NOW CLOSED Please come and tell Cathedral City's Chedds your best winter-afternoon child-wrangling tips – you could win a Nintendo DS

[NewGirlHelenMumsnet]

Hello. We've been asked by the folks at Chedds, the new kids' cheese snacking brand from Cathedral City, for your top tips on keeping your DCs happy, active and entertained as the colder, darker, altogether-grimmer winter weather sets in.

Do you hunker down inside and get creative with glue and paint? Do you dig out the board games or let them at the computer? Or perhaps you wrap everyone up in weatherproofs and get 'em outside, no matter what? Do you plan ahead for windy/rainy weekend diversions? Or do you just go with the (blustery, increasingly sodden) flow?

Do please post your finest tips here. Everyone who does so will be entered into a prize draw to win a Nintendo DS for their family.

Please note that some of the tips posted here will be published on the Chedds pages on Mumsnet in due course.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Waterproofs and out in the muddy puddles.
I have previously capitalised on the fact that mine were too young to read the time and therefore didn't know when they were being chucked into bed early, they still had that dark = bedtime mentality. Think this is the last year though.

Like the racing track idea, glad you put the leather sofa warning up!

My 2 1/2 year old loves to make a camp in the dining room using a clothes horse, blanket and loads of cushions.

Arts and crafts or baking cakes always goes down well too.

Some time outside, whatever the weather - but then coming home to a warm house, cocoa and some treats! We love playing board games too.

We go and feed the ducks and collect conkers and acorns, leaves and chestnuts whilst in the park.
Love baking at home too. Apple pies galore!! banana cakes, cookies etc. Lovely!

My Dc's are at different stages of their childhoods, so it's very often difficult to please both of them, so mostly nowadays, it's just me and Dd (4.10) and Ds is on the computer.

I'm so happy to see so many parents going for the 'stick them outside whatever the weather'. We are also fond of walks, there is nothing like a walk through the woods, or a yomp over the hills, and maybe I'll get the kite out and then DH will have to drag us back to the car. Then home for some warming soup if it's lunchtime, or a stew if it's the evening.

We love winter!

Chuck 'em outside as much as possible!

If they're not yomping about being physical, my dc seem to turn into experimental scientists in very cold weather. Bubble-blowing is fascinating in winter, because the bubbles behave differently. They put about an inch of water the paddling pool and its lid, to create their own ice-rinks.

If we're stuck indoors - doing homework, say, or with a poorly sibling/mum - and they are going stir-crazy, I'll give them 'bursts'. Which means that every so often I'll get them to do a few minutes of something physical, eg spinning on the Bilibos (fantastic inventions!), dancing to some 80s music, or a daft challenge like getting from the kitchen to the front door without touching the floor.

We try to get them out if we can. They like bikes/scooters/trampoline time. Sometimes walking to the shop to get a sweetie/moshi cards is a good enough ploy to get them out.

Also enjoy baking, family movie nights, making things and board games.

And when it all goes belly up, we bring bath time right forward to 4 o'clock and amazingly it seems to perk them up.

This morning we've popped some corn, closed the curtains, snuggled under blankets and stuck a new film on the tellybox (utilising the new surround sound so it sounds like a cinema).

We also love making, so anything to do with paint, playdoh, sticking and cutting, sewing and drawing. We have a set of drawers next to the kitchen table topped up so they can do that whilst I cook.

Building a den with tables chairs and blankets is always a winner.

Oh, and I know it's been mentioned, but nothing brings our entire family together quite so well as a box of lego tipped onto our fluffy rug... the 3yo, 5yo, 9yo and 37yo were quiet for a couple of hours building a house together. (which I accidentally knocked of the kitchen table where they left it to show me )

Sock puppets. We have a huge box full of bits and bobs. If you have carpets a plastic table cloth underneath the table legs will protect it from glitter and glue etc.

One I am less keen on is the sing-a-long dvd of The Sound of Music but they are huge fans.

Building dens in the living room, with all the sofa cushions, big sheets, blankets and cushions inside to make a cozy place to curl up and read.

Lots of trips to the library, DS will read a book in an hour if he gets the chance, so regular trips to the library for more reading material is a must in the holidays.

Torch lit walks through the local wildlife reserve once it gets dark, then home to hot chocolate.

A trip out of the house at least once a day, even if it's just a brisk walk around the block or to the pub for hot chocolate and a cappuccino.

