Soon enough the Christmas holidays will have arrived, which means a house full of energetic little ones who need entertaining! Ensuring your high energy kids are kept sufficiently stimulated when playing inside this winter will play a huge role in helping to combat any challenging behaviour that can often be the result of excess energy without an outlet. Check out our mini guide of indoor activities to keep the children feeling energised and stimulated at home this winter. Whether it’s during the Christmas holidays or just on the weekends, these activities will keep the family entertained whilst it becomes increasingly more difficult to spend lots of time outside in the cold weather!
- Build a Festive Fort – Building a fort is never a bad idea! This is a great activity that involves movement as well as focus – your kids need to physically build the fort whilst also assessing what items should go where and how they’ll fit together in the most stable way. Once the fort is in place schedule some calm time to snuggle up inside and enjoy a Christmas movie or story book.
- Bubble Painting – This arts and crafts activity requiresnon-toxic tempera paint, washing up liquid, paper, straws, a tablecloth and aprons. Mix the paint with the washing up liquid in a cup and let the kids blow into the straw creating bubbles in the paint mixture (whilst supervising any small children to ensure they don’t drink this!) Then place the paper over the cup and voilà!
- Baking – Cooking with little ones is an excellent way to keep their minds stimulated. Whilst providing guidance and support, allow them to try and understand each step of the recipe by themselves. It’s also important to let them be hands on here, of course whilst always supervising closely to ensure everything is done safely. We included some great recipe ideas at the top of this article!
- Elf Scavenger Hunt – Each child has their own elf, this could be a toy or one they’ve made with paper, which they need to hide somewhere in the house. They then need to write out a list of clues to help everyone else locate it. One by one take turns working through each child’s clues to find their elf! This is bound to keep them engaged for a long time and having a list of clues to follow one by one prevents any overexcited running around the house, which can lead to accidents.
We’d love to see if you try out any of our indoor games or recipe ideas this Christmas – please remember to tag @coliefbabycare when sharing on socials!