It is usually cold in the Winter, but sometimes it gets really cold. You know what I mean. The “not going out in this unless I have to” cold. If you are an active family, you may find yourself suddenly bored and trying to figure out what to do together in your home. Of course there is always the Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime binge. But there are also other things you can do that back in the day people did as a family but have fallen out of popularity. Here are some ideas of things you can try doing in your house with some tea or hot chocolate.
Unless you are very young, you probably have some board games around the house covered in dust. Monopoly, Risk, Clue, Hungry Hungry Hippo, Scrabble, Chess, Checkers, Yahtzee – there are a lot of options and these were so fun before everyone got sucked permanently into their phones.
- No board games? How about cards? Rummy, Texas Hold’um, Go Fish – depends on the age of your kids but cards are a lot of fun and can teach critical skills and strategy.
Another option is art and crafts. Maybe you have not done them since you were a young child, but there is something therapeutic and fun about sitting and sketching or painting. If you have the stuff, you could always build a birdhouse in anticipation of Spring, or just do a mosaic of stuff you have around the house.
- Start learning a language – I know this sounds a bit out there but with online systems such as Babel, you can start learning a language for free. Planning a trip this Summer? Why not use these cold times to start the family down a linguistic journey.
- Maybe less of a group project and more a good way to spend some solo time is to start writing the book you always talk about. Lots of people think about it but indoor months are the perfect time to turn off the TV and start putting pen to paper. It is actually easy to publish your own book on Create Space, a service of Amazon.
- Declutter a room – OK, maybe not fun but think of how good it will feel when you have gone through the junk drawer or cleaned out a closet. If you are going to be inside anyway you can always do this now so when it is nice you can be out hiking or swimming.
Yes, it might be too cold to be doing a lot of outside things for anyone other than die-hard outdoorsy types, but this can be a very positive time to have fun, connect with your family and get some useful things done. Enjoy the cold.
