Tricks to Beating Cabin Fever?

Katherine - posted on 01/27/2012

You can try momsgroup.org and meetup.com, your library for story times, play groups (meetup) the rec center, sometimes your local craft store has craft times for kids etc....Oh and you can let them paint with shaving cream.

Callie - posted on 01/27/2012

I take my daughter to a playgroup. If you don't have one locally you could put together one with a few of your mommy friends (rotate houses). Just going to someone elses house and having different toy and people to play with is great. We also have a YMCA membership. I drop my 2yo daughter at the kid zone and she has a blast playing while I get some mommy time to exercise. I'm also enrolling her in a swim class there and maybe a dance class to get us out of the house.

Jodi - posted on 01/27/2012

Lisa, yes...bathtime apparently IS better with a swimsuit on! lol Thanks for that tip! lol



Chrystal, the obstacle course was a HUGE hit! I definately see us doing that a couple times a week from now on!



Kay...I would *love* to move to California! lol But, that's not going to happen! As it is, the snow in a pan idea is a great idea, I havn't tried it yet, but it makes sense that if I'm having such a hard time getting my kids out to the snow...I can bring the snow into them!



Sally, there is an Indoor Sports Center that has a toddler play time 3 times a week...but it's over an hour away. :( But you saying that made me think that maybe I could tip off our local community group to put together a tot time at our local Legion Hall (it's HUGE). One of them is my neighbor, so I'll talk to her next time I see her!



Thanks everybody for the tips! I actually got my kids outside yesterday! My mom came for a visit and before she left i made her help me get the kids all bundled up (it was a 41 degree day), got out the wagon and we had a blast!

Sally - posted on 01/27/2012

Check your local Parks and Rec for some sort of play time thing.

Here we have Tot Time which is when the Community Center puts a bunch of balls and scooters and things in the gym and lets you turn your preschoolers loose. You have to stay and supervise them, but it's only $1 for 1 1/2 hours of them running inside.

One of the local homeschool groups also rents the police gym once a week. I think that more like $5 bucks, but it's all afternoon for the whole family and they have a potluck.

If there isn't something already where you live, maybe you could get with some other mommies and get something started. Most kids playplaces give a group discount and some of them will make the discount better if you can guarantee a group at the same time every week or month.

Good luck

Chrystal - posted on 01/26/2012

My son is 19 months and we live in Iowa so to make it through days we can't get outside we do painting (TB of water and 1 drop food color & we use q-tips they drip less), play dough (www.playdoughrecipe.com), dress up (got everything from goodwill and dollar store a whole box cost me about $15), build forts and cardboard castles, made our own snow globes, built an obstacle course out of pillows and boxes, went swimming in our tub, bake, had a dance party, stack stuff (we buy pudding cup by the case so I took them all apart and he stacks them up and knocks em down for ages), play indoor basket ball with a laundry basket and socks, make letter collages, did face painting (I got a few kits on sale after Halloween but you can get them online or a party store probably), and a lot of other things but this is already a pretty big list lol. I also found this website www.toddlertoddler.com/archivedactivities.htm

Lisa - posted on 01/25/2012

Brr!! MN is cold!

I've been letting my kids put swimsuits on and play "beach" in the bath tub. Kids are almost two and almost 4. For some reason bath is much more fun with a swim suit on?!?! We have an unfinished basement that is bassically just storage and my husbands 'work space' I brought some of the outside toys down there and let them kick balls around ride bikes around. And we go to the Library all the time. We sit and read books, we can usually sit for about an hour. My kids love to 'help' so sometimes I let them unload the dishwasher... although things are always in weird places and I can never find what I want when I need it. I hope that helps

Kay - posted on 01/25/2012

Yes, move to California...80 today, just got back from pool...if you can't do that, let me see from my winters in Ohio with babies. Make a fort with sheets in the living room, boxes..little kids love boxes to crawl in and through, the 3 year old can use her crayons to decorate them,snow...bring some inside in pans and let them play with it with their mittens on, music...make some homemade instruments that they can shake and rattle(child safe ) and put on the Wiggles and let them go to it, fabrics...make up a box with different textures, velvet,corduroy,fake fur,satin,terrycloth etc.and let them play...invite a 6 + neighborhood girl to come be a mother's helper after school to play with the twins with you watching . Hope this helps...The other Moms will have a lot of suggestions too. Spring is coming!