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Indoor Activities for Kids & Families When It’s Too Cold to Be Outside

Atta Girl Amy· Sponsored

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I’m sharing a list of 5 Indoor Activities for Kids and Families you can enjoy this winter in this post sponsored by McDonald’s. It’s all about creating #HappyFamilyMoments. All opinions are my own. Read my full disclosure here.

What do you do when it's too cold outside to play? Check out these 5 fun, inexpensive wintertime indoor activities for kids. #HappyFamilyMoments #ad
Brr. It’s cold outside. The winter weather definitely is putting a crimp on our family adventures, since we love spending time outdoors together at parks, community, festivals and just playing in the yard. But we’re not bears. We can’t just hibernate until spring.  We still want to get out and spend time together; we just have to be more creative about it this time of the year. Today, I’m excited to be partnering with McDonald’s and Cuties to talk about Happy Family Moments and provide a list of five fun, inexpensive indoor activities for kids and families.

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Visit a Museum Together

You’ve probably visited the local children’s museum and science center lots of times, and they’re still great places to go when weather turns cold. But why not expand your options and plan a family outing to a local museum that’s not specifically for kids? Your community is likely to have lots of museum options — like history, art, music, trains, automobiles, aviation and culture. Even if they don’t cater to kids, most museums have children’s programming and exhibits that will appeal to younger visitors.

Our family is planning a trip to the state art museum to view an exhibit on M.C. Escher, an artist my 9-year-old has studied in school and whose work my husband and I also enjoy. Our local community has many unique museum offerings, including auto racing, furniture, dolls and miniatures, a hands-on artist’s collaborative and the International Civil Rights Museum. I bet yours does, too, and all are great places for family outings.

Try Out Roller Skating (Or Rock Climbing or Bowling or a Trampoline Park)

When it’s cold or rainy out, it can be appealing to stay at home, bundle up and veg out on the couch. But too much hibernation can lead to cabin fever!  

What do you do when it's too cold outside to play? Check out these 5 fun, inexpensive wintertime indoor activities for kids. #HappyFamilyMoments #ad

The winter is a great time to get moving and try something different like roller skating, bowling, paint ball, indoor rock climbing or bouncing at the trampoline park. 

What do you do when it's too cold outside to play? Check out these 5 fun, inexpensive wintertime indoor activities for kids. #HappyFamilyMoments #ad 

I’m always surprised by how much fun we have when our family participates in one of these types of activities. And you may learn you have a hidden talent. Turns out I’m pretty good at laser tag and indoor archery!

Find an Indoor Playground

Sometimes kids just need to burn off some energy, especially if it’s too cold or dreary to play outside. That’s when you need to find an indoor playground — stat. Where we live, a company that sells playground equipment opens its showroom for playtime and parties. We love playing there. (We had my son’s birthday party there this year because our outdoor party plans kept getting rained out.) If you don’t have something like that where you live, head to the gym or the Y for a game of basketball or swimming. 

What do you do when it's too cold outside to play? Check out these 5 fun, inexpensive wintertime indoor activities for kids. #HappyFamilyMoments #ad

Or even easier, head to McDonald’s and let the kids play in the PlayPlace while you relax and surf on their free wi-fi.

What do you do when it's too cold outside to play? Check out these 5 fun, inexpensive wintertime indoor activities for kids. #HappyFamilyMoments #ad

After everyone is finished playing, you can treat them to a Happy Meal for lunch.

Visit an Old-School Arcade

When we visited the mountains recently, the 20-degree temperatures and blustery winds had us searching for fun and inexpensive indoor activities. We discovered an old-school arcade and pinball museum and had a blast feeding quarters into the machines and playing.

What do you do when it's too cold outside to play? Check out these 5 fun, inexpensive wintertime indoor activities for kids. #HappyFamilyMoments #ad

My husband really enjoys sharing some of his favorite arcade games from childhood with our son. I think it’s a lot more fun to play video games at an arcade than sitting on the couch.

Hang Out at the Library

When searching for wintertime indoor activities for kids and adults, don’t forget about your local library. It’s always fun to hang out and browse the stacks and pick books to bring home.

built in bookcases in child's bedroom Jackson's room

Many libraries also let you check out music, movies, ebook readers and electronics. Our library even has a 3D printer you can use while you’re there. Many libraries also offer crafts, games, story times, movie nights, community events and family activities on afternoons or weekends. Be sure to check the schedule for your local library.

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Comments

  1. A couple of weeks ago my kids and I got McDonald’s drive-thru and then went to the park for a picnic. The kids really enjoyed that! #HappyFamilyMoments

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  3. My #HappyFamilyMoments is when we are outside having fun in the snow sledding, skiing and having snow ball fights. We love enjoying the Winter time activities as a family!

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  7. One of our winter #HappyFamilyMoments was taking my grandkids to an indoor water park. We had a blast but they wore me out.

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  13. Our #HappyFamilyMoments involve any outdoor activity, going to the park, movies and definitely the restaurants.

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  19. Our #HappyFamilyMoments recently came when we had a big snowstorm and were able to play board games and watch it snow.

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  25. Our #HappyFamilyMoments are going on family bike rides to the park.
    Thanks for the chance to win!

    wildorchid985 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  27. My #HappyFamilyMoment is spending time together when school is off. We can truly be free and not to worry homework or book reports! LOL…

    amy [at] utry [dot] it

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    • Oh yes, those homework free days are glorious! We’re gearing up to do a big report soon, and I am not looking forward to it.

      Reply

  36. My #happyfamilymoments occur when we are eating dinner! We love to cook together or go out to eat. We love to go on road trips as well.

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  39. Some of our #HappyFamilyMoments are when we play board games, watch movies and have family sleepovers. The kids choose the activities we do and the treats we eat. We all have fun.

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  41. This is so awesome! Pinned and tweeted. Thanks for sharing this at our party! I always love your amazing creations. I hope to see you next Monday because we love to party with you! Happy Wenesday! Lou Lou Girls

    Reply

  44. A good winter day is one that is warm enough so that we can build a snowman without freezing to death. Snowball fights give us a chance to let off some steam.

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  49. My favorite #HappyFamilyMoments are on Sundays. That is my husband’s only day off from work. We always go out to eat somewhere with my daughter.

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  50. Just spending time together particularly outdoors. Since it’s winter my favorite is snow walks. Late night walks in the snow where we bundle up and pull out flashlights to shine the way.

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  52. Our #HappyFamilyMoments have involved some of the activities you have listed on your post. My kids love the trampoline house and my son actually has a birthday party at one later today! During the winter months we also love to snuggle around the TV to watch movies. I sometimes get movies from the library that I grew up watching, its fun to share them with the kids.

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  54. I take the kids to McDonalds every once and a while, so for our #HappyFamilyMoments, they are few, but when there, have a good time in the play area; the food has gotten a lot healthier.

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  65. I sure wish we had one of those trampoline places near us – that would be so much fun!! These are all great ideas! Thank you for sharing with us at the #HomeMattersParty

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  67. My #happyfamilymoments are when we play card games around the holidays as a family. We love to have fun and we are super competitive!!

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  68. These are perfect ideas for Winter time! Saving for when my nephews visit in the colder months again. Thanks so much for linking up with us in the #BestoftheBlogosphere link-up!

    Reply

  71. My #HappyFamilyMoments are anytime that I can spend with my kids and grandkids no matter where we are at. We love to go to the park, cabin at the lake, waterfront at the river, a BBQ in the backyard or eating at a restaurant. We just get really silly and have lots of fun.

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  74. My #HappyFamilyMoments are times that I can spend with my parents and brother but it never really matters where we go or what we do, just that we are together.

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  79. Thanks so much for the great ideas! We just went to Rebounderz (trampoline park) for our #HappyFamilyMoments. It was a really great bonding moment for the whole family. Other nights we love to pull out the family games like operation, monopoly, pie in the face, and JENGA!

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  82. We love our local McDonald’s. It has a play place and my son asks to go there at least once a week! We usually make it there a few times a month so he can play. I also like it because they have a toddler/baby are that my baby can play in as well! It’s always a #HAPPYFAMILYMOMENTS

    Reply

  84. One of my #happyfamilymoments is taking my kids to the book sale at the library and to their yearly performances

    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  85. How I wish McDonalds would get a veggie burger. sigh. hahaha! That said, as a vegetarian, the only meal I can eat there is breakfast and that excludes tons of things. Basically biscuits and pancakes are my only options. I do remember when they used to sell really good cheese pizza. My partner and I used to eat there ALL the time back in the day. Lots of #HappyFamilyMoments back in the 1990s! hahahaha

    Reply

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