smiling boy It may be cold outside where you are, but that doesn't mean the fun has to stop. Inside, there are plenty of exciting activities, some of which just might make your kids forget there is a television in the house! Here are a few fun ideas:

  • Indoor snowballs: For those extra cold days when you can’t be bothered with bundling up the whole family for a romp in the snow, why not bring the white stuff indoors! If you have white printer paper, you can make snowballs. Crumple up a bunch and let the spirit take over. Your kids can have an old-fashioned snowball fight, or set up a laundry basket and see who can get the most snowballs in the basket. Another fun game with indoor snowballs is to place a Ping-Pong ball atop a plastic bottle and see who can knock it down with the paper snowball.
  • Hallway bowling: All you need to turn your hallway into a bowling alley is a bit of duct tape, a lightweight plastic or rubber ball and some plastic water bottles. Mark the alley with the tape, set up the water bottles at the end of the hall, then let the fun begin.
  • Paper bag skits: Place a few household items into a paper bag — a comb, some costume jewelry, banana, highlighter pen, etc. — and charge the kids with inventing a skit that uses all the items in the bag.
  • Charades: A classic, yet one you may not have thought of in a while. You can do a winter-themed game of charades or ask the kids to come up with another theme they enjoy.
  • Freeze dance: Get the music going and see who can stay still when the music stops.
  • Snowman says: It's Simon Says, but this time Simon is the snowman.

Contributed by: Patrick S. Pasquariello Jr., MD

  • Treasure hunt: Write your clues on several pieces of paper, hide them in the appropriate places around the house