MIGHTY KIDS

INSIDE PLAY: INSIDE PLAY:

HOW TO KEEP YOUR KIDS HOW TO KEEP YOUR KIDS ENTERTAINED ON INDOOR DAY ENTERTAINED ON INDOOR DAY

You can keep your kids entertained, distracted, and quiet during indoor days. All you need is a few common household items as props and a little creativity.

By J. L. Thompson

Not only is outside playtime good for kids, it is a needed respite for parents. Cold winter weather or rainy days can really be a challenge, with all that pent up energy turning young kids into nonstop bundles of destruction and noise. To keep them distracted without rotting their minds with an all day TV marathon, you need to learn some fun, entertaining indoor activities they can do. PAPER AIRPLANE RACES

Teach your kids how to fold different types of paper airplanes, and show them how each one flies a little differently than the others. Have them make their own paper airplanes and race them. See which ones go farthest, and which ones go fastest. Have them try to hit targets or make trick flights. They’ll have all the fun of throwing stuff around without any danger of breaking things. BUILD A BOX FORT

If you have some big empty boxes in your garage or basement, then clear out a big empty space on the floor and construct a box fort. Cut an entryway into the fort in one box. Cut a couple of other holes in the other walls, and match them up with holes cut into other boxes. Tape the boxes together with duct tape, so you have a few different rooms in the fort. Bonus points for drawing some lines on the outside with marker, to make it look like the fort is made out of stone, turning it into a castle. Your kids will probably be quietly busy for the remainder of the day. MAKE A THAUMATROPE

A thaumatrope is one of those simple old fashioned toys that young kids will find irresistibly interesting. All you need is a piece of paper, a straw, scissors, glue and colored pencils or pens. Cut out two small circles of paper an inch or two across. Draw a picture on one of them, and then draw another picture on the other one, something that goes along with the first one.

For instance, draw a fishbowl full of water on one side, and a fish on the other. Glue the two circles together, with an end of the straw between them. Once the glue dries, spin the straw so that the pictures on top rotate quickly. If your kids can rotate it quickly enough, the pictures will seem to merge, and the fish will appear in the fishbowl. Not only is this pretty neat to see, it is a good way to teach your kids about perception and optical illusions. PAPER BAG PLAYS

Fill some paper bags with various props, like sunglasses, toy jewelry, a ball, a watch and so forth. Give a bag to each kid, and have them make up characters for whatever props they got. Then have them put on a play with those characters. This will help develop their creativity and keep them quiet for hours, writing and dressing up.