What you need:
- 1 egg carton
- 12 small items like a coin, shell, or small toy
Egg cartons are natural treasure boxes. They have a fabulous amount of uses when it comes to kids, such as paint containers, craft kits, and more! In this case, an egg carton becomes the perfect tool to use for this game, which can be played in a multitude of ways. Fill up each of the spaces with the 12 items, then have your child take a good look at the carton. When he’s ready, close the carton and have him write down what was inside. For a simpler version, simply close the carton, have him close his eyes, then take out one of the items. When he opens his eyes, see if he can guess what is missing. Make it even more of a challenge by switching two items. There are lots of ways to vary the game, making it a fun (and super easy) one to play.
Homemade Twister
What you need:
- colored construction paper( at lest 4 different colors)
- scissors
- tape
Let’s face it: kids have an amazing amount of energy. So tap into that and get them twisted up in knots. While the original game is fun, the homemade version can be even wilder, especially if you decide to use the wall as well as the floor. Cut out four circles of each colour and tape them to the floor. No need for a spinner—you can choose Left Hand/Foot and Right Hand/Foot commands for the different colours to get them twisted up. Or if the kids want to be involved (and you want a turn to twist yourself), put some pieces of paper in a hat with the different commands on them. It’s a great way to expend some energy and get the giggles going.
Dress-up Dance
What you need:
- Costume/ play clothes ( or some of Mom and Das's older clothing)
- music
What’s better than simple dress-up? Throw a little dance into the mix. Like the layered game ‘pass the present’, where the child who has the present when the music stops gets to unwrap a layer, in this instance, it’s about getting dressed. Spread the costume pieces out in a few small piles. Start the music and get the kids dancing. When the music stops, the kids have to put on as much clothing as they can before the music starts again. When it starts, they cannot keep dressing, but must stay in whatever state of dress they are in at the time. At the end, whoever has the most amount of items on their person wins the game. Be sure to take pictures!
Fortune Teller
What you need:
- 1 piece of paper
- markers
- scissors
This simple origami ‘fortune teller’ can lead to hours of fun! Once you’ve added colours and numbers to your fortune teller, pick fun activities to write inside such as “Do a puzzle,” “Create a crazy dance,” “Put on a puppet show,” or “Make up a story about a duck.” Now it’s time to play. Have the child pick a color, and motion the fortune teller back and forth to match the amount of letters in the color (i.e. RED would be three). Now open, the child chooses a number. You can either open that number right away to see what the activity will be, or move it back and forth to that count. You can do this as long as you like before picking the number that you’re going to open. Once a ‘fortune’ number has been chosen, the child gets to partake in whatever activity written there. When finished, head back to the fortune teller for another round.
Clean-up Scavenger Hunt
What you need:
- paper
- markers
- 1 old pillow case ( or a fabric carry-all bag)
- 1 "treasure" item
This is a perfect way to get two things done at once: cleaning up and keeping the kids entertained. Choose an item to act as the ‘treasure’, such as a cookie, or some cardboard circles wrapped in tinfoil like silver coins. Find a place to hide the treasure in advance. Scan the house for items you want back in one place—a sweater left in the living room, a toy truck in the hallway—and using the markers, create a colourful ‘list’ of items that need to be found in order to get the location of the treasure. Once the kids have run around the house collecting all the items, you can share a clue to help them find the treasure!
Keeping the kids busy indoors can be a challenge, but a little creativity and imagination on your part as well as theirs, and you can transform a simple activity into hours of fun.
Source:Momtastic
