25+ Indoor, Non-Messy Activities for Toddlers When Mom is Sick

toddler activities when Mom is sick
All Moms have been there. Someone in the house gets sick, then everyone in the house gets sick. As the Mommy and ‘Nurturer-in-Chief,’ you don’t bat an eyelid to provide comfort and love your family back to health. Then, once everyone seems to be on the mend, ‘BAM!’… you get sick. You get super sick. Maybe it is because you wore yourself out taking care of your kids and husband. Maybe it is because you were still nurturing others when you should have been tending to the beginning stages of your own sickness. Regardless, you are here now. You are at home, feeling like you can’t even move, with one or more highly energetic toddlers expecting their #1 source for entertainment to deliver. Ugh. This conundrum and all over yucky situation hit me like a brick to the head today because yep, I am the one with the horrible chest cold. To add insult to injury, I seem to have lost my voice.

So, when you are in this situation, what are some activities you can either do with your kids, or spin them off for a Mommy-kid version of parallel play, so that you can get some needed rest, and so that they are not spending the entire day watching TV and playing iPad games? Well, here are 25 to 30 ideas I came up with based on things that are already in our house. My ground rules for ‘Mommy sick day’ survival were simple: nothing terribly messy, nothing with complicated instructions, nothing outside (or what is the point of me recovering), and reading is out because I can’t talk.

Toddler Activities for When Mommy is Sick

  1. Blocks
  2. Legos
  3. Magna Doodle
  4. Color with crayons (notice I did not say markers… too messy for sick Momma!)
  5. Play Doh (only if you don’t have to make it first)
  6. Pretend play with babies (putting them to bed, etc…)
  7. Have a Teddy Bear picnic.
  8. Have a princess tea party.
  9. Play with any of your Little People sets (we have Noah’s Ark and the Princess Songs Castle).
  10. Puzzles
  11. Pretend Play with a play kitchen and play food
  12. Stacking and sorting toys (both store bought and homemade)
  13. Dress up play (bring out those Halloween costumes!)
  14. Musical instruments (unless you have a headache of course)
  15. Stickers
  16. Other character-based pretend play toys (Sweet Pea is a huge fan of Daniel Tiger and Minnie Mouse)
  17. Wind up Toys
  18. Race toy cