PLAY the cabin fever AWAY!!

You might live in an area that spring has already sprung, but for many families, we still have weeks of winter to make it through!  My family has been feeling the winter blues and these activities have been lifesavers for us.  If you’re still fighting through winter, here’s some ideas to play the cabin fever away.

Getting Started: Sing a Song & Dance Along!

I’ll admit normally I like singing and playing with my kiddos, but this mama is TIRED of being stuck inside all winter and I need YouTube’s help to entertain.  These YouTube songs have brought my family a lot of joy the last few weeks!  Dance along to help bring some sanity back to your day.

• Koo Koo Kanga Roo - Rollercoaster https://youtu.be/4jxqSHOad18
• GoNoodle - Maxerena  https://vimeo.com/431471727
• GoNoodle - Chicken Dance https://youtu.be/kiK0QvDtoWU

Gather Round: Read a Book!

I’m daydreaming of spring and summer and fresh life that comes this time of year!! Here are a few books that make me laugh or are spring-inspired books to share with your kiddo.

• The HICCUPotamus by Aaron Zenz
• The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Story by Jan & Mike Berenstain
• What Sounds Fun to You? By Annie F Downs
• Curious George Goes Camping by Margret & H.A.Rey
• We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines
• Lucy Ladybug by Sharon King-Chai

Let’s Get Creative: Scavenger Hunts!

These have been a HUGE hit with my four year old recently.  Create a scavenger hunt with a prize at the end - the prize could be a snack, a book to share, the tv remote to watch a show, a dollar spot item, anything!  Here's a few tips I've learned to help with your scavenger hunts, and a downloadable sample to help get you started!

• Make one scavenger hunt using one piece of colored paper so that you can reuse the hunt later and you’ll know which clues go to which scavenger hunt! I typically cut a standard paper into 8 or 10 pieces for clues.
• When writing out your clues, write on a corner of the paper what clue number this is and where the clue will be hidden so that it’s easy to walk them all to their locations at once. Your first clue won’t have a location, and then the second clue you’d write down where it was hidden, not where the current clue will lead to.  Make sense? Then, you can walk them all to their locations instead of trying to figure out your own scavenger hunt as you’re hiding clues!

• Criss-cross your clues across the house to make the hunt last longer!  Find a good spot to sit as a home base so your kiddos can run to find clues and bring them back for you to read to them!  Or, if your kiddos are already readers, this is a great activity to keep them busy so you can get a little done!
• Give your clues a little variety with rhymes, compliments or riddles to keep it entertaining for your kiddo.
• Save the clues so you can do the same hunt again!  We have three different scavenger hunts going right now, but the clues are easy to hide differently even if the clue is the same.  For example, “Go help mom unload the dishwasher,” is a clue that could be hidden in the silverware sorter, in a cup on the top shelf, in between two plates, under a magnet on the front of the dishwasher, etc.

Tastes Like Spring: Blueberry Bread

We live in Alaska and one of our family traditions is to harvest wild blueberries in the late summer and early fall.  My kiddos seem to think “harvest” means “eat as you go” but we still manage to save some for the freezer!  My absolutely favorite thing to do with these summer berries is save them for winter when I’m longing for spring.  I always bake them into this loaf of bread and it is an easy enough recipe your kids can follow along!  Note: If you're using store bought blueberries, you'll need to decrease the amount of blueberries included as it will be too much berry to bread ratio & will make your bread really dense. Happy Baking!! 

Ingredients: 

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup salted butter

2 eggs

1 Tbsp Vanilla

1 cup milk

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup blueberries

Directions: Mix sugar, butter and eggs.  Add vanilla & milk.  Add flour & baking powder.  Carefully fold in blueberries without mixing too much! (Or else you will end up with purple bread!) Bake at 350* for 75 minutes.

At Bannor Toys, we’re so grateful for you!!  If you play away cabin fever using these activities, we’d love to see!! Share online and tag us at #bannortoys or @bannortoys.