1. Indoor snowballs - masking tape and tissue paper are all it takes to make an arsenal of snowballs. Just the making of these took my five year old about an hour! Then we played snowball basketball, snowball toss, and a not so successful round of snowball bowling! (Rolled up socks or large white pom poms can make great snowballs too!)
2. Ice Fishing - I had made a fishing game last fall for my son's "Camp Out" themed birtday party. Last night I gave it a winter make-over.
I took a large flat box and covered it in cotton quilt batting, then I used hot glue and few staples to secure. To make it seem more like ICE fishing we added a penguin made from construction paper, tongue depressor snowflakes, cotton balls as snowballs, and the ice pieces from the game "Don't Break the Ice". The sign I painted was supposed to say "Ice Fishing" but I sort of ran out of room for the 'ing', but I still liked the effect of sprinkling coarse salt on the wet painted letters.
We got to take this game to a friend's birthday party and it was a big hit. We discovered that two fishing poles were the most that should be used. Tangled fishing line and stealing each other's fish seemed less of a problem when just two folks were fishing!
3. Mitten Toss Game - I covered another piece of cardboard with the cotton quilt batting but this time I cut three holes in it. Then I took a few pairs of outgrown mittens, added pillow stuffing, and sew them shut. My son suggested making each hole worth points so we cut numbers from glittery felt and hot glued them to the batting. To make the game stand up we tied it to a milk crate and put it up on a desk so it was easier to toss into. ~~ This game also went to the birthday party and it seemed enjoyable for both the 2 year olds and the 5 year olds. Though the latter seemed to enjoy hitting each other with the mittens than tossing them through the holes.
4. Snowman Dress Up - we pulled out of box of winter accessories and took turns dressing each other up as snow people. Some left over black top hats from New Year's Eve made us look like the real Frosty. For buttons we cut circles from sticky backed foam, but they are a one time use since they lose their stickyness quickly.
We decided that snowmen MUST have carrot noses so we took toilet paper rolls, cut and rolled one end to a stubby point, and then used paper mache to give it some shape. Once the first layer dried, we added a layer of orange tissue paper which saved the step of having to paint them. The first one turned out so cute that I decided to make one for each of the kids at Nature Preschool!
5. Snowman Circle Match - We raided our recycling bin for anything that was circular. We traced snowmen onto white paper, cut them out, and glued them onto file folders. The object of the game is to match the recycled item, lids in our case, to the snowman. The game is really simplistic but since my son made the game he has been enjoying playing the game over and over again.
To make this a bit more fun, add more pieces to accesorize the snowmen. Buttons, googly eyes, popsicle stick arms, and felt scraps would be exciting.... but with our little 20 month old on the loose we are going to skip the extra choking hazards for this year!
6. Indoor Igloos - think fort building but with white sheets and winter clothes on. Before we began building we looked at the book "How to build an Igloo" so inspiration. Building a real igloo is on our "winter to do list" but hasn't happened yet.
My son also made a cute Igloo craft using crepe paper pieces and blue& white paper scraps. He drew 12 snowflakes for others to find!
7. Indoor Skating - with pieces of wax paper under our feet we tried skating on the carpet but my 5 year old found it too difficult. After a few different attmepts, he found that plastic pot scrubbers held on by rubber bands were much more fun on the tile floor. He even put pot scrubbers on his knees so he'd look like a hockey player! Too funny!
8. Hot Cocoa -when all else fails, make hot cocoa and read some good winter themed books -- but that's a post for another day. I need to get back to my indoor igloo!
No comments:
Post a Comment