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Staring wistfully at the outside world (and snow) which we didn't venture out into for a few days

I think everyone feels it to some extent, but from January to March each year I'm in a funk.   And of course, the illnesses that fly around don't help things - the stomach bug or a chest cold can leave you and the kids stuck in the house for days on end.  This happened to us last week - my 4-year-old got a mild stomach bug.   I say "mild" because we've had some doozies and this one lasted only 24 hours.  Still, I'm such a freak with the stomach thing that I didn't feel it right to leave the house for 48 hours beyond the last time he got sick. 

So that left us with many days at home, which I think is pretty hard this time of year.  I was on a mission to find some good activities for us to do so the three of us weren't climbing the walls by the end of the day.

Since my kids aren't big on tv, that's not the best option for us.  The day he was sick, he did watch a fair amount but after that, he had just no interest.  And since everyone's always looking for ideas to do with their kids in the winter, I thought I'd share some of what we did:

Once he was well, we made cookies.  He just loves to cook.  I had gotten some sugar cookie mix, frosting and some pink sprinkles and Valentine's Day theme cake embellishments.  The toddler ran around while my 4-year-old and I mixed, cooked and then frosted and decorated the cookies.  He was so proud and each cookie was for someone in the family. 

We played a lot of board games. His favorites are many of the iSpy games, iSpy Bingo and iSpy Eagle Eye.  He also loves Zingo (a kids version of Bingo, so fun)

Crafts.  I ran to Michael's one of the nights when my husband was home and I got a bunch of holiday-related crafts.  We made Valentine's Day houses out of foam, and even decorated some shamrocks (it may be a little early for it but he doesn't care!)

Computer games. PBS Kids, Playhouse Disney and Nick Jr. all have great games for preschoolers. 

Lots of book reading.  And on an especially cold day, we had hot chocolate afternoon.  I got a bag of marshmallows and they kept the kids entertained for a good hour. 

Lastly, I also got a big plastic container of 50 markers.  My hubby of course complained that we didn't need any more markers, but it was something fresh and both kids loved playing with the new markers and colored for hours.

If you have favorite indoor activites that you do with your kids, I'd love to hear them!