Dear Heidi, The kids are home from school for 2 weeks! The weather is rain or freezing rain so going outside is not fun. What do we do?

Heidi has some ideas to keep kids occupied.

• sort through toys and get rid of old ones to make room for new christmas toys.
• make a blanket fort in their room and/or living room.
• learn different ways to make paper airplanes. Measure how far they fly and rate the designs.
• bake some cookies
• visit the library and get a stack of books. Read them in the blanket fort
• move the furniture aside in the living room and have the kids log roll, hop, bear walk, crab walk, crawl across the room.
• get out a limited amount of art supplies. See what you can make with what you have.
• have any cardboard boxes lying around the house? Read the book “It’s not a box” and see what your kids can make.
• Have them help you fold and sort laundry. Challenge them to hop, run, tiptoe etc. To put the item away.
• use every lego you have to create something amazing. Take pictures throughout the building process and they can be a reporter and write about how the construction is going.

• while the living room is clear of toys and furniture make up a dance challenge. Adults are part of the challenge too.
• Play every board game you have. Keep the ones you really like. Donate or sell the rest.
• Do you have a pile of random things to put away? Have a reverse scavenger hunt and challenge the kids to put each item in the correct home.
• Adults, tell the kids your favorite memories about them.
• try out different hot chocolate recipes or brands and vote on your favorite one.
• If is does snow, go out and investigate it. Can you see any animal tracks, icicles, is the sniw light and fluffy or good packing snow? How deep is it? Does it sound crunchy? Use all your senses.