love of local in Utah
Fun Things to do When Stuck at Home this Winter
Last week, Abby and I did a TV spot on the morning news, the CBS channel here in Utah. Doing news spots are just…so unpredictable. Sometimes you have way more time than they tell you and sometimes way less. Sometimes producers are FABULOUS at prepping you and other times there is no one there to give you any direction at all. This one was cut very short and didn’t have any prep before it so I am secretly glad that it isn’t recorded to watch online.
These were the ideas we had prepared to share on Fun Things to do When Stuck at Home this Winter:
#1 Fancy Fabric for Pirate Lunches, Tea Parties, Rock Star Shows & Fashion Walks: To cut back on the costs of children’s birthday parties, I bought a few yards of 2-3 kinds of fabric from the fabric store a few years ago. I end up using them for special stuck-in-the-house winter activities as well. I take the fabric and put it down on the floor, dim the house lights and surround the fabric with Christmas lights. Then I turn up some music and let the girls do a fashion show or use it as a movie star stage. I also use the same fabric as a tablecloth or to hang from chandeliers to the back of chairs for an impromptu tea party. This only takes a couple extra minutes but something as simple as this makes it seem like a really new and exciting activity. If you have a house full of boys, you could always throw a Pirate Lunch with more boyish colors of fabric. I am sure boys would love doing a rock star show as well.
#2 Break the House Rules: Usually you might not allow playing car wash, blowing bubbles or messy art projects in the house but it is ok to break the rules once in a while. You can use a large piece of plastic or an old sheet to protect the floor. Grab big tubs of soapy water, throw some toy cars in and let your kids have a car wash. Blow bubbles in the kitchen while getting ready for dinner. I love this dry powdered paint called Tempura Paint. It stretches for many art projects and you can add it into water, very salty water, shaving cream, etc. to give it different textures when you paint with it. For instance, you can just add it to water, let your kids take a straw and blow on the mixture to form “Monster Blow Art.” Attach googly eyes for a quick and fun art project.
#3 Imagination: You can do fun, free things on the fly with just a little imagination. For example my girls’ favorite books are ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie’ or ‘If you Give a Moose a Muffin,’ and we have the books on CD to listen to. The other day we acted out the books along to the recording. We easily found all the props from the book in our house. Then I just put some ears on a baseball cap and stuffed a scarf into the back of their pants for a tail. Also, we will turn lunchtime into an hour long pirate scavenger hunt. I give them a map where they find clues that tell them to start walking like a pirate, how to talk like a pirate, do silly exercises like a pirate. Their treasure at the end of the map is their pirate lunch!
#4 Cooking Show: Now if you caught the TV segment you would have seen Abby in a chef hat holding a handheld camera to show off her idea of doing a COOKING SHOW! Just let your kids record cooking their favorite recipe. Simple as that.
Phew… now THAT is what I wanted to get out on the news. I am glad I could share it with you all!
