Inside Out is a concept I try to implement a lot. Being a stay at home mom who home schools, I spend a lot of time with my little ones. So I am always trying to figure out new and creative things to keep them occupied. As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time on Pinterest boards and Googling fun activities to keep them occupied. I am usually able to find something fun and cool to do with them, but honestly sometimes this can become time consuming and depending on the activity expensive. On those days when I don't feel like going to the store or being super creative, but I do want to do something fun with the girls, I think of "Inside Out".
This is a super simple concept that I try to keep in mind. My girls are still really young, 3, 4 and 8 months, so they are really easy to impress. This may not work with older kids but my little ones always have a ball. All Inside Out is, if there is an activity that you would normally do in the inside of the house, do it outside. Similarly, if there is an activity that you normally do outside, do that inside the house. I know you are thinking, that is just way too simple. But honestly my kids love it! Maybe its the change of scenery or the excitement of just doing something new and different, either way I have gotten quite a few, "You are the best mom ever!", after implementing this simple strategy.
One very easy thing is, eating outside. My kids LOVE to eat outside on nice days. I have to feed them anyway, so when we are able to, we will have out lunch outside. We will either grab a blanket and have lunch out in the yard or on the patio. I might even grab some fancy glasses or straws (my kids love to drink out of those colorful bendy straws) and then it really becomes a party! Really any slight deviation from our normal routine tends to put an exciting smile across their face.
On rainy days, or days when its cold out I try to bring the outdoors in. We do things like play tag or hide and go seek. Its also fun to try different variations of tag. Instead of running, the girls may crawl around so that we can get my 8 month old involved. We have also did things such as leaf prints. Using items such as rocks or sticks also works well. We just simply take a small paint brush, paint the item and then we press them on either copy or construction paper, to create really cool prints.
Sometimes it really is just this simple. It doesn't always take well planned and thought out activities to keep your children entertained. There are times when they really just have a fun time playing with the box your new dishwasher came in. lol. What I will say is, if you have those days when your creative juices aren't flowing or you just want to do something simple. Try keeping this simple concept in mind "Inside Out" and see what you come up with!
