It’s hard to keep kids entertained indoors during stretches of extreme weather here in North Texas. Here are 15 inside activities to entertain your kids during a North Texas ice storm, severe stormy weather, or the dog days of summer — and the best part is you don’t have to run to the store to prep!
Take it from me — a preschool teacher and someone who worked from home with a toddler — it is possible!
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1. Break Out the Board Games
The ones you haven’t played in forever! Since you have extra time on your hands, with or without power, settle in for a longer game like Monopoly Junior, a multigenerational-friendly game. Uno or Uno Junior are great, too.
2. Frozen Bubbles
Did you know you can make your own bubble solution with dish soap? Add three-parts water to one-part dish soap, sprinkle in a pinch of sugar, then gently stir. Using a straw or bubble wand, blow some bubbles outside and watch as they freeze. You can also blow them onto a plate and place them carefully in the freezer for a fully-indoor, frozen experience.
3. Indoor Camp Out
This is especially helpful if the power is out. It’s a way to turn a really frustrating situation into a fun one. Gather together in the the warmest room, put down a mattress, and drape some sheets to make a fort. Or, set up a tent. Note: Be careful if you have a generator or a heater on in a room where people are sleeping.
4. Magic Messages
For this inside activity, you’ll need a white crayon, markers or water colors, and white printer paper. First, write a message or draw a picture on the paper with the white crayon. Be sure to press down firmly when writing. Then, color over it with markers or watercolors to reveal the message. If you can’t find that elusive white crayon, try hiding notes or drawings for each other around the house instead.
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5. Make a Mess
Carefully bring some ice inside to play with or paint. Don’t be afraid to pick a few messier activities to do together. For example, I let my kids break out the kinetic sand or even paint on the floor with their feet! It gets a lot of their energy out and also takes them (and me) forever to set up and clean up. Mess-making, indoor activities get kids involved, eat up a lot of time, and usually end with bath time, which is emotionally-regulating.
6. Make Up Stories Together
I like to keep some story cubes around to help with this one, but if you don’t have the dice, try building a story as a team. For older kids, you can make it so that every sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. For example “A princess came over to the castle. Bringing an army of armadillos with her. Chairs filled up the castle hallway.” And for younger kids, ask what they think might happen next in a story that you start. If you’re in the mood to illustrate your tall tale, try making story stones.
7. Movie Marathon
If you have power, this is a great time to binge a movie marathon or TV series together. The first step — and probably the hardest — is to find something that everyone can enjoy. After all, listening to a thousand hours of Paw Patrol is only fun for one of you. Make this step easier by making a game out of it. For example, create a favorites bracket for a Star Wars marathon. After every two movies, everyone votes for the one they liked best.
8. Minute-to-Win-It
These games are based on a game show where all the challenges are 60 seconds or less. There are hundreds of these game ideas online. Cookie face is a favorite in my house. You place a cookie on your forehead, set a timer, and try to get the cookie into your mouth without using your hands. Another favorite is spoon scoop where you put a spoon in your mouth and use it to scoop as many small things as you can from one bowl to another, like cheerios or ping pong balls. We set up several of these at once and call them our family Olympics.
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9. Name That Tune
Hum a tune and see if the kids can guess it. Couple this with a dance party, and now you’re rockin’! With our preschool and elementary kiddos, we like to play songs from movie soundtracks and see whether the adults or kids can guess them first.
10. Obstacle Courses
Obstacle courses are a gold mine of entertainment possibilities. First, set up a safe configuration for the course. You can change the layout multiple times. Layer on new challenges and time limits, like save the stuffy at the end of the obstacle course in less than four minutes. Or, bring the bandages to the animals. This one will result in the kids playing doctor, another time-eating game that you both will love.
11. Paper Plates
What can’t you do with a paper plate? You can make masks, instruments like shakers, and even craft with them. You can also use them to make the dishes disappear! Ok, maybe not disappear, but they can minimize dishwashing duty since everyone will be eating every single meal at home.
12. Picnics
Eat in places you don’t usually eat. Throw a blanket down and have a picnic in front of a movie. Let the kids pack up their favorite treats, or better yet, treat you to a meal! We do a meal called “What You Like” where we make a spread of snack foods that you might find in a lunchable. It is like a charcuterie board for preschoolers! Everyone picks a little bit of everything they like and loads up a plate (paper, of course!).
13. Read Together
Reading a book together can be a helpful distraction for everyone. But, if you feel like you’ve read and re-read every book in your house and need something new, you can rent audiobooks from your local library! My favorite read-aloud series is The Magic Tree House. It would also be fun to read through an entire chapter book together and then watch a movie based on the book, like Harry Potter.
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14. Watch Then Play
Ask Alexa to show you winter sports videos and try to make your own in-house versions of the game. Or, for my personal favorite, watch a baking show together, like The Great British Baking Show or Nailed It, and try to make one of the recipes with what you have in the pantry.
15. Write Together
One of the best ways to distract yourself and your kids is to think about other people. So while you’ve got the time, write some cards together! After the ice melts, you can make a whole bunch of people smile with the sweet notes you wrote.
Weather in North Texas toggles between unbearably hot and unexpectedly cold, with an ice storm or two to get through. Try one of these inside activities to keep the kids entertained without running to the store. What are your favorite ways to entertain the kids inside?
