Indoor Activities

Hello!

Today I would like to share with you some indoor activities that are a hit around here, some are great for toddlers, and some are great for both babies and toddlers. Supervision is always recommended and often needed, however most of these are great to entertain the littles while you do something nearby such as folding laundry, catching up on some emails, planing upcoming things (meals, activities, of life events). I will separate this list into sections, clean, messy, calm down, and energy burning. 

Lets start with the messier list, This list would be great if you have nothing better to do and you want some good fun, it is great for exploring new textures and how things work, plus what kid doesn't like to make a mess!

Messy activities for small children:

• Shaving cream sensory bin (can also use whipped cream if you're concerned about it getting in their mouths)
  
• Water sensory play (can be moved to the tub for even more fun)
• Rainbow rice bin (rice tends to get everywhere!)
• Slime bin
• Garden sensory bin
• Painting
• Paper mache

Sometimes you just want to entertain the kids without having a big mess to clean up afterwards, this list should help give you some nice clean activities, of course with small children everything is going to require some small amount of clean up...

Clean activities for small children:

• Drawing/coloring (even better if you draw with them)
• Building a tower with blocks
• Make a fort
• Color sorting
• Read a book
• Tile shapes
• Make music with household objects
• Sensory bin with larger base objects (fake flowers, tulle sheets,
  
• Copy me/Simon says (toddlers don't get the rules but it's a good activity for learning body parts/actions)
  

Everyone with kids knows, THEY HAVE ENERGY! When that energy is overwhelming, put it to work! Here are some great ideas to burn some of that excess energy!

Energy burning activities:

• Lets pretend (pretend to be various animals to get kids moving)
• Dance time, put on some upbeat music and let loose!
• Exercise with me, kids can do or try many body only exercises, try exercising next time your little has more energy then you know what to to with!
• Race to clean up. Bonus, you get a clean house!
• Obstacle course
  
• Hide & Seek (my baby even enjoys crawling around to find where everyone went)
• Catch me if you can!
• Duck, duck, grey duck (if you have multiple toddlers)
  

When tension is rising, the kids are either too hyper and getting into trouble or being too loud and it's getting our your nerves take some time to calm down, set the kids down with something to keep their attention in a quiet way. My favorites for this are sensory jars, or blanket time with some books. A good snuggle and a book will help both mom/dad and the littles calm down. When even that doesn't work, it time to go to each his own room for nap or quiet time! I hope these give you some ideas to help your littles calm down on a busy day!

Calm down activities:

• Sensory jars
• Read a book (I know this in two different lists, but it's such a good activity!)
• listen to calm music
• Straw threading
• Puzzles
• Bubbles
  
• Drawing is another good one to fit this category too
  
• Movie (sometimes you just need to use the screen)
• Memory card game
• A Bubble bath
• Nap time

I hope theses list's are helpful to you when you need something to shake up your day a little. Whether you're looking for for something busy or calm, messy or clean, there should be something for all the moods in your house. Leave a comment to share what you think of these activities and how your child likes them. What are your child's favorite indoor activities?