Baby, it’s cold outside

Make indoors fun wih these games

FOR MOST FAMILIES the winter months are a challenge. The children are sick all the time, and it’s often too cold – and in the Cape also too wet – to play outside. The result: you often find yourself trapped indoors with your kids.

But don’t despair; in a cinch you can transform your home into a play area. We show you how and flag up some fun activities you can take on together. Here are some ideas for every room.

KITCHEN

The kitchen is the perfect place for the kids to make a good old mess. (Never fear, we also have advice for tidying up – check the end of the article!)

Make a child-friendly cupboard in which your kids are welcome to scratch around. Use it for plastic plates and cups and Tupperware containers. You can even dedicate a drawer to your little one’s toy cups and plates.

If you’re feeling brave (or perhaps desperate) and feel up to the mess, fill a big bowl with rice. Give your child measuring cups and spoons to work with. Hours of fun!

A wonderful kitchen activity is baking cookies. Put your child on a step or stool if she can’t reach, and allow her to help you. She could put the ingredients together or do the stirring. Older children can dish batter or dough into the cookie pan. You can also give children cutters to cut the dough, or even better: ask them to come up with their own shapes, and these can then be baked.

Encourage your little one to make shapes such as animals, dinosaurs and fairies. Remember these activities are supposed to be fun – it doesn’t matter how the cookies turn out at the end!

After the biscuits have been baked and have cooled down, you can decorate them. Put out as many decorations as possible. Have different colours of icing sugar in bowls, silver balls, Smarties and jelly tots. When you’re done, clean up, and then save the cookies that haven’t been eaten for a tea party (see under “Dining room” for our tea party ideas).

DINING ROOM

Cover the dining room table with blankets, and help your little one to make a cosy tent. Invite a friend, and bring them some picnic eats they can have in the tent.

Children love tea parties. You can use toy cups and saucers, or real ones if you feel up to it. The secret of a successful tea party lies in the prep. Get them excited. Begin with helping your child make party invitations, then make the snacks together.

You can also decorate a disposable tablecloth for the party. Allow them to dress up in Mom and Dad’s clothes – and give them some nail varnish and make-up too if they want it. It’s a party, after all…

Tell them it’s a real tea party, and since they’re grown-ups, they have to be on their best behaviour. Keep it light and do it through play: make exaggerated courtesy gestures, and show them how to drink tea with their little fingers in the air. Usually you have wonderfully behaved children – for a while at least!

LOUNGE OR TELEVISION ROOM

Have a dedicated play nook in your lounge. During winter you might even consider moving the coffee table to a corner so that there’s enough floor space for comfortable play. Pack toys such as blocks and cars in boxes in the lounge, and allow them to play there.

Another lovely activity is to have a picnic in the lounge.

STUDY

Put some of your child’s books on the bottom shelf in the study. Scatter comfy cushions around the area, and encourage them to page through their books in the reading nook.

BATHROOM

Make bathtime fun. Buy bath crayons – children are mad about them, and they can make a mess without becoming dirty themselves. Find them at most toy shops.

BED- OR PLAYROOM

Put up a tent in your sprog’s room. Allow her to “camp out” one night and actually sleep in her tent.

Sort out her toys and make sure she knows where everything is and that she can get to them easily, so she doesn’t need to bug you every time she wants to play with a specific toy.

YOUR BEDROOM

Put a box of toys in your bedroom. Allow your child to play there. It creates variety and is very exciting if it’s usually out of bounds for games.

OUTSIDE THE HOUSE

Libraries usually have story hours some mornings of the week. It’s nice and warm in the library, and children always enjoy the books a lot.

How does a museum sound? Old and fusty? You’ll be surprised: Sci-bono in Joburg, ushaka Marine World in Durbs, the aquarium in Cape Town...

When it’s not so cold, take a walk. It’s a fabulous opportunity to teach your child about winter. Point out how winter looks different from summer, and listen to the wintery sounds together.

If you feel up to the freeze, the zoo is a super place where children forget about the cold in no time. The animals are also more active in winter.

Invite friends over for a play date. Your little one may be invited back to their place, so you can have a break too. YB