Creative Ways To Keep Your Children Entertained This Winter

Winter is nearly here and let’s be honest -- there’s only so much time we can spend outside playing in the snow before we risk turning into icicles ourselves. We’ve all spent so much time at home this year that we’re all scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to ideas to keep our kids entertained.  

If you’re worried about winter break and the inevitable boredom, here are a few extra creative ways to keep your children entertained this winter.

Write Your Own Cartoon

While some studios are still releasing new socially-distanced content, for many of our favorite shows, we’ve been stuck watching reruns while we shelter in place. For kids, this can get old fast. Instead of hunting for new shows to keep them entertained, why not tap into their creative side and encourage them to create their own cartoons? 

Introduce them to the idea of storytelling and animation. Depending on their ages, you could even get into stop motion or computer animation to bring their stories to life!

Create Boredom Sticks

The last thing a parent ever wants to hear is “I’m bored!” Instead of racking your brain trying to come up with something to keep them entertained, why not make some boredom sticks? All you need is a can and a few handfuls of popsicle sticks. Write ideas for projects and tasks on the sticks that will keep them entertained, and stick them all in the can. Then, when they get bored, instead of having to figure out something for them to do, you can just send them to pull out a boredom stick.  

Once they’re set up, you can keep using them until everyone gets bored with what’s listed on the sticks -- then it’s time to renew them and start again!

Break Out the Coloring Books

When in doubt, the best thing you can do is to break out the coloring books and supplies, set them out on the table and let everyone go to town. You might be surprised how much time your little ones will spend picking out the perfect colors and turning them into something you’ll want to hang on the fridge.

Coloring isn’t just fun for the kids. It can help the adults in your household destress and improve their mental health as well. If you’re on your last nerve and the kids are driving you up the wall, you could benefit from coloring a couple of pages just as much as they can.

Start an Egg Drop Challenge

Who doesn’t like making a mess? This is a great way to brush up on science and engineering skills in a way that’s a lot more fun than sitting in front of a computer screen. The goal of the egg drop is to drop an egg as high as possible without cracking it. You can use all sorts of different materials to protect and cushion the egg, and the person who manages the highest drops wins.  

Whether you use hard boiled or raw eggs is up to you. Hard boiled eggs don’t crack as easily but they also don’t make as big of a mess. On the other side of the coin, if you’re doing your egg drop outside, kids do love to make a mess so it might be worth it to drop a few raw eggs.

Cook A New Recipe Together

Everyone should learn how to cook and the earlier you foster a person’s love of cooking, the easier it is to get them interested in the skill. With that in mind, find a new recipe to cook together or, for older kids, find a recipe that they can cook on their own. We’re not suggesting that you send them into the kitchen unsupervised or anything but it might be nice to have a meal once a week that you didn’t have to cook. 

Let them pick the recipe. It can be sweet or savory, for any meal of the day or even a small and tasty mid-afternoon snack. The possibilities are endless.

Take Virtual Museum Tours and Field Trips

Covid may have closed schools and amusement parks this year but that doesn’t mean that you’re stuck at home -- virtually, at least. Museums, art galleries and other destinations have started hosting virtual tours. Explore the nooks and crannies of your favorite art exhibit or museum with your kids without ever leaving the comfort of your living room.  

You can even tap into virtual concerts and other events if the idea of walking around a virtual museum starts to get old. Nearly everyone has put up some sort of virtual event for you to explore as a way to encourage people to stay home and socially distance, so it shouldn’t take you too long to find something that piques everyone's interests.

Don’t Lose Your Mind This Winter

We might be spending more time inside this winter but that doesn’t mean you have to let this close proximity drive you mad. Try a few of these things out to keep your kids entertained when you start running out of ideas. You might even have a little bit of fun yourself, and heavens know that we can all use a bit more of that these days.