Earlier this week on our Facebook page, we had an impromptu picture contest of your snowman when the snow first started coming down. We got a few fun entries:

but the winner and coolest of all was from Reader Elizabeth and Susan Woods!

Her family had to stay indoors but didn’t miss out on the snowman extravaganza. They made home-made play dough then decorated three snowmen. Aren’t they awesome!? We loved the creativity from Elizabeth and Susan, and let’s face it, the snow was fun for maybe a day. Now we are ALL stuck inside while everything fun outside is wet, icy, muddy and just plain GROSS. So we’ve come up with a list of some of our favorite Cabin Fever Busting Activities. We wanted activities that required very little preparation on our part, and could entertain children of all ages for a long time. Home made play dough is definitely number one on our list!

We also love sensory boxes like these from Pink and Green Mama- she has “ingredient lists” for each type of box.

Using colored rice and noodles is fun for everyone. Young children like filling up buckets and playing with the new textures while older kids can fill egg cartons by color or size and play with small toys and figurines.

Craft Closet Raids were my favorite as a child. My parents always had a well stocked craft area filled with construction paper, glue sticks, pom-poms, googley eyes,  ribbon, hole punches, and so much more. You can create puppets, paper dolls, greeting cards, write and illustrate your own books, monsters or just let their imagination run wild.

The best way to beat the chorus of ‘I’m bored!‘s is an old fashioned dance off.  Rock out to some of your favorite songs from your teenage years and teach your children that line dance everyone knew back in the ’80s! (Do kids even know what the Macarena is anymore?!) If your kids make too much fun of you, challenge them to dance better to their songs! I’m predicting many Beiber VS New Kids on the Block in your future!

And finally, the oldest Cabin Fever Buster on the books- Forts! Drape your couch and chairs in a spare sheet, gather up your flashlights and favorite storybooks and hunker down to the spend the afternoon cuddling and reading together. Don’t forget to create a secret password or handshake and pack your favorite (living room friendly) snacks!

image from MizFlurry.blogspot.com 

Of course we can’t forget to mention all the great activities we’ve already written about in our current issue!

Check out our Science Experiments, Musical Instruments and Valentines Day’s Crafts!

Do you have a go-to boredom busting activity to share? Email Tracy@ Growingupinthevalley.com and you may see it in an upcoming post!