Winter can be tough when it comes to keeping the kids busy indoors – especially when you’re trying to cook dinner! That’s why we've put together a list of activities for your children that will keep them busy and entertained for hours.
SET UP A TREASURE HUNT
Curiosity keeps kids busy! Hiding interesting things around the house for children to find transforms a boring day into an adventure. There are all sorts of hunts that you can do. Why not try the well-known treasure hunt where each discovery brings with it a clue to the next? Or a ‘one-item’ scavenger hunt? (It’s kind of like an Easter egg hunt but using things like tennis balls or sweets.) Of course, there’s also the traditional scavenger hunt: simply write a list of items on a piece of paper and let your little ones find them!
MAKE PAPER PLATE MASKS
An age-
old favourite, making paper plate masks is easy and stimulates kids’ creativity. And it’s not expensive either. All that you need is a paper plate, a punch, about 40 cm of elastic and some crayons. Cut holes for eyes in the plate and then punch two holes opposite each other. Next, let your children draw their favourite animal on the plate, knot each end of the elastic through the punched holes, and allow your kids’ imaginations to do the rest!
HAVE A SHADOW PUPPET SHOW!
First you need a theatre. To make one, take a cardboard box and cut out the top and the bottom. On one end, fix two layers of white tissue paper with tape – that’s the screen. When it comes to puppets, cardboard figures cut out and stuck on ice cream sticks work really well… or you can just use small toys, such as dinosaur figurines. Then all that’s left to do is dim the lights, turn on the flash light and let the fun begin!
ANYONE FOR A GAME OF BALLOON VOLLEYBALL?
Take two dining room chairs and create a ‘net’ by resting a broom between the chair backs. A blown up balloon becomes the volleyball and two kids who were previously bored become two champion volleyball players hitting the ‘ball’ over the ‘net’ for hours.
COOK TOGETHER
Let your kids help you choose from a few tasty dinner recipes and then let them help you make them. They can assist with preparation by chopping vegetables, stirring food in pots and adding garnish and sauces.
