How to Have More Fun with Your Kids in Winter

Recently it feels like all it's done is rain and while Christmas distracted us from the cold of winter it now seems to be really lingering with many of us looking for those early signs of spring. It can be easy to get a little cabin fever around this time of the year, even when your passionate about getting outdoors as much as possible it's just so cold that most head back inside after an hour which means we need to get creative when it comes to having fun as a family. Spending time with your children is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but between keeping on top of the house, work, the weather, things can gets in the way of making fun memories that will last a lifetime and even when we are all stuck inside it's easy to reach for the remote rather than connect over some fun activities so here are a few low budget ideas on having fun this winter.

Have an indoor Picnic

My boys absolutely love having picnics and get really excited when the weather becomes warmer and we can start to eat al fresco, but it doesn't have to be just a summer activity, why not bring it indoors and have a floor picnic? Have fun dressing everything up, get the pretty picnic blankets out, why not a teepee too? You can surprise your kids with their favourite treats and older children can even help in the kitchen with some baking and packing the food into the picnic basket, make a real event of it, it's always gone down well in our house, you can see some inspiration here 

Build a Fort

Its probably something you did as a child and building your own special fort or secret play den never gets old or boring so if you’re looking for a fun and cosy indoor activity then why not build a pillow fort? Use blankets, sheets, pillows and plenty of imagination that you can all climb into them snuggle inside whilst watching movies in your pyjamas.

If you want to make your blanket fort really special then buy soft toys at gund.co.uk to decorate it. You can also use these for extra imagination play, asking each child to tell a fort story about their favourite new cuddly friend.

Have a Reading Marathon

Instilling a love of reading in your children is important from a very early age. Reading is a life skill that is essential, and if your child loves books when they first begin to read then they will love books forever!

You might think that reading is a fairly solitary experience, but if you want to have fun with your kids and challenge them academically at the same time then why not create a family reading marathon? Create a list of books and then snuggle down to read them together. The challenge of getting to the end of the list will inspire them to keep reading, and talking about their reading is a wonderful way to engage your children.

Face painting and role-playing

Most kids love to dress up as their favourite characters so why not have a dress up day and get creative with it. If you have some face paints to hand than download a couple of easy tutorials from online and set up a little face painting station to get the role playing started. Popular styles are lions, cats, butterflies, knights and after the face painting you could also see what you have lying around to make a few hand made costume, cardboard boxes can be cut out into wings or a shield, imagination really is limitless.

Get outdoors

Of course despite the cold and wet weather we do aim to get out as much as possible so pile up the scooters and skateboards into the boot or dust off your bikes, make sure you have plenty of layers and warm coats and head out for an hour, the fresh air will do you all some good. Local countryside parks that have a cafe are a good idea as you can set out on a short walk before stopping for coffee to warm up and then heading back out again. It really is so easy to become very sedentary during the winter but the more you move and the more active you are the better you will all feel.