snow day? quick ideas for inside fun!

Need some indoor distractions? Try these!

Gas Balloon

• Funnel
• 2tsp baking soda
• 1 small bottle
• 1/3 c vinegar
• 1 balloon

Have your child pour the baking soda into the bottom of the bottle. Pour vinegar into the balloon. Carefully stretch the balloon over the opening (without spilling the vinegar into the bottle). Lift the balloon so the vinegar spills into the baking soda…watch the balloon fill! (you can use alka seltzer & water instead).

Shiny Pennies

Preschoolers can mix, stir, pour and retrieve…just help out and guide with this one.

• 4 TBS salt
• 1/2 vinegar

Gather piggy bank pennies…the dirty grimy ones. Dissolve the salt into the vinegar. Dump pennies in. Stir, stir, stir. Retrieve and place on a paper towel to dry. All shiny and bright!

Catapult

You need:

• Foam or rubber ball or bouncy items (like rubber dinsaurs or something)
• C-clamp
• Ruler or yardstick
• Take the ruler, c-clamp it to a table. Put the ball or whatever on the end. launch! Remember to take it apart or your keys and other little essential might end up in mysterious places….

Kazoos

• Wax paper
• Toilet paper roll
• Rubber band

Stretch the paper over one end; secure with a rubber band (like a drum). Make a tiny hole about an inch from the blowing end, so the paper doesn’t blow off. Remember to hum….not blow.

Junk Sculpture

• Take anything and make a sculpture out of it…get creative.

“Run Through Delight”

• Think of this as a mini curtain rod & curtain.

You need:

• A dowel or some sticklike thingy.
• 2 dish towels, pillowcases or whatever.
• Wrap them around the dowel, pin in place (like a curtain). Hold above your toddler’s head and let him or her run through back & forth.

BOXES

Even Christmas morning can pale in comparison to the fun that comes with a box.

Try building these: boat with cardboard paddles, house, puppet show theatre,  tv (black construction paper in the background, let kids make a show), box kitchen (include fridge), simple dollhouse, rocket. etc.

Wheel-n-Axle

Need:

• 2 jar lids
• Dowel or pencil
• Poke a hole in the center of each, watch the wheels turn.
• Marshmallow-Toothpick Structure

You remember these. Take toothpicks and mini-marshmallows to construct a building.

Ideas adapted from The Father’s Almanac by S. Adams Sullivan