I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We had a fun family day and it was so fun watching the kids experience the magic of everything.
We’re lucky to live in a place where Winter is super mild and we can go outside almost year round, but we have to get creative with indoor activities in the hot summer months! Trying to entertain two toddlers in a confined environment isn’t always easy, so here are some things that are tried and true and generally keep my kids occupied for longer than five seconds! 🙂
Crafting: My three year old especially loves to craft right now, and my 18 month old just wants to copy everything her sister does so this is a fun one! Here are some of our favorites:
-Bag painting – put a white piece of paper in a gallon ziploc bag and add large drops of different color paints. Zip the bag closed and your kids can “paint” the paper with no mess!
-Pom Pom Dots – draw a simple picture or word on a piece of paper and add dots of elmers glue. Have your child put pom poms or cotton balls on each of the glue dots to fill in the picture! We like doing pictures of sheep, letters of the alphabet, ghosts, Christmas trees, flowers, or anything else I can easily draw!
-Superhero masks – cut out a super hero mask from construction paper and tie string so your child can wear it. Let them decorate the masks with pieces of tissue paper, sequins, or paint and markers.
Play Dress Up: We don’t have a ton of dress up clothes, but my kids love dressing up in their own clothes (or my clothes) just as much! Let them pick out their own outfits, accessories, and shoes!
Photoshoot: My kids are in this glorious phase where they think it’s fun to take pictures, but it’s especially fun if they get to be the ones taking them! I found an old point and shoot camera and gave it to Reagan to play with, and both girls love taking turns being behind the camera.
Clean the house: If your child has pretend cleaning toys, let them help you clean the house. Give them “very important jobs” to do, and make it a game to see who gets the most done! Bonus points for giving them real cleaning tasks (like dusting or picking up toys) that actually helps you get a clean house.
Dance Party: There are these fun YouTube videos of LED light ballerinas that my kids love to try to copy! Turn a video on and encourage them to do the dance moves!
Yoga: Along those same lines, YouTube Cosmic Kids Yoga and do it with your kids. It’s super fun and teaches the kids good practices along with a fun story!
Ninja Course: I saw this on my friend Joslin’s Instagram page and I thought it was pure genius! This is especially great for older kids, but I’m sure younger ones could do it too. Take some string or thin rope and string it across a hallway, creating an obstacle course for your kids. The goal is to get through the “lasers” without touching the string! Check out what Joslin did here.
Tea Party: Have your kids set the table with dishes and utensils, then let them make little foods to serve. Things like crackers, finger sandwiches, and veggies would be easy for them to make and arrange! Allow them to make the tea (or juice) and pick the flavors they want to serve! When everything is ready to go, get dressed up in hats and dresses and have a little party.
Play Dough: I can’t write a blog post about indoor activities without mentioning play dough! I started making my own all natural, essential oil scented play dough for the girls to play with and they love it! I picked up some seasonal cookie cutters and they love cutting the shapes and making pretend food in their kitchen. If you want to grab some of our Aroma Dough, you can find it here or at the essential oils tab at the top of this page.
When all else fails, we just invite all our little friends over and let them destroy the house playing with each other! It’s usually minimal work for the adults, and then everyone still has a good time!