Indoor winter activities for kids

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It looks like winter has finally decided to come to Nashville. Our forecast is calling for temps in the 20s and snow by tomorrow. This is big news around our house and has the boys crazy excited. Who doesn’t love a good snow? But after a few hours of snowball fights, snowmen and hot chocolate the boys will be over winter and they’ll miss being able to play in the backyard for hours without losing feeling in their fingers and toes. That’s when we have to get creative.

Below are some of our favorite ways to stay active indoors when it’s cold, rainy and snowy.

Freeze Dance is a top request around here. It’s pretty simply. We play a song on the ipod and they show us their best dance moves. When we pause the song they have to freeze. We asked them for requests and put together a play-list of their favorite dance songs. I’ve shared it below. Our boys like a beat so our list includes Black Eyed Peas, LMFAO and Taio Cruz (the clean versions).
Another popular choice is indoor racing. We map out a course around the downstairs and time the boys with a stopwatch. They’ll run the course over and over trying to beat their own time and eachother’s.
Obstacles courses are another fun option. Sometimes we build a course around, under and over couch cushions, tables and chairs. When I don’t want all the clean up we just design an obstacle free challenge like crab walk from the back door to the front door, duck walk around the couch and army crawl down the hallway. Anytime we add a stopwatch or some level of competition they really get into it.
We’ve set up a baseball field and played a game with their stuffed animals. They love helping their Mario guys run the bases.
When we run out of ideas we can always turn to the Wii for a little active play. Just Dance Kids is a personal favorite. They also love Sean White’s Snowboarding, which is a great leg workout, and boxing on Wii Fit Plus.

Staying active indoors definitely requires more help and input from us, but everyone is a lot happier when we take the time to get up and move. The boys sleep better, which means we all sleep better and we hear a lot less complaining about being bored.

How do you get everyone moving when it’s too cold to play outside?

Freeze Dance Playlist