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The list of easy winter activities for kids you’ve been looking for. Cheap, simple, fun for a tired Mom!

It’s 4:00 in the afternoon and your kids have been home from school all day.

The toys are cast aside.  Everyone’s tired of Disney+.  

Instead, they’re playing their favorite game called “bounce my sibling off of the wall”.  

You are desperately Googling for fun activities, because if you Google the words running through your mind you are afraid you’ll wind up on a list somewhere.

While I’d love to offer you another cup of coffee and some chocolate pie, the internet has its limitations.  

But what I can give you is a treasure trove of ideas to do when you are stuck inside.

Easy & Fun Winter Activities For Indoors

Tea Party

(Or, if your kids object to the idea of a tea party, call it a different kind of party.)

1. Get the kids to help you make an easy treat, like 2 ingredient pumpkin muffins.
2. Pull out some drinks. Make tea, lemonade, smoothies, chocolate milk, or heck, just dye some water purple (my 4 year old got a big kick out of that!).
3. See if you have some leftover balloons or streamers from an old birthday party. If not, make a paper chain or paper snowflakes like these to decorate with. You could even color pictures and hang them up!
4. Turn on some favorite tunes.
5. Par-tay!

Just Add Water

On those days when both you and the kids are about to lose your mind, it’s time for some water.

Maybe you can’t drop them in a pool this time of year (bummer), but you CAN drop them in the bathtub.

They’ll think it’s funny to take a bath in the middle of the day. But trust me, this works like magic.

Let them play with their bath toys. Add bubbles. Drop in that bath bomb you’ve been saving. Heck, let them take in toys you usually say no to. (Baby dolls, cars, whatever.)

Whatever keeps them occupied for a little while so everyone can get a much needed mental break.

Paper Airplanes

Make some paper airplanes and see who can fly theirs the farthest.

Here are some different styles you can try.

Homemade Fidget Spinners

This one is kind of cool!

Print the free template, use household materials, and make your own fidget spinner (or two).

Mix 2 Ingredients and Let Them Play

Your kids will love making GAK!  

You’ll love that it’s easy to mix it together and let them play away while you clean (or read a book, uninterrupted!)

Get the instructions for Gak here.

Printable Toys

I can’t explain the science behind why kids would rather play with a box or a paper toy than the expensive toys all over their bedroom floor.

All I can say is that it’s the truth.

So try these:

• Printable Houses
• Printable Cars
• Paper Dolls
• Fun Animals (To be pets…or dinosaurs to destroy your newly made town.)

Fun Experiments

Now that the price of eggs has finally come back to Earth, try one of these easy egg experiments with the kids.

LEGO Time

I don’t about your kids, but mine adore LEGOs. Even the older kids will still pull them out from time to time.

And there’s nothing like a fresh set of LEGO challenge cards to make an old toy seem new again.

Indoor Games

Last year, I was homeroom mom for my son’s class. When it came time for a class party, I tried to come up with something simple to do that they would love.

Well, Minute To Win It games were an even bigger hit than I could have expected!

Kids love those games. And so do Moms, because they’re simple and designed to use things you probably already have at home.

Try these Minute to Win It game ideas for some afternoon fun!

Nerf Fun

If you constantly find darts behind furniture, in cabinets, and (sometimes) in your coffee cup, you probably have Nerf guns in your home.  

Challenge your Nerf lovers to some fun target practice with these cool ways to make targets in lots of places (that aren’t your coffee cup…hopefully).

Some more simple ideas

Try these family favorites on stuck inside days:

• building blanket forts
• baking cookies or treats and then having a picnic or tea party
• board or card games (here are some family favorites)
• clean (Turn it into fun by using a scavenger hunt or contest to see who can pick up the most.  It also works great for curing “I’m boooooored.”)
• try a random acts of kindness scavenger hunt

Or, check out this list of 101 Fun Things To Do As A Family!

With so many fun things to do inside, you won’t even mind the weather anymore!

Your walls will thank you for keeping the kids busy.

What’s your favorite fun thing to do inside?