We are a very active family. We love to go to community events at the library, museums and the occasional laser bounce birthday party. Sadly the pandemic slowed down a lot of that for us. Libraries are closed for in person events and museums are not the same. I’m also pregnant with severe nausea, which is triggered by wearing a face mask so we’re limited to outdoor fun and whatever we can do at home. We have found some new indoor boredom busters for the household in the process, although we still employ some of the old ones.

I. Indoor Parkouring

Parkouring has become blown up with kids in the last two years. I don’t know if video games are what brought it to the forefront or what but it makes for great exercise and can easily be done at home with a “floor is lava” scenario by using pillows, stuffed animals, a gym mat and anything safe you want to throw in as an obstacle. Sometimes I’ll play a POV parkouring video from YouTube while they’re doing it to really get them in the mood. Motivational music is a great addition to the scene. Here is an example of my basic indoor parkouring setup. Please feel free to get fancier than me and do as much child proofing in the surrounding area as you need.

II. Indoor Snow

If there is a shortage of fresh snow in your area, I found a blizzard in a bucket kit at Michaels and my daughter has enjoyed it. It seems much easier to clean up than kinetic sand and her barbies and LOL dolls seem to enjoy having fresh snow to play with at home. There are also some science elements to it, which you can use to teach your kids if you’re feeling ambitious or they are at an age where they can understand.

III. Sewing

I got a kid friendly sewing kit off of poshmark because my youngest daughter has taken an interest in it. We didn’t actually end up making the stuffed animals that the sewing kits are meant for and instead ended up making Barbie clothes. One of the easiest ways to make Barbie clothes is also with your single socks. If you’re like me and frequently end up with lone socks, just save them for doll clothes. They make for easy Barbie dresses.

IV. Hexbugs on tracks

There’s also plenty of these on Poshmark, Target or the Hexbug website. They seem to entertain my kids for hours and you can either purchase a track for them or have them make their own track to play with the individual hexbugs.

V. Bath product making

Put the little elves to work making presents for grandparents and teachers. All of the ingredients needed are available in craft stores or online at iHerb. I have to admit that I have yet to perfect bath bomb making. The YouTube videos and blog recipes I’ve followed make it look so easy but the liquid measurements they recommend are always too much and I end up with expanding bath bombs. I’ve found that your best bet is to only mix the dry ingredients and then spray very small amounts of water onto the dry mix until you get the right sandy texture to place the bath bombs into the mold. If bath bombs are too complicated they can also just make bath salt mixes. We like to repurpose small pesto jars to reuse but most containers will work. Make sure you wash them out really well so the smell of food comes out. Sometimes leaving the jar with a few drops of dishwashing soap overnight helps. Once the jars are clean and dry, it will be a fun project for the kids to decorate them with acrylic paints or mod podge glue and glitter. For the bath salt mix, just use epsom salt, the contents of an herbal tea bag or any appropriate fresh herbs you may have such as mint and chamomile and lastly some food coloring to add a little color. The kids can mix the blend and pour it into their redecorated jars once they are dry.