Indoor energy burners for toddlers?

[Kymberley]

Today is miserable out, tomorrow will be worse. 40 degrees with 40 mph wind gusts and rain. *shiver* DS is the type of child that if he's not outside for several hours each day, he's a little hellion. I say that lovingly. ;) With cold weather coming, I'm going to need more ideas to keep him busy. I got a "bag of balls" from WalMart (100 count) and put them in his pack n play for a mini ball pit. That kept him busy for about 20 minutes. He loves books and puzzles, but that doesn't burn the energy needed to keep him (and me) sane. We dance quite a bit, but he likes to be held a lot for that, so I'm the one that burns the calories most often. What are your tried and true indoor energy burners? :D

[chlobo]

Do you have a trampoline. They make ones that fold up and have a handle to hold onto. My kids loved it when they were toddlers. Just be sure to get one that doesn't have music. So annoying after a while.

[Kymberley]

Do you have a trampoline. They make ones that fold up and have a handle to hold onto. My kids loved it when they were toddlers. Just be sure to get one that doesn't have music. So annoying after a while.

Ooo, good idea! I'll look into that, thanks!

[lalasmama]

An obstacle course! Pillows to jump on/in to... couch cushions to climb, a chair-and-sheet fort/tunnel to climb through, a small tower of blocks to jump over... maybe a stuffed animal that needs help dancing....

Home made (edible) play dough. I hate play dough. DD :heartbeat:s it like nothing else... so I deal with it on occasion, and make it. She loves playing with it when it's warm.

[hillview]

I make obstical courses. I make them do a bootcamp of exercise. I race them. Set up a fort. Show them new dance moves. Play duck duck goose. Hide and seek. Play tag. Scavender hunt. Anything timed -- you have 30 seconds to find 4 books.

[sidmand]

We bought a mini trampoline for DS when he was around that age and also had a (smaller) bounce house because he SO needs to get his energy out. We still have them to this day although the indoor bounce house has increased in size over time!

The trampoline is just one of the small exercise ones with a handle. It was much less expensive than the official kids' trampoline.

[wellyes]

Love our mini trampoline. I also take the kids to our gym. There's a family-only pool there, plus they have a tumbling room with mats and bolsters to jump around on.

[jenfromnj]

You've gotten some great suggestions! My DS is the same way, so I really feel your pain!

Not sure where you're located, but we have a bunch of different bounce places/indoor playground type places around here. They're not very expensive, and I've managed to get half off deals for many of them on various deal of the day sites. There's also a local church that opens up their (huge) basement for the winter and has masses of toys/toddler climbing equipment/trampolines there, and charges a reasonable fee for a full-season "membership". Maybe check around and see if there's anything like that in your area?

[mousemom]

Not sure how old your son is, but our son loved his Fisher Price Bounce and Spin Zebra. We got it used on Craigslist and definitely got our money's worth out of it. At almost 3 (but on the low end of the growth chart), he's just now outgrown it. (But he still loves it, so we haven't actually put it away yet.)

[newg]

we have some indoor play places near us...with swing sets, trampolines, bouncy houses....where you can pay a fee to play......and a few times a week they offer free play time too.

we usually make forts out of pillows and chairs.
I'll make mountains for DD to climb.
We've also made a treasure map and we'll play pirates, treking all over the house in search of treasure......I make DD lead so she's the one showing me how to jump over the rocks, walk the skinny bridge, avoid the pricker bushes....and I usually just walk through ;0)
I also got a hopscotch rug that I'm going to give the DDs for Christmas, so we can play inside.