It’s the peak of Flu/RSV season and 30 degrees outside. You are afraid your toddler’s brain is going to liquefy if he watches any more TV. And if you hear the Paw Patrol theme song one more time you might just snap too! What’s a mom to do? Here are my favorite indoor toddler activities to stay warm and avoid the germs of indoor play places.
Sensory Bins
Have you seen the meme that says “I’m not really a Pinterest mom, I’m more of an Amazon Prime kind of mom?” I’ve never felt so seen in all my life. I wish I could say I research montessori activities and put together engaging sensory bins for my kids when we are at home. But, that’s not often the case. However, we have tried some Pinterest sensory bin activities. This little “car wash” activity was super easy and I had everything I needed to quickly pull it together right in my kitchen. Large bowl of warm water, squirt of dish soap, some utensils, and a toy to wash and you are ready to go! Little tongs, basting brushes, and a couple sponges made for the perfect tools for this indoor toddler activity. The best part – the kids played for more than 30 minutes. It was great!
Pinterest will tell you that this activity is also fun when using baking soda instead of water to make snow scene. I’m here to tell you it doesn’t end well when toddlers are involved, haha! These are the only sensory bins we’ve tried in our house and I’m going to stick with just water for a little while longer! My neighbor is amazing at coming up with great sensory bins. We have played with bins of rice, beans, water beads (very cool!), and cereal at her house.
Non-toy Toys
You know how kids will play with the box a toy came in and make you feel so dumb for spending any money on toys? Well, sometimes we can use this to our advantage! All the toys at home starting to seem boring? Whip out some cups for stacking – guaranteed to be more exciting than the blocks sitting in the playroom. My kids are also very entertained my playing with laundry baskets and jumbo empty diaper boxes. They will jump in the laundry baskets and pretend they are in race cars or hide under them from a scary monster. Diaper boxes make from great little art projects, my kids love to color all over the inside with markers. Almost anything can be a fun toy!
Window Markers
We have had so much fun with window markers on our big sliding glass door! If you have an easily accessible window, this would be a fun indoor toddler activity. We’ve also done window crayons, but they are a little harder to wipe off. And when your 18 month old bites the black one it’s a LOT more mess. But thankfully, both are washable and non-toxic 🙂
Painting Done Right!
You guys, I came across this bathtub painting photo on the blog Toddler Approved and thought to myself, “I’ve been doing it wrong the whole time.” What a great idea! Cut the mess by painting in the tub and roll right into a fun bubble bath immediately after!
The Great Hunt
My kids love to do Easter egg hunting. Sometimes we whip out a bag of plastic eggs on a rainy day to do some indoor hunting. We’ve also done different kind of hunts – hiding match box cars to find, hiding candy canes at Christmas time, and even little figurines like army guys or sets of Paw Patrol pups.
So, there you have it. Five fun and easy indoor toddler activities to keep you sane during flu season. What other activities do your kids enjoy? Share them in the comments!
Also read: Toddler Toys for the Hospital
