Snow Days- Friendly Wednesday

If you are visiting from Feeding Four's Friendly Wendesday, welcome!

It is snowing.
Again.
As it is winter in Massachusetts this should not be surprising. What is surprising is the amount of snow we are getting with each storm. In the last three weeks we have accumulated well over four feet of snow. Yesterday we got 7 inches. Last night we got another 4 inches mostly of icy stuff.
All this means that schools are closed and Jon is home from work.
Again.
I am not unhappy that he is home, but seven snow days in three weeks is a lot. June will be a long, hot month of teaching for him this year.

I have been spending time on facebook reading the post of my non stay at home mom friends. I am laughing (kindly) to myself as they ask what to do with their kids. I laugh because entertaining my kids is my life. I like to get out of the house as much as the next person, but they honestly are starting to go nuts trying to keep their kids entertained after just two days. After reading these posts and trying to help I thought to myself, what do we do all day? And this is the list I came up with (for winter, summer weather would change a few things!)
*color
*finger paint
*play with our rice box- I filled a large Rubbermaid container with 12 pounds of rice a few years ago. I store it in the playroom covered when I don't want to clean up after the kids, but it is a GREAT way to keep the occupied.
*play dough
*painting
*baking
*having an indoor picnic with play food- this is something my kids like to do and invite me to
*race cars
*indoor bowling- empty plastic bottles (soda bottles work best) and a soft ball are all that is needed
*reading
*reading
*and more reading- nothing is better on a cold day then to cuddle up with a warm blanket, cuddly kids and some good books
*set up the train tracks and make up adventures for the trains and other characters
*puzzles
*indoor obstacle course
*putting on the snow gear and heading outside
*barbies
*my little ponies
*block towers
*Lego constructions
*bead necklaces
*hide and go seek
*blanket forts
*paper bag puppets
*messy artistic creations using whatever you have lying around!
*turn on the music and have a dance party

If all else fails tell your kids it is time for them to play by themselves. This is not bad, kids need to learn how to entertain themselves and you might be surprised at what they come up with alone. Madeline and Owen can play nicely for a solid thirty minutes in their own little make believe world and I love to watch!

You'll notice none of these things involves expensive items or a lot of planning. I do keep a good store of arts and craft materials around, but other than that I am simply using the toys that my kids have. Sometimes it is simply a matter of me suggesting something to my kids, or taking the toys out of the toybox or closet, to get them started.

What do you do on a cold winter day?