Favorite Indoor Activities

[TwinMama]

It's going to get colder and the kids aren't going to get any less antsy. What are your favorite indoor activities?

I have 2-16 month olds, a 2 year old, and a 3 year old.

[Michael]

Some tags on indoor activities: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...oor+activities

[Brittany]

I really like sensory bins. I have one with dried beans and the kids use trucks and pouring and scooping items in it. I also have one with colored sand. Also kinetic sand is fun. I put an old sheet down on the floor(tile) for the beans and the sand. That way I can just pour the mess back into their respective bins. I also really enjoy baking with the kids.

[Controlled Chaos]

Yes to sensory activities - I always have one available!

Pom Pom parties - I let the kids make it rain a variety of pom poms, they go nuts and then the clean up kills some time too

Loofa snow ball fight

Rotate rotate rotate those toys. In the summer I really only rotate once a month, but in the winter - weekly!

Ice skating - butcher paper on the floor, paint and let them ice skate on the paper through the paper. 2 years old and older. I do it by our little tables so they can balance with the tables. Some years I use the paper as Chritmas paper for dcp presents.

Fill kiddy pool with rocks/sand/pebbles and put digging toys and trucks in it for an indoor sandbox. OR fill it with pom poms or balls or anything at all!

Decorate with streamers for unbirthday party

Bake and science projects

[finsup]

I try to do a lot of large motor games. They love one called "animals in the ark" where I trn on the music, and the get to try and throw all the animals into a laundry basket which then gets dumped on them when it's full. They could play this for hours . Dancing, freeze dance, follow the leader dance...anythg to get them moving. Maine winters are tough with how little we get out to play. Nurf guns...but well, that could be tricky given some parents reactions to even toy guns but it works for this group. And is only played when I'm involved.
As for quiet activities, tangrams, Lego's, cut and paste (as in just give them scissors and your and let them have at it...supervised of course), small animals and blocks...they will create really cool homes etc for them. Or my go to 5 minuter superhero stories (can you tell I have mostly boys?! Lol).

[Unregistered]

I love action CD's such as Jack Hartman, Greg and Steve, Dr Jean , etc. dancing with shear scarves, kool-aid painting, sensory table.....mine is still old school with oatmeal in it, kool-aid play doh, owing bubbles and kids chase them, yes indoors. I have dedicated DC space and they have never hurt my carpet, hiding cut outs for them to find.

I have the song Run Run Rudolph. We line up kid chairs and run around them to that song, musical chairs without taking away a chair,

I love the Pompon toss idea!!!

[Laurel]

-Play dough (if you make it yourself it is warm and feels so nice). Switch out things you use with it. This can keep them busy for an hour or more. It is best to sit with them and do some also. It seems to keep them occupied longer.

-Have an Easter egg type hunt. Use anything to hide such as actual plastic eggs, wads of aluminum foil, pom poms, etc.

-Can do toss games by rolling up socks like balls. Toss them in a laundry basket, bucket, etc.

-Drape a blanket or quilt over a table. I just used the dining room table. I put nap mats under there as we have wood floors. They loved their 'tent'. Give them flashlights for even more fun.

-Flashlight game-They sit on floor in darkened room and you call a name. Then shine flashlight on floor and they stand on the light. Keep moving it around and they have to follow it stepping on it. Then pick someone else.

-Chicken feet-I bought some of those cheap stretchy gloves and they put one on each foot and call them chicken feet. I didn't think this up. They did! Also save the larger pop up tissue boxes. One for each foot becomes snow shoes.

-Big box refrigerators or appliances come in. Just put it out. No instructions needed.

-Add new things to dress up box like wallets, purses, sunglasses, mittens, bracelets, watches, tutus from dollar store, hard hats from dollar store. Also add new things to the kitchen. They never seemed to get tired of either but change things up.

-When they are old enough just some paper to cut. Also scotch tape, staplers, stickers, etc. Don't limit stickers to paper. Mine used to love to stick them on their arms, faces, legs, etc.

[Febby]

In addition to what everyone else has said, one of my old centers used Dance 'n Beats, which is Mother Goose Time's dance curriculum. We had a dozen of them, so we could rotate through them to keep the children and staff from getting bored. The DVDs aren't super cheap, but some of the dances are on YouTube and I'm sure it's possible to find used copies somewhere, too.