Indoor fun ideas

Don’t get me wrong—we need yucky weather. Not only does the rain help our plants grow, but the cool weather kills off the bugs that bother us all summer long—and I absolutely love those icky days that make you want to snuggle under a blanket or even stay in bed. I could list the benefits of icky weather all day long. But when you have growing children who get restless—heck, we adults get restless too, sometimes!—you need some good ideas for having fun on icky days.

This past week, we went to a fun mall in the St. Louis area with our friends H and B. We celebrated Wood Sprite’s birthday—which is actually this coming Sunday—a little early with rides on a train and carousel, viewing the St. Louis Blues practice (Sprite now proclaims that she wants to play hockey professionally instead of baseball), playing at the play place and some light shopping. We also took her to glow-in-the-dark mini golf and use her birthday coupons for ice cream and a pretzel. The kid had a pretty fun day and between all of the coupons I had signed up for, it didn’t cost much at all.

We also like to go bowling, to the theater or one of two local bounce houses when the weather’s not great for playing outside. And sometimes we just like to stay in and make things together; last night, for example, Wood Sprite and I journaled and watched Night at the Museum, which she loved. What do you and your family do when you need something fun to do indoors?

Photo courtesy of Wood Sprite