How to survive cabin fever with a toddler!!!!

Cabin Fever!!!
(2/8/10)

So we have officially been stuck in our house for 4 days now and although that doesn't seem that bad, add a 2 1/2 year old to the mix and WOW!!!

So I have been checking out all of the other blogs that I read for ideas and I have also been reading through a book that another blog mom suggested (The Toddlers Busy Book) and there are some great ideas of cheap and free things to do with a kid from 1.5-3 year old range. Here are a few things we have done to keep our sanity!

By the way....they are calling for 8-10 inches tomorrow night into Wednesday and we aren't plowed out from the last one yet!!! OH BROTHER!!!

So one of the things in the "Toddler Busy Book" was to "Paint the Snow"....Jacob just loved this. He ended up having Green, Red, and Blue colored water but Mommy was too cold to stay out with him, plus his little brother woke up from his nap so I only got this one pic of his coloring the snow green! This was just food coloring and water in a spray bottle...cheap and he LOVED IT!


Next we made a Valentines Day craft. A lot of the other Mom's blogs that I read (in the left column) have been making Valentine Sun Catchers. They are made by taking clear contact paper in which you cut out into the shape of a heart and then you get your toddler to rip up pieces of tissue paper. I taped the heart onto the window and Jacob stuck all of the pieces of tissue paper onto the sticky side of the contact paper. You then take another piece of contact paper cut into a heart and "sandwich" it together. I had to trim up the edges, and then you get the below picture!


Is there a toddler alive that doesn't love to play in the water? I think Jacob has played in the kitchen sink every single day that we have been snowed in, and it looks like we are going to get snowed in for a few more days! Luckily I have the "learning tower" that allows him to safely stand at the sink and not fall.

The final craft we did this weekend was to paint on the windows. I had bought some window chalk from the store last week, but the "Busy Toddler Book" gives directions on how to make your own window paint. I of course painted this little beauty as a way to remind myself that soon we will be able to go outside and not freeze to death! This evening I am going to wash this off and let Jacob continue to scribble all over the door with the paint!

Of course in addition to these things we have read a lot of books, watched cartoons, and played with toys!