Winter here in New Jersey can be painfully long. Without having kids it would drag on. Now with having a toddler it is anxiety inducing. Not being able to go outside is a bummer. It cuts out so many activities. Makes us all feel cooped up after awhile. You may bring your kids to a play place then suffer the effects of germs a couple of days later. Although they have tons of toys, it seems you have played with them every possible way 100 times over. Then you start feeling guilt over TV time. It can be a bad cycle. Out of desperation I resorted to some Pinterest ideas and other random sparks of genius.

First I want to mention some accounts I follow that give me GREAT ideas.

• @busytoddler- This lady Susie is amazing! Where does she come up with all this stuff? If I am not stealing an idea directly from her, I am inspired by her. Looking at her feed sparks other ideas.

• @myboredtoddler- A teacher and mother of two dishing out great ideas all the way from Australia

Obviously I search Pinterest and I know these ideas may not be anything new. However, when I post them on Instagram Stories I get a lot of response about them. So I figured why not share them quickly. Maybe they will spark an idea for you!

1. Dot Paint- There is no drippy paint and large mess. It is great for small hands ! I have a link to my amazon shop below which has some resources like this Dot Paint listed!

   https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-8c643b36

   
   

2. Sensory Bins- This is a HUGE buzz word. But it true, they are great! However, Siena likes to put everything in her mouth so sensory bins can be challenging for me. Large pieces of pasta worked really well. I had a small empty bin from target and dumped some boxes of rigatoni in. She even had fun taking her different stuffed animals and putting them in my the empty boxes. I had some empty paper towel tubes and she was able to put the pasta down the tube. I counted pieces of pasta with her. Then she had fun sending her little people down lasagna slides haha! You can put tupperware or measuring cups around them so they can use them as “diggers.”

3. We have had quite a bit of snow. And sometimes its hard to bundle everyone up and go outside for 10 minutes. But you still want them to experience the snow. I took a large ceramic baking tray that I use for lasagna and filled it up with snow from our deck. Then I took out some different color sprinkles and let her shake it up and pour it out. It turned out to be a fun lesson in colors. She also enjoyed mixing the snow and sprinkles. Siena also pretended it was ice cream and had fun licking the snow. Don’t worry it was clean! Please note this is a little messy. Make sure your toddler is wearing something that can get messy. Also you may want to put down a tablecloth or garbage bag under them to catch water and sprinkles. I just sat next to her with a hand held vaccuum and towel haha!

4. Couch ball pit- Just remove your couch cushions and find more than change! It is spring and bouncy which mimics a trampoline. Then just get a bunch of plastic balls and drop them in-between the cushions. Then lay one of the cushions against the couch like a slide. Hours of entertainment haha! Okay, so its a bit of a mess but after days indoors it is worth it!