What to do with Grandchildren when it’s too cold to go outside

Visiting grandchildren need to be entertained. Our usual go-to is to be outside. We couldn’t do it for too long this time. So, we had to be creative.

Our grandsons, 6 and 3, visited right after the new year. By that time, our snow was gone. But so were the warmer temperatures that took the snow away. The biting wind was back.

The frigid temperatures didn’t deter the boys. At first.

As our grandsons dragged their snow pants around the house, looking out the windows at our brown yard and naked woods, they decided they wanted to hunt for tree frogs. We had successfully done this at one of their summer visits. They wanted to dig for “wigglers,” worms in my frozen mulch pile, like we did in the summer before we went fishing at the lake.

“Sorry boys,” I told them. “The frogs and worms are hibernating. It’s wintertime.”

“Are you sure, Nana?” The six-year-old asked.

Hope shone in his face. He wanted me to be wrong. “I’m sure, sweetheart.”

The boys were crushed. An entire day lay before us.

I suggested we go see if the eagle at the Brodhead Creek Heritage Center was home.  

The three-year-old said he’d rather play with the toys I brought up from the basement by the crackling fire in our fireplace.

“Besides,” the six-year-old said. “We can watch the birds at your bird feeder.”

He was right. The tufted titmouse and red-bellied woodpeckers fought over the bird feeder constantly.

“How about we check out our lake to see if it’s frozen?” I asked. With temperatures in the 50’s last week, I doubted it.

“No,” the six-year-old said.

“We could dress warmly and drive to the lake,” I said. “What do you think?”

We finally convinced the six-year-old to come with me and my daughter. Pop stayed home with the little guy to build blocks.

The lake was partially frozen. We threw heavy rocks chiseled out of the frozen ground with our boots to try and break the thinner ice. It worked.

We plucked frozen cattails along the banks of the lake. The six-year-old fuzzed off puffy seeds as he scrubbed his ski glove across the tail. The dancing wind blew the “wish-ys” right into our watering eyes.

A beautiful pair of mallard ducks came to visit our side of the lake. I guess they thought we had food for them—even though it says not to feed the ducks because they become dependent on humans feeding them.

The bitter wind painted our faces red in minutes. Our noses ran. It was time to return home for hot cocoa with mini-marshmallows.

It was only 10:15 a.m. The boys had us up by 6:30. They had helped Pop make homemade pancakes.

We had already played dominoes, drew with colored pencils, put together puzzles, and built “fortresses” across the floor of my archways between the living room and the kitchen and dining room with Legos. We needed to give “the secret password,” which the boys never told us, in order to gain access to the rooms.

Then we had an idea. My daughter and I gave the boys cloth bags and told them to choose five toys from the pile they made in the living room, and we would hide them for the boys. They chose the room, and each needed to look only for his toys.

We did go outside for a short time to hunt for acorns in our woods. In the afternoon. When it was a balmy 10 degrees with the wind chill. Yes! We had to chisel the acorns off the frozen ground so the boys could put them in a small bucket to bring inside. They wanted to see if acorns would “pop” in the fireplace. We tried it. If the acorns did pop, it was very quiet. We could only put two acorns in the fireplace because the six-year-old wanted to bring the rest home to show his friends.

When it is too cold to go outside for any length of time with young children, you need to be creative and invent new games to keep their interests and engage with them personally. Do you have any tips to engage young children when you can’t go outside? Please share them here at Camping with Five Kids. It’s truly appreciated. May your new year be filled with health and adventures.