***This shop has been compensated by The Genius of Play. All opinions are my own***

Fun Play Ideas to Beat the Winter Boredom

Do you live somewhere that it gets cold in the winter? We live in Maine and it gets cold, REALLY COLD! If you are from a warm climate and think that 40 degrees is cold – come visit us on a brisk January day when it is 0 out with a windchill of -20. Some days its to cold to go outside other than to get straight in the car (that I started with remote start from inside the house). Luckily my kids LOVE playing outside in the snow so on days that it is nice enough for them to be outside they will go out. But on those days that they can’t play outside – boredom sets in fast. I’ve come up with a list of Fun Play Ideas to Beat the Winter Boredom that goes beyond video games to allow your kids an opportunity to be creative!

So by default – if my kids are inside these are there go to activities:

- Video Games (we have a Nintendo Switch that they would play all day if we let them)
- Play with their Tablets
- Read
- Fight
- Build with LEGOs
- Play with Sands Alive (or Playdoh)
- Complain that they have nothing to do
- Watch TV
- Fight
- Play board games
- Play with the dog
- Fight
- Ask me what they can do

Why is Play so Important?

Why should kids experience different kinds of play instead of the same old thing all the time? Watch the video below from The Genius of Play to hear their explanation.

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If you have fallen into a rut and your kids are always doing the same thing or don’t really play at all take a peek at the fun activity we did recently.

Winter Invitation to Create

Gather up a bunch of supplies – this is whatever you have in the house. For our activity I gathered winter the following themed items:

Pom Poms
Craft Sticks
Tinsel
Crinkled Paper
Pipe Cleaners
Tissue Paper

Colored paper (multiple colors)
Kwik Stix (or any paint)
Chalk
Winter stickers
Glue
Glue Stick
Glitter Glue
Scissors

You can get out anything you want – you can have a theme or not – it could be as simple as a cardboard box, scissors, markers and tape. Once you have gathered your supplies put them all together – call the kids and tell them they can make anything they want with the supplies. Sit back and watch your kids minds work!

My daughter immediately set out to create paper snowflakes – she made three before deciding to try something new. My son started painting with the Kwik Stix and made an outdoor scene of our house – he used glue to add some of the other elements to create icicles hanging from the roof just like we have outside our house right now.
Next my son glued three different sized pom poms together to create a snowman. Finally he glued four popsicle sticks to create a picture frame.
My daughter used her scrap paper to create a snowflake ornament and to attach her snowflakes together. She also used the glitter glue to decorate her snowflakes so they would shine.

It was exciting to watch my kids be creative and to watch to see what they would think of next. All told with the simple materials I found around the house they created 5 different art projects. The best thing about it was I didn’t have to tell them what to do – I just sat back and helped if they needed me.