 18-month old, Lindsey enjoys being involved in community organizations and planning outings for a local moms group. She also enjoys running, reading, road trips and all things mid-century.

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