Strategies for Keeping Down the Crazies

[SilverSabre25]

When you can't go outside, be it for a day or for a month, what are some things you do to keep the children from going positively bonkers?

I have Cranium Hullaballoo that we can pull out in a pinch, and also a kid bowling set that i set up in the hallway. I've also been known to build blanket forts when the weather was bad.

What do you guys do?

[MamaBearCanada]

Forts, action songs/games, workout DVDs, movies, extra crafts, concerts/talent show, dressup/role playing.

More the furniture to make a train/boat/bus etc and pretend to sell tickets and take trips.

I also find I have to separate the kids into their own zones or centers for a while so everyone gets some space.

[Meyou]

The biggest thing that helps me is that when they start to ramp up I change activities. Free play to table play to a 10 min dance party to free play to quiet play to crawling races etc etc etc. We have pretty pain free indoor days and these are kids that are used to be outside for several hours per day in all types of weather.

[Lyss]

The mentioned ideas are all ones we use on rainy days (which we have a lot of).

My kids also love when we make tape roads (painters tape on the floor) for the cars or "barns/houses" with it for the animals, tent play, yoga videos, dancing (this is a favorite, I put on the kids music station and they'll go for 45mins!), indoor obstacle course

[just_peachy]

My kids looove the "find it" game, and all I have to do is sit there! "Bring me something... yellow!" etc. I make it harder for the older ones. They love it, we could play it for hours! They put their item back before we start the next one.

Or, I'll make colors or shapes or letters out of paper depending on what we're work on, and tape them up around the room while they're in another room. When they come in, they work as a team to find the ones I tell them to find. Once all the kids have touched the item, I tell them which to find next. Then they go out of the room and I re-hide them.

I also love the YouTube kids' yoga videos. When all else fails, I just crank up the music and we dance. I love Pandora's toddler station.