I am looking for inexpensive things to do around the house this winter with my kids. There six and under and we don't have much money. Please offer any ideas you can. Thanks

-- melinda burleson-gilbert (speciallady@countrylife.net), October 05, 2001

Answers

Melinda I hear you! Being at home with small children can be tough but the hours are worth it in the long run. What I always did even when my kids were very little was have a fairly set routine. We would have breakfst and they would help clean their rooms. And maybe help with some little chores. Even my littlest could put laundry in their basket. when chores were done, we would play school. even a one year old can hold a crayon and make marks. This way they think school is fun and the cost can be very little. Use scrap paper and make worksheets or just let them draw, do ABC's etc. There are so many good sites now to find coloring sheets. My kids would also help me bake, (3 and up), make homemade paints and play-doh, take walks even on cool days kids need to get outside. Read stories or get videos from the library as a special treat if you have television. Can you join or start a once a week play group. I did when the kids were little and still have one at our library even though my kids are all in school. I know our days were always busy. My kids loved to play with building toys and most we found at yard sales. My son would build with scrap wood for hours. Really you can just let the kids be with you doing whatever you are doing most of the time. They learn so much just by watching you.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 05, 2001.

They can always visit grandma:~}

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony@countrylife.net), October 05, 2001.

I don't know if you will be snowbound, but my son LOVES playing in the dirt. He will move earth for hours, piling here, kicking it down, starting over. When finished, he looks like a dirt clod that has come to life.

-- j.r.guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), October 05, 2001.

When my oldest was 4-6 years old, he was already beginning to show some talent with electronics. We gave him a section of the basement where he was given old tape players, stereos, and other gizmos to take apart. One tape player he actually fixed at the age of four. He is now 13 and building his own computers with spare parts.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 05, 2001.

My DH set up a picnic in front of the fireplace one cold winter day that had our 3 sons asking us to do that every time it got to cold to go outside. Sometimes they even invited their friends or other extended family members would join us for a "winter picnic." We put canvas on the floor to protect it and had hot dogs and chips and potato salad and played games. Crazy 8's, go to the dump. and other board games.

-- Jenn (normaj3@countrylife.net), October 05, 2001.

Get some of those old fashioned loop pot holder kits. My son did these when very small, I'd finish the edge and it was a great gift! Taffy pull...make cookies.

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), October 06, 2001.

My oldest likes to cut up newspapers and catalogs and paste the articles and pictures on blank paper to make his own newspapers. Also, think toilet paper rolls! Megaphone, telescope, microphone, two makes binoculars, ten and some scissors and glue make a castle ( and a fine mess) twenty and 99cent knit cap and you've got a Halloween costume... o.k., maybe I'm stretching a bit there, but you get the gist. How far are you from the library? Ours is quite good, though we never seem to make 10 o'clock reading hour; too early for three kids and breakfast and a half hour drive, for me anyway. Good luck!

-- gilly (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), October 09, 2001.

Old refrigerator boxes can be cut on top like castle. Child helps to paint "bricks" with a sponge and leftover paint. Then think of all the play things that go with medieval castles: horses, play swords, you get the idea....Get some library books with pictures of castles and swords to go with it. I used to be a home day care person and did a new thing each week that had lots of other ties. Snacks were tied in and usually they helped to make them (montessori style). They counted out the number of pieces/spoonfuls etc.. and helped to wash their own dish/clean their own place.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 10, 2001.

One winter when we had 2 extra young children living with us, I gave them all old magazines and let them cut out their favorite pictures and then paste them on paper. The paper had punched holes and we put them in 3 ring binders for their scrapbooks. They would sit at the table for HOURS, day after day, working on these. It was even therapeutic for them, I think, helping them all to cope with the changes. They were ages 8, 6, & 5. They even made one for the 3 yr old to look at. Scrapbooks of some kind are a tradition going back generations in my family. Have friends & family bring you their unwanted magazines. Have fun!

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), October 12, 2001.