Indoor Fun for Kids of All Ages

We spend more time inside during the winter months, and finding interesting things to do can often become a challenge with kids at home. Even if you live in a milder climate, there are always times when you are house-bound and looking for some inspiration for indoor, family fun. Read on for inspired ideas to entertain kids of all ages. Get your creative juices flowing – it’s amazing what you can come up with by using simple, everyday items and ingredients found in your home!

Fun with Food

1. All ages will enjoy marshmallow tinker toys. A bag of marshmallows and some thin pretzel sticks are all you need to build the perfect, puffy stick person, a 3D house, or teepee. Kids simply skewer the marshmallows with the pretzel sticks to create their very own work of art. For a healthy substitute, use grapes and toothpicks instead.
2. Now these are really cool. Create graham cracker bird feeders for birds to snack on during colder, winter months. Kids construct simple houses with crackers and glue them onto a sturdy, cardboard base. The bird houses can then be covered with sunflower seed, peanut or almond butter, and decorated with pretzels, bird seed and Cheerios.
3. Make your own custom potato stamps. Cut a potato in half and push a cookie cutter in the shape of your choice all the way into the cut side. Use a paring knife to cut off the potato outside of the cookie cutter. Use the homemade stamp and paint to make pictures or patterns.

Magical Masking Tape

1. A simple roll of this tacky tape and a broad imagination can have you and your kids hopping in no time. Mark out a hopscotch game on any floor surface for active, indoor fun. Choose the number of squares based on the age of your children and how much space you have to work with. Use a coin, small stone or beanbag for throwing.
2. Stick a very long piece of masking tape down on the floor to create an imaginary balance beam. Kids must walk carefully along it, go backwards and do hops and tricks, all while staying on the tape.
3. Keep kids busy with masking tape art. Try coloured tape to make it more interesting and give kids poster board, cardstock, or cardboard to use as their canvas, along with a pair of scissors. Let them cut and stick to their hearts content.

DIY Board Games

1. Many different templates for board games are easy to find with a quick search online, games such as DIY Monopoly, Memory and Snakes and Ladders. Use cardboard boxes or cereal boxes to create your checker board and make your own game pieces by using milk jug lids decorated with fabric or coloured, permanent markers.
2. There are also a lot of great ideas for DIY games that are a little more out of the ordinary. Did you hear about the mom who created her own version of Battleship using the periodic table? Yes, you read that right. She made Periodic Table Battleship for her son who is really into chemistry, but said even her younger daughter enjoyed it and she hadn’t been exposed to the subject yet. Now that’s smart and crafty.