In A Funk...Need Some Ideas PLEASE!

[Tdhmom]

I have 3 and 4 (almost 5) year olds and I am running out of things to keep them busy. It used to be easier when we could go outside so all that energy could be ran off. But now it's getting too cold to go out and cabin fever sets in after 1 day.

Keep in mind, I have 4 yr old dctwins. They have to be in my sight all day long! If they aren't then they are stealing toys, throwing toys, pushing on someone, jumping on my couches, running around and jumping off of anything, doing all these things because I'm not in sight. If you guessed that I'm going crazy...you guessed right.

With that being said, all of my "fun" activites are getting old and hold their attention all of about 5 min (Simon says, duck duck goose, coloring, making our own books, stickers, markers, basket of plastic balls that get dumped in the room to be thrown into multiple buckets) my list seems endless and yet every morning about 10am I am out of ideas to keep them busy any longer. Free play is great...when it works. Again, I have to watch these kids ALL DAY LONG!!!

[Evansmom]

Make clothespin people from clothes pins, pipe cleaners and markers
Make torn paper pictures (kids love this bc they get to tear paper into pieces then glue them into a picture)
Hula hoop game (take two hula hoops, place them flat on the ground side by side with sides touching, have children jump from one hoop to the next. After each turn separate the hoops a little and have them jump again, repeat. Eventually the hoops get further apart and the jumping gets harder)
Baking soda and vinegar play. You can google this for lots of ideas. We do ours in a large, shallow Rubbermaid container.)
Little red schoolhouse this is an oldie I used on my own children. To start someone says "little red schoolhouse!" Then everyone goes silent. The first to talk or laugh loses. The one to stay quiet longest wins!!

[Tdhmom]

Make clothespin people from clothes pins, pipe cleaners and markers
Make torn paper pictures (kids love this bc they get to tear paper into pieces then glue them into a picture)
Hula hoop game (take two hula hoops, place them flat on the ground side by side with sides touching, have children jump from one hoop to the next. After each turn separate the hoops a little and have them jump again, repeat. Eventually the hoops get further apart and the jumping gets harder)
Baking soda and vinegar play. You can google this for lots of ideas. We do ours in a large, shallow Rubbermaid container.)
Little red schoolhouse this is an oldie I used on my own children. To start someone says "little red schoolhouse!" Then everyone goes silent. The first to talk or laugh loses. The one to stay quiet longest wins!!

Love these!!! We did the baking soda and vinager a lot last winter and I forgot about it thank you!!

[cheerfuldom]

where are you in Missouri that it is too cold to go outside? At preschool age, I would bundle them up and get outside in almost any weather twice a day. Unless it is freezing snow or a tornado or something, I would seriously get those kids out. Even if it is 20 minutes, three times day, or something with smaller increments, everyone goes outside for daily walks.

[daycarediva]

where are you in Missouri that it is too cold to go outside? At preschool age, I would bundle them up and get outside in almost any weather twice a day. Unless it is freezing snow or a tornado or something, I would seriously get those kids out. Even if it is 20 minutes, three times day, or something with smaller increments, everyone goes outside for daily walks.

Yup. When they are bored, we bundle up and take a walk, go outside, etc.

I have TONS of busy boxes/sensory boxes. I buy the plastic shoe boxes and put in things related to a 'theme'. Like sand, seashells, mini fish and crab figures. Or farm animals and fold out farm. They can always ask for one if they are bored, that is where I direct them.

Without those available;
moon sand
Playdoh is HUGE here
making playdoh (we do scented for holidays, different colors)
small legos (real legos) for my older kids with bases in rimmed tubs.


Today outside my group said that they were bored. We played 'calvinball' (Calvin and Hobbes-the rules are changed/made up as you play) and they had a blast making up rules for the game. It got super silly "touch your nose and quack!"

hope that helps!

[Tdhmom]

where are you in Missouri that it is too cold to go outside? At preschool age, I would bundle them up and get outside in almost any weather twice a day. Unless it is freezing snow or a tornado or something, I would seriously get those kids out. Even if it is 20 minutes, three times day, or something with smaller increments, everyone goes outside for daily walks.

We walk to and from school everyday, twice a day. We've actually had wonderful weather so far this week and have been outside every free chance we've had. But it's supposed to start getting nasty tomorrow. So our outside play time will be indoors and I'm just needing some new things to do.

[Josiegirl]

Use painter's tape and let them make roads all over the house, even on walls.
Use old socks and let them dust.
Give them sponges and let them clean.
Marshmallows and toothpicks make great sculptures(if you don't think they'd poke an eye out)
Shaving cream and lego blocks(or any kind of blocks) so they can build stuff.
Make gift wrap using stamps
Assign them each a shape or color, then they have to collect 5 things that are that shape or color.
My kids love to play hunting games, like find the mittens or teddy bears, or whatever you want to hide in the playroom. Then as soon as they've all been found, let one of the dcks hide them while the others are in a different room.
Paint with cars, trucks.
Sensory bottles, rice bottles(hide tiny trinkets inside and make sure you seal off the top so they can't open them).

[Josiegirl]

Something we do once a week, because we love feeding the birds, is cover something with peanut butter and roll in birdseed. We've used cool whip covers, pine cones, bagels, yogurt containers, whatever you might have available. String 'em and hang 'em, nothing like peanut butter to attract the birds!
Something we did last winter that kept them busy for a whole afternoon(It was GREAT!) was freeze some dinosaurs in a dishtub of water. Then turn the tub upside down in a larger tub and release it, just so they have more room to work than a dishtub. Give them whatever tools or things to work with, and let them get the dinosaurs out. We used scrwdrivers(carefully supervised of course!!), salt, spoons, whatever we could all think of.