What do you do with your toddler during the winter

MommyToAshley wrote: when it is too cold to go outside with your toddler?

We play games inside, color, do puzzles, sing, paint, play with playdough... but I still get cabin fever sometimes and Ashley, I think, will be worse. Right now, it's still warm enough that we can go outside for a little while, but I am dreading this winter. What do you do?

MomToMany replied: We go to the Y. They can burn off all kinds of energy that way! Otherwise we will just bundle them up real good and take them outside.

kit_kats_mom replied: I'd look for indoor playgrounds, rec centers, libraries for story time etc. When we visited Chicago there was a big indoor playground for the kids located in a mall. We went there every day.

ediep replied: I am also dreading this winter...I get cabin fever and I know Jason will too. He just loves to be outside. Luckily, I found an indoor playground nearby. It cost $5 to play all day. It is very nice and clean. They also have gymboree type classes.

I am definately going to continue music together class and maybe sign up for another class too.

We got Jason a little playhouse for the yard for his brthday, I am going to have DH put it on the deck for the winter so maybe if it isn't too cold some days, we can go out there and play with it.

Normally, in the house we play with puzzles, books, blocks, coloring, play with instruments, play with race cars, go upstairs, go downstairs, we set up playdates with friends at least once a week.

Jamison'smama replied: I feel the same way----dreading the winter for my outdoor gal! I signed her up for swimming 2 evenings per week and gymnastics one day a week at the Y. WE also go to the mall play area and we have a children's museum that has a great toddler activity area. I plan on doing the library lap time beginning in January. We have to get creative because we both get stir crazy in the house all the time. Play dates are also great!

ctymom replied: My first post in the 1-3 year old section Erica is one today!

Erica is going to hate the cold weather and not being able to go outside and play. She loves it way too much! Loves walking around and picking up leaves. And loves her swing like nothing else!! She's going to be down right ticked off. She has already started screaming a couple of times when it was too cold and/or raining outside.

I need to get going to some baby groups. The only ones around here are during her naptime.

Pamela

coasterqueen replied: Kylie is a very outdoor person as well and I'm one of those people who get seriously bored inside in the winter and end up resulting to watching a lot of tv. I've got to try everything this winter to be able to keep us from watching too much tv.

But while she's at the sitter they go to many different places to get out and then they play alot in doors I guess.

~KARA~ replied: Wow you all are making me feel like a bad mommy.

I dont play with my dd. Nor did I play with her sister when she was that size.
They learned to play on thier own at about the age of a year.
Nor do we go outside regulary. I have asthma and its gotten pretty bad here latley. I took my dd to the library for story time for a few months. the ages were 6 to 2years/ and 2 to 5 yrs. we stopped going when I walked in the room for "bigger" kids and saw 2 and 3 yr olds running around with siccors! I dont allow my dd to play with scissors yet even with my supervision. We still go to the library to get books and the weekly shoping outing but thats it.
We have nothing in my town for moms to do with kids. I guess everyone in my town is lazy or just doesnt care about their kids.
The Y is 100$ for 3mo (just built a new one so membership fees went up too) I was going to MOPS(mothers of pre schoolers) but there werent enought moms so we disolved the group.
I hate the town I live in!!!

Josie83 replied: Its never too cold, Cassie will want to go outside even when its teeming down with rain or snow! We just wrap her up and take her out. She loves being outside, so it wouldn't be fair to her to keep her inside. When its snowing she loves to mess about in it, and even in the rain she likes to splash in puddles. I love this time of year! xx

kimberley replied: GO CRAZY!!! lol

our winter is like 6mos long so it is very hard to keep kids entertained that long. our local library has stuff going on weekends, and the mall will usually do things too. for the most part, we just stay home and watch movies, play games, draw pics, bake or do crafts.

kit_kats_mom replied: are there any museums that kids can go to in your area? We just got back from the Museum of Science and Industry (lots of kids stuff) and we just splurged on the annual membership. It was $20 more than it would have been if I'd just paid for the one trip and now she and I can go anytime.

MommyToAshley replied:
That's a good idea... we have a science museum close by, but I don't know if they have an annual membership or not. It is geared towards kids, but DH and I had fun when just the two of us went before Ashley was even born.

I don't know of any inside playgrounds, but I'll have to check into it. Library time sounds like fun too. They just built a new YMCA near us, but I haven't checked into the cost. Someone told me it was $50/month and I don't think that we would use it enuogh to justify the cost.

A lot of good suggestions, I'll check into a lot of them.

Boys r us replied: We go to the gym a lot, we can swim in the indoor pool.
We go to Chuck e Cheese A LOT!!!! Also, there is usually a whole awray of kid's movies in the winter time. Some of our fast food places have indoor playlands.
the kids LOVE to go bowling, they bowling Alleys have the gutter piping, so it makes it easy for the kids to bowl and if you go during the day there is no cigerette smoke.
We also have several museums here, we tend to do things like that during the winter time. Our museum downtown has a lot of different expos that come..like a dinosaur one and sometimes reptile exhibits in addition to the normal learning centers they have there.

I am NOT a stay at home person, so we fin lots of things to do..even in the winter so NONE of us get cabin fever!

momof2girls replied: The library is a great place! alot of times they have craft time, reading and other activites and its usually FREE!

Alice replied: Here's what's worked for me:

-collages. You can do just random things from the craft store: pompoms, feathers, etc, or concentrate: save the zillion catalogs you're now receiving. When you get the time, cut stuff out and sort it: red into one baggie, blue in another... cut shapes: triangles in one baggie, squares into another .... When you need something to do, take out the construction paper and glue sticks and declare it "Blue Day" Wear blue, throw blue food coloring into the milk and make a blue collage. You could do starting letters too: H day: pictures of hats and handshakes, hamburgers for lunch.....

- make instruments and have a marching band. Throw some beans/pebbles/ whatever into some disposeable tupperware (Chinese food soup containers are great) and make them into marakas, drums... Blast the Motown and have a parade.

-Take one of the catalogs you haven't cut apart and, page by page, decide on an imaginary gift for each person in her life. "Grandma would like this, Uncle Steve would like this... and so on."

-Start your own playgroup. Ask everyone, from your pediatrician to the mailman, if they know other SAHMs. Have the first one or 2 meetings out if you're dealing with strangers. When my kids were little we met once a month,but yours could be weekly. OUr rule was that the hostess provided coffee and cake and muchies for the kids (BYO sippy cups). That way you didn't have to stop with kids in carseats to get donuts or something. I've heard that www.matchingmommies.com can find others nearby.

- Go online and find out what's going on within a 30 minute drive of your house. Play tourist when you can. From the reptile museum to the puppet museum, find stuff to do.

-Go out!! Window shopping in the mall, Friendlys for lunch, visit mom... just don't stay home, no matter how bad the weather is. All other things being equal, even a walk around the block (unless it's bitterly cold) will do wonders. Pile on the clothes and hit the back yard for 15 minutes. It will tire you both out and make you feel better.

- Forget spring cleaning. I do most of my serious cleaning in the fall and winter. I get into the closets and behind the fridge.