When it’s cold or rainy outside you can bet your bottom dollar that you will hear cries of ‘I’m booored’, or possibly a protruding lower lip on your little ‘angel’s’ face. So, it’s a perfect opportunity to get some good, quality play time in with your child or children.
Playing is an important part of childhood learning. Through play, children learn to solve problems, develop physical, language and social skills and have a lot of fun. And it’s even better if they get to play with you, as it strengthens your bond; and you will end up reliving your childhood and having a wonderful time too.
So, forget about the house being ‘perfect’ and get down to some of these fabulous games for kids
Bowl-a-Rama
Turn your home into ‘entertainment central’ by creating a cool ‘bowling alley’. All you need is a few empty water bottles and a rubber ball. You should only need around six bottles for bowling pins. Line them up, and watch your child bowl! If the bottles fall over too easily, fill them up with a little water or sand for some extra weight. This is not only a lot of fun, but encourages hand / eye coordination and development.
Pirate Play
Watch your child take to the seas of their imagination!
Arrrrrrr! No matter how old, boys or girls, all kids love a bit of pirate play. Even better when searching for ‘treasure’! Treasure can be as simple as some wooden blocks wrapped in tin foil for a little ‘glitz’. Hide them around the house, and improvise a pirate hat and eye patch for your child if you don’t have one already. You can use a folded paper plate to make a pirate hat, and a bit of black fabric with some string to fashion an eyepatch.
Then arm your intrepid pirate with a bag and torch and set them off to find the buried silver. This is very exciting and encourages imaginative play and problem solving..
Build an Indoor Obstacle Course
Get creative with your obstacle course
If you can’t have fun outside, why not bring the fun inside? If you have a room with some open space, an obstacle course can be just the way to chase off the winter blues.
Use pillows to set up hurdles, and chairs draped with blankets to make tunnels. Include stations for activities like jump rope, ring toss, or hula hooping. Let your kids help with the planning and building. We promise everyone’s bound to have a great time.
It’s the perfect way to get some physical activity in that will ensure that bedtime is on time!
Indoor Camping
Few things are more fun for kids than a change of scenery within familiar surroundings. Camping needn’t be outdoors, you can turn all sorts of places in your home into a ‘secret camp’; such as under the dining room table or using some chairs and flat sheets to create a tent! Let them get creative with pillows, blankets and camp set up. Once camp is set up, your child’s active imagination can run wild as you encourage them to fish, hunt and cook.
Play Freeze Dance
Your toddler will love dancing to their favourite songs.
Everybody loves to dance – especially your little ones. Freeze dance is loads of fun and encourages a lot of mirth as everyone has to ‘freeze’ mid-dance when the music stops.
Play your children’s favourite songs and get everybody dancing. Then, stop the music and freeze. Join in and don’t be afraid to be silly to provide your child with lots of giggles. Dance until you drop!
Do you have any fantastic games you love to play with your children indoors? Share them with us and all the other parents out there who never want to hear the word ‘bored’ again!