Baking and generally helping with the meals, cooking a meal from scratch for the whole family. This can take up lots of time if you include pouring over cooking books, planning the menu, shopping, writing up the menu like in a restaurant, laying the table etc. etc.

Lots of random woodwork and creativity using scrap wood we collect, the drill (under supervision) screws, hammer, nails, wood glue and dowels.

One winter we made a massive marble run using cardboard tubes, pipes, bottles, and other junk, we spent weeks designing and constructing it, and we attached it to the staircase wall so the marble run started on the first floor landing and finished in the sitting room downstairs. We were due to redecorate our walls in the spring so didn't mind sticking all the pieces to the wall in the meantime. I think it was the best thing we ever did in terms of value we got out of it. Who doesn't like a marble run?

Similar to that is car tracks and car ramps, using all sorts of things.

craft and sewing and creating are also things DS does a lot, along with painting and drawing and designing his own comic books.

And when all else fails, we watch films, play on the computer and play on the playstation.

Baking - mince pies for the holidays, cookies/biscuits, cakes, but DS2's favourites are banana bread because he can mash bananas and bread pudding because he can tear up the bread. Mashing and tearing apparently rate high for him - he's 5.

Curling up in a blanket together and watching DVDs.

Playing board games - usually snakes and ladders.

Reading books together, or cuddling together in blankets and each reading our own books.

Painting with a huge piece of roll paper across the table. Or markers, or colour crayons.

Lego or duplo blocks.

Going out for walks or playing in back garden, with warm clothes and wellies on. Bubbles always seem to make an appearance, unless it's pouring rain. The boys are hoping for a lot of snow this year to have snowball fights, make snowmen, and build a fort with snow blocks. (we tried some last year, but used up a lot of the ground snow lol)

So many great ideas!

One of our favourites that's nto been mentioned yet (I think) is snow painting - add drops of food colouring to bottles of water and use it to paint on the snow (we get a lot of it in Scotland!). My very favourite kind of painting as there's no clearing up to do. You can also add colours to bubbles and blow them outside, they make great patterns on the snow when they pop.

My 2 DS love to go 'camping'.

They gather pillows, blankets and favourite cuddly toys from their rooms, fill their backpacks with their 'vital equipment' (binoculars, head torches, notepad & pencil, 'money' and 'map' and set up their base either on the halfway landing or under the dining room table.

We always go out for a walk no matter what the weather as the dog demands it, but they like to gather bits and pieces for their camp and forage for 'food'.

When harmonious play has expired the requests for playdoh or board games normally start and if us parents are feeling a little lacking in energy then we'll all cosy up for a DVD.

There are few things we do:

Bake cookies and eat warm with cups of tea
Get out on our bikes and cycle along the canal to the local village
Wrap up warm and get out in the garden - collecting up the leaves & having a bonfire
Set up a super long train track, this keeps DS entertained for hours!

We spend lots of time doing hama beads - I have a strange addiction to it too!
Scalextric
baking
lego
playmobil (my favourite)
drawing competitions
racing demon card game

and for desperate measures- cuddle up on sofa under blanket and watch a movie!

Definitely wrapping up warm and getting out. Possibly the only thing better than being outside in proper wet weather gear stomping around in mud, slush, snow, is getting back inside to the warm (and you appreciate it more ).

Ds & I also enjoy cuddling up in the big double bed reading stories, or with the laptop watching a DVD, and since I discovered Minecraft we've been building treehouses and minecart tracks all over our world.

Baking, junk modelling, Lego, train tracks or off to a museum and a hot chocolate in the cafe.

Baking cakes that they can destroy make beautiful with their own unique form of decorating.

Giving them old catalogues and letting them rip out pictures to make collages

Going for long walks to park to let them run riot burn off energy

Books, books and more books

Any art & crafts will always keep them busy for a good while, just as long as we all proclaim that the result is "the most beutiful thing I have ever seen" no matter how horrendous.

Museums are free where we are so many afternoons spent in museums and having coffee/hot chocolate afterwards.

Having them play an active part in making evening meal, whether its peeling veg, measuring stock etc. Its a good way to get them interested in food and learn how things come together in kitcken, plus they get to make a mess which they love!

Thanks to everyone who added their comments to this thread - here's a thank you message from Cathedral City:

"Thank you for all your great suggestions, keep an eye on the Chedds microsite where we?ll feature some of the best!"

We've done the prize draw and I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the Nintendo DS is...

Triggles

Congratulations! I'll PM you to get your details

OMG Thank you!!!!

Well done Triggles! Enjoy! [hgrin]

thank you pengy