When your children are stuck inside all day, there are things you can do to keep kids entertained while you keep your sanity.
If you're home for the day, or a few days, here are a few things you can do to stay entertained without going crazy or running up your data plans.
Do some family-friendly baking:
One way to keep kids occupied is with a slew of simple cooking tasks (cracking eggs, manning the mixing bowl) and the promise of sweets.
Cooking Light has a roundup of "kid-friendly desserts," including gluten-free s'more bars, chewy caramel apple cookies and more. If you run through that list, the Food Network has another.
And not having kids is no reason not to bake: for company, just sub in the closet available roommates, family, friends or pets. (This advice applies to the rest of the list.)
Check out these party games:
Jackbox's Drawful is a bizarre twist on Pictionary: players score points not just for drawing the best possible version of, say, "angry ants"; but also for getting other players to guess their answer for a given drawing instead of the correct one.
Drawful comes packaged as part of the Jackbox Party Pack and is available to buy and download here, and is compatible with the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Amazon Fire TV and others. All you need to play is a phone, tablet or controller.
But if you're feeling more competitive and less artistic, consider QuizUp. Available for both iPhone and Android. This competitive trivia app pits two players against each other in seven rounds of questions in one of several hundred different categories, including pop culture and academia. And it's free.
Get crafty:
Create a crafting area in your home. Fill it with crafting materials like tape, paper and boxes. When inspiration strikes your child, they can create fun things in their own "workshop."
Get clever:
At night, kids' imaginations can light up. A trip to the bathroom with a flashlight can become an adventure, and reading stories by candlelight will stick with them more than just another movie night.
Get ahead of a power outage:
Stock up on glow sticks. Kids can really have fun with these simple light sticks. Once you crack them, they provide a bright light for up to 12 hours and a dim light for as long as 36 hours. They come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colors, and can provide hours of fun for children.
Build a fort:
Kids love building forts just for fun anyway. Gather up pillows and blankets, and plan on moving some furniture around to help your little ones build the perfect fortress. You can even make it more like an adventure. Plan to snuggle in for the night, and maybe tell a few ghost stories, too.
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