Last week we spent a great deal of time snowed in. Between snowstorm Hercules and snowstorm Ion, most of the Midwest didn’t leave their house for days. At various points of the week I think everyone in our house got restless. I am lucky enough to have a job where if it is 100% not possible for me to get to work, I can accomplish most of what I need to do by working from home. Lucky for me that meant more time with my boys during breaks, but also trying to keep a little man occupied who is used to having mommy’s attention when we are home.
Talking with a few of my mommy friends, we came up with some ideas on how to keep a baby / toddler occupied during a snowstorm (or a rainy day). Little man is still too young for arts and crafts so anything related to letting him do that on his own was out the window. We aren’t huge on letting him watch tv and to be honest when we do turn on one of “his shows” it keeps his attention for 0.35 seconds.
1. Keep a “new” toy on reserve for a rainy day or snow day.
With the overwhelm of Christmas we hadn’t had a chance to get out all of little man’s new toys. We broke out the last of his Christmas presents one of the days we were snowed in and he played with it on and off for hours. It was something new and exciting and had so much to explore!
2. Let them explore a part of the house they don’t usually get to.
The general rule of thumb at our house is playtime is upstairs. Our “office” is in the basement and we generally are only down there after the little man has gone to bed. For a number of reasons our basement isn’t as baby proof as the rest of the house. While I was working from home, it resulted in little man getting some extra time in the basement. He LOVED it. There were so many places to crawl and explore he didn’t even try and get under my desk (the non-baby proof part).
3. Books, books, books!
Little man is way too young to read to himself but he loves pulling all of his board books off of his bookshelf and opening them. The best books are the ones that make noise like his favorite Thomas the Train book. He could sit and press buttons for at least 15 minutes (in 10 month old terms, that’s hours of entertainment).
4. Have a special treat.
We are in baby food trial and error right now. Little man has discovered eating on his own with some of his favorite finger foods at the same time he still gets jars of baby food. When he is home with us we tend to be a little bit more fun when it comes to food. He tried pieces of carrots, apples, macaroni and cheese & even some toned down tortilla soup pieces (basically the meat and corn that was in it washed off). Trying new foods kept him more excited and less bored being stuck with his parents.
5. Dig up a fun “craft”.
Pinterest is FULL of craft ideas. Obviously with a little one you will have to be a lot more hands on, but it could be a fun way to pass some time and cure the boredom that might come with not being able to leave the house.
6. Hit the snow.
Obviously with a young young child, the time in the snow will be fast and you will be back inside pretty quick. Little man and I had so much fun bundling up when the temperature was above 32 in his little snowsuit. We were literally outside for 3 minutes but he had a BLAST when he realized that the snow was a different texture. The look on his face was priceless and we were out there just long enough for a few pictures.
Leave a comment and share your favorite snowed in activities!