Jessica explores fun indoor activities to keep kids entertained during unexpected school closures.
I haven’t seen snow since a work trip in 2023, or two weeks ago if you count a snow attraction in FL. It’s hard to think my kids have never seen true snow when I grew up with cold winters and school closures from snow days back in Chihuahua, Mexico. Those days when we woke up and ran to my mom’s bed to cuddle up and wait for the radio announcement to know whether school was closed—that’s how we would find out back then. If that was the case, we would stay in the warmth of the covers a bit longer and later enjoy un día libre. Especially because my mom worked at a local middle school, and she got the day off too! However, our kids are Floridians, and they know nothing about snow besides how much they want to play in it. Anytime we have visited family in a location that typically gets snow, we miss it, but I hope to make it happen soon.
As you can imagine, the only school closures our kids know are from hurricanes, which don’t let us go out and enjoy the day, so we have our indoor activities. For one reason or another we may end up stuck indoors, so here are a few ideas to keep the little ones, or not so little, entertained. Make sure you save them for an unexpected day with a full house.
- La Cuerda Floja The tightrope, take out your painter’s tape and have the kids make their own tightrope to walk through it balancing to stay on it. Depending on the age, they can even make competitions and race for a prize. Materials: painter’s tape.
- Paper Plate Maze With simple materials (paper plates, scissors, tape, construction paper, and marbles. Straws or pipe cleaners are optional) you may have around the house, like construction paper, use them to have kids create their own maze then use a marble or small ball to go through it. Here are some detailed instructions and advanced options for added complexity.
- Laser Maze Do you have a hallway? Great, tape a few lines of a roll of crepe paper or let the kids do it and create the most intricate laser maze to work their way through it. Materials: roll of crepe paper and tape.
- Marshmallow Constellations Here is a yummy one for a fun snack time. With mini marshmallows and pretzel sticks give each kid a plate with a bunch of them and have them create their own star constellations using the marshmallows to join sticks together.
- Board Games You can never go wrong with a fun board game, or even better practice Spanish with Lotería!
- Play Shadows I used to do this one with our first born before bedtime and it was one of his favorites. You only need a flashlight and your imagination, point the flashlight to the ceiling and involve the family in story telling and hand shadow puppetry. Here are some simple shapes to include in your story.
- Museum Virtual Tours There are a lot of options online for exploring museums from the comfort of your home, here is a list of a few of them. And my favorite one, La Casa Azul de Frida Kahlo in Mexico City.
- Have a Concert Gather any instruments, toy instruments, or make your own with some pot and sticks, have the kids pick one of them. You can either play a favorite tune and play to it or enjoy the creative sounds from your own family band. Take turns switching up instruments or being the audience. We have great memories from this activity from our own version of a hurricane “party.”
The best part is to be able to join them in the fun, remember chores can wait and a messy house only means you’re living it up! Diviértete mamá.
