Although children usually love to play in the snow, when the temperatures dip down too low – as they can in Northeast Ohio – indoor play is the better choice. But, when kids stay cooped up too long, they get the dreaded cabin fever. Fortunately, Horizon Education Center has the cure!
Parenting.com
We love their #1 suggestion, found in Indoor Madness: Easing Cabin Fever: “break the rules.” Although we normally advocate following rules, desperate times call for desperate measures – and the thought of cabin fever qualifies. Parenting.com says, “When the weather is already ruling your family’s life, you might as well loosen the restrictions inside to compensate.” More specific suggestions include:
- Cheering up your child by letting him eat on the floor
- “using every pillow in the house to make a cushiony mountain”
- Getting messy – on purpose!
Fun.FamilyEducation.com
Parents and grandparents – how many of you used Silly Putty on the full color cartoons found in Sunday newspapers? Fun.FamilyEducation.com shares how to make homemade Silly Putty using just a couple of cheap ingredients. Looking for something else that’s easy to make and can provide plenty of wintertime entertainment? Here is a recipe for homemade soap crayons. When your children gets home, they can unthaw in a warm tub and color themselves clean.
GeekMom.com
Have some toothpicks and miniature marshmallows? Let your children (supervise the younger ones with the toothpicks!) create freeform sculptures and use this activity to talk about the basics of geometry. As the marshmallows dry, they’ll harden and stick to the toothpicks, and then your children can decorate them with markers or paint. Leftover marshmallows? Make some homemade cocoa to chase away the winter chill.
Another fun idea at GeekMom.com: turn your family’s life into a guessing game. One person gets to announce a challenge – such as how many shoes are in the house – and then writes down everyone else’s guess. Then, turn everyone loose and let them prove their guesses to be right. For older children, you can casually add some math to the game by having them guess how many days each person in the family has been alive, as just one example – and then ask them to mathematically figure out how close their answers were.
ParentsChoice.org
We can’t promise this idea will be easy on the eardrums, but it will be fun for the kids. Let them use your “pots and pans, plastic cups, thimbles and washboards, rubber bands, whistles, and other music makers you can find around the house.” Let them make beautiful music out of these ordinary household items. Who knows! You may have a maestro in the making.
Books! Have we mentioned how much we at Horizon love books?Stop at the library and let your children pick out an assortment of books, enough to keep them occupied in case you get snowed in. While you’re there, consider checking out a few that list fun and easy crafts that your children can make when cabin fever strikes.
Count on Horizon Education Centers to provide educational and enrichment opportunities for your children. Find out more about our affordable quality care in the following Northeast Ohio locations.
