Cabin Fever Cures 2014

It seems like friends are snowed in all across the country from here to NY.  We haven't left the house in three days. Amazingly, we are not even going stir crazy yet. Why? We saw this coming and planned some cabin fever busters. I did a series of ideas to beat cabin fever last year, you can find that link here.

Here's my 2014 ideas, all at once. 

Indoor Putt-Putt Course:

The kids have a cheap plastic golf set, and I've been thinking of this as an indoor possibility for a while. I taped off each hole with painters tape and masking tape. I cut a side section out of a plastic cup and taped it to the floor as the hole.

Then on hole 3, I added some hazards: paper plates arches. I used the sections I cut out as well to give the ball some places to reflect off of. 

Finally, I added a pool noodle or two as bumpers, just taping those down with masking tape as well.  

The boys loved it, especially Thing One. We had a little family tournament on Friday night, and it was so fun to be able to do that without bundling up, driving there, paying to play, and freezing the whole time! Warm fun, for free, in our jammies? Well, ok. : ) 

Paint Studio

Have you ever taken your kiddos to a pottery painting studio? It can be fun, but it's kind of pricey for 10-15 minutes of painting. My kids enjoy painting something just as much at home, and we have a really reasonable studio fee ; ) At the beginning of the winter I go to Hobby Lobby and buy a few unfinished wood toys or paper mache bird houses. An apron, and some paint and they are good to go. 

If your kids are a little older you can extend this, by buying a build-your-own wood kit, and they can first build the toy, then paint it later. Thing One built this with his grandpa this week. Then he painted it at home and I whipped out a wood lizard from my stash, so Thing Two also had something to paint. 

Also, if you live near a Home Depot, they do a free kids building workshop the first Saturday of every month. You can find out about that here.

Exercise Dice
One of the things that makes kids go crazy inside is just feeling cooped up, not moving around enough. We made our own exercise game with some homemade dice. One die has movements on each side, the other has "like an (animal)". So you may roll: skip/like an elephant, or hop/like a cat, or spin in a circle/ like a bear. You can go to this Tools for Educators website to create your own customized dice for free.

Yoga Adventures for Kids
I was just looking through our local rec center guide thinking about signing Thing One up for something active. But with icy roads and flu season the worst it's been in 5 years, I just discovered something amazing. It's called A Cosmic Kid's Yoga Adventures. We did this one together, and there are several other videos you can watch on Youtube.

Thing One and Thing Two both liked it and it really held their attention.

Balloon Tennis
I've posted this before, but balloon tennis is also an indoor favorite here.

Hope some of these activities keep you from getting cabin fever.