Sock It To Me

Since we spent the greater part of last week sick we had to think of something to do with ourselves. My older kids can play games, read books, do puzzles, and watch movies.  But, my toddler is a whole different story.  When we play board games she sits in the middle of the board.  When we read books she tries to pull the book out of my hands or unloads the bookshelf while we read.  When we watch movies, she finds her way to the kitchen and unloads the garbage can.  The point is, we needed something that fit the following criteria:
1.  My toddler couldn't ruin it or distrupt it
2.  My toddler could participate and feel like we weren't ignoring her (and therefore not get into any trouble while we were doing it)
and
3.  Everyone who wanted to could lay on the couch and still have a good time.

We came up with a few things.  The first one was a little game called "Sock it to Me".
You'll have to forgive the photography.  It's about as clear as my foggy thinking was that day.

You'll need:
Washable tempera paints
paint brushes
paper and pencil
socks

Here's what we did:
I got out some washable tempera paints that I already had in the closet and painted a target on the window.

I also painted the numbers zero through nine on another part of the window and printed out a sheet of paper with those numbers on it also.

The kids gathered their socks from their drawers (or what socks they could find.  I think we have more unmatched socks than any family I have ever met.  Nonetheless, we did find a little pile of nicely matched and balled up socks) and brought them downstairs.  Then we took turns throwing our socks at the window. (I know, we're easily entertained.  But trust me, this was actually fun)

For one game we had to try to hit each number on the window.  When we hit one number we could mark it off on our paper.  We kept taking turns until everyone had hit all the numbers.

For the other game we each got ten throws to see how many points we could hit on the window target.

And, the best part was that my toddler just ran around throwing socks at the window and feeling totally involved and it didn't ruin our game one bit.  She could retrieve socks for me while I layed on the couch :) (no, I don't do that all that time but on this day, yes) Plus it released some of our cabin fever and pent up energy.  Even sick kids need to move a little sometimes.

So, the next time you have a rainy day or a sick day try painting a game on the windows.  Then, grab your socks and go wild.

P.S.- It just washes off with a little Windex