Home from school or work? How to entertain yourself and your kids

Being stuck indoors: Dropping temperatures plus precipitation often means icy and undrivable roads -- which means no school for kids. Sometimes, such "snow days" can go on for days, leaving a house full of stir-crazy parents and children (and pets). If that sounds like you, we have a handy guide for how to entertain yourself and your kids.

Credit: Shalom Ormsby/Blend Images/MCT

Credit: Shalom Ormsby/Blend Images/MCT

Being stuck indoors: Dropping temperatures plus precipitation often means icy and undrivable roads -- which means no school for kids. Sometimes, such "snow days" can go on for days, leaving a house full of stir-crazy parents and children (and pets). If that sounds like you, we have a handy guide for how to entertain yourself and your kids.


Many families already find themselves home from work and school for the day when bad weather arrives.

So if you're home for the day -- with our without kids -- here are a few things you can do to stay entertained (and warm).

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 in bad weather: 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 clever -- and crafty:

The AJC's Helena Oliviero suggests hosting a temporary black out. "Turn off lights, smartphones, iPads and other gadgets. When the house goes dark, kids' imaginations light up. A trip to the bathroom with a flashlight becomes an adventure, and reading stories by candlelight will stick with them more than just another movie night."