The cold weather is officially creeping in. We are seeing more chilly days than warm days. It won't be long before it's too cold to play outside for extended periods of time.
It's time to start getting the indoor activities ready for the kiddos so they can keep the boredom bug at bay and help you keep your sanity!
The one thing you should add to your "arsenal" of indoor play is a cookie sheet. Yup! A simple cookie sheet that you pick up the next time you do your grocery shopping or while taking a leisure walk around Target, where Target tells you what you need. And it's going to tell you need a cookie sheet.
Why a cookie sheet? It can be used for so many different types of indoor play. Both of my boys have a dedicated cookie sheet that they use for our various indoor play activities.
Activities you can use a cookie sheet for:
A base for magnetic tiles or to make a marble run maze!
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This is a lot of fun because depending on the style of magnet tiles you have, you can great different types of towers, marble mazes, or art designs.
STEM activities.
Grab some mini marshmallows and toothpicks and let your kids create a structure of their choice!
Gumdrops also make a great choice for this activity.
But you can use the leftover marshmallows for some hot cocoa! Yum!
Painting station for paper.
If the paint spills or your kiddo gets a little heavy-handed with their paints, it will seep through the the cookie sheet and not your table.
Perler Bead container.
This helps to keep them from rolling all over the place. I also give my boys a small bowl of beads because I'd rather have a small bowl knocked over instead of the entire container. I highly recommend a Perler bead sweeper as well! It makes collecting all the little beads that do escape easy peasy!
This also makes a great play space for Play-Doh because it can easily be picked up off the cookie sheet.
Frozen Ice Play
M&M love it when we freeze toys into ice, and they have to break the ice to get them. The cookie sheet helps contains the water and ice pieces.
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This activity is the most requested one in our house! M&M love picking out Lego guys to freeze and break out of the ice.
Indoor Snow Play
If you live in an area that sees snow, bring it indoors!
Or if you have a snowcone maker...MAKE YOUR OWN SNOW!
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This past year we tried snow painting as well as making our own indoor snowman!
Give your kiddo some watercolors and see what snowscapes they create!
We also rounded up the supplies to make our cookie sheet snowman.
This is a great way to play with the snow without getting too cold!
The cookie sheet contains all the melting snow.
I hope this helps to give you some fresh ideas on indoor play ideas for this winter season.
Let us know what other ways you plan to use a cookie sheet for this winter to help keep the kiddos busy!
