1. Cooking with children is fun, messy, educational, and can take a whole morning or afternoon when done right! Always make sure that you have staples on your shelves (flour, sugar, oil). I used to buy, then hide, a jar of colorful sprinkles to save for making special cookies or cakes on these "Can't get out" days. You can also make colored sugars for decorating--just put a half cup sugar in a zip-lock bag with a drop or two of food coloring. Zip shut, then let the kids shake for a few minutes. Here's a flourless recipe for cookies:
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies....Mix 1 cup peanut butter with 1 cup sugar; add 1 egg & 1 t. vanilla and mix well. Shape in to 1" balls, then flatten with a fork on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Remove from sheet immediately. Makes 3 dozen.
2. "The $1.00 Babysitter"--that's what I call a can of shaving cream. (Cheaper if you buy it on sale). Put your child(ren) in bathing suits, put them in the bathtub without water, and cover the tub walls with shave cream. Let them smear, write, draw, mush; give them paint brushes or plastic kitchen utensils to create. You can sit near-by and watch the fun, refreshing the shave cream from time to time as needed. If you do this as a late-afternoon activity, you can turn playtime into bathtime. I always loved doing this--got the kids clean, the tub clean, and the bathroom smelled great for days!
3. Sock-er Match--just what you think it is! Take your kids' socks and hubby's socks out of the drawers, unmatch them, put them on the floor, and have everyone start matching. Good opportunities to talk about size, color, and what a pair is. P.S. Bonus if you're actually doing laundry and do need things matched up!
4. Pudding Fingerpaint--many people don't like children to play with their food, but those are people who have never been stuck indoors for three days with children! Spread large pieces of aluminum foil on the table, plop a half-cup of pudding on the foil, roll up the kids' sleeves and let them start painting and licking. Guess you know that vanilla pudding is easier to clean up than chocolate pudding!
5. Catalogues-- are very handy! (1.) cut up any old catalogues you have around, creating families from the people. Give children the cut-out and some glue and let them make scenes using the people. Older kids can tell you about the scenes as you write down the words. You can get some fascinating ideas here! (2.) For clothing catalogues, have children who can scissor cut out all the blue (or red or green) items they find. If they can't scissor yet, have kids color over the items or circle with a marker. (3.) Older children can cut out pics to make their own books, tell their own stories.
You may have noticed that these activities are "quaint"--no high-tech stuff, no batteries, just things you probably have around your house already. That's what young children need the most--no gizmos, just real things they can touch and use. Enjoy!
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