It’s still February, sigh, and we woke up to snow. Cabin fever is definitely a probable situation for most of us. Hygge definitely helps with that. Here is another thing to help. I’m sharing today about ways to entertain children indoors. Even though my youngest child is 14, I’m still interested in the topic of how to entertain children, as I teach two weekly classes for children under 12 at my homeschool co-op. My co-mentors and I hope to do more than entertain the children, we also aspire to educate them. I always want the class to be fun and educational, so these ideas will help. My grandchildren visit me more than once a week so I’m always thinking about what do with them when they come. My goal is to read at least one picture book and play at least one game with them. We actually did three picture books last week, played with our family’s wooden train set, and played two games, so that was a success!
I also love the super-sized Bates family, of whom Erin Bates Paine, is a part of. So, I love that Erin shared a video last fall of “Top 5 Ways to Entertain Kids.” I’ve listed the 5 things below, and at the very bottom of this post I put the video.
#1. Audiobooks. Erin specifically mentions the Your Story Hour series. I discovered these when my children were young, and yes, they are a bit cheesy, but I still like them. I used to get them from the public library. If I were to do it over again, I would definitely invest in them to keep. You can find these on amazon, or at the website yourstoryhour.org.
I also recommend these other two resources:
-Jim Weiss’s stories. Jim is a master storyteller. He has recordings that span lots of topics, including history, fables, fairy tales, classics, and more! Go here to learn more.
-Adventures in Odyssey from Focus on the Family, here.
-Focus on the Family Radio Theatre here. On a magical glorious day about seven years ago, I found the FOF Narnia set while thrifting in Phoenix, AZ. All the books in the Narnia series, dramatized with different voices and orchestral music. It was brand new, still in the shrink-wrap! So, no scratches on the CDs. What a treasure! My son is listening to it now! I love these!
My children would never sit still like Erin’s in the photo above to listen to CDs, LOL. I would have been afraid to leave the CD player on the floor in the same room with them! Maybe because I had 5 active boys! Any invitation to sit on the floor quietly would have ended in a wrestling match. I kept a CD player in the kitchen so we could listen to things while doing kitchen chores. If playing in the family room, I would play CDs on the computer and let them play with Legos, Tinkertoys, or other building toys while they listened. My daughter has the Yoto system for audiobooks, a sturdy audio file player, but she says she always forgets to keep the thing charged, so that’s just another step for her to do before her children can use it. So now she wants an “old-fashioned” CD player which she is going to get while thrifting, if she remembers. She keeps forgetting to look when she goes.
#2. Magnatiles. I saw these at my sister’s home over ten years ago and loved them so much I got a set. I couldn’t bear the thought of paying over $80 (the price on amazon at the time for a basic set) so I bought a knock-off called Picasso Tiles for $50. My set gets regular use from the children in my co-op class and from my grandbabies. Like Erin says, these can be pricey but so worth it. She says to look for them on sale on Black Friday. They last forever so they are definitely something to invest in with Christmas and birthday gift money. I love that so many fancy expansions/add-ons exist, with themes, like farm or city, or the marble run set. One boy in my class at co-op went through a phase for about four years where these were are all he wanted for Christmas.
#3. Sensory Bins
Erin says her kids looooove these items. She gets them from this company here. I had never heard of such a thing but now that I know about them, I want to make some for my grandsons. My mind is going wild with the possibilities of themes like animals or baking or construction vehicles. These would go so well with the Spark Station/Closet, which I talk about over here. You can go over here to learn how to make your own. My number one use for these would be when I would want to read aloud to children from chapter books and want them listening and keeping hands busy.
#4. Paper Crafts
This is a sweet idea but I can see that it might not work for all children. Not all children like to draw. Erin says her children love to draw buildings and people and cut them out and make towns out of them. I know Erin’s oldest child loves to draw, he probably set the example for his younger sisters to love drawing, so I can see that this would work for them.
#5. Favorite Shows as a Family
Erin says they only watch screens about once a week or every other week. They only watch character-building shows, shows about God, so I’m assuming she means scripture-themed shows, or something about nature. Owlegories is one of the shows she mentions. You can get the rest of her five recommended shows at the end of this video below, around the 10:13 mark.
Tree of Life Mothering 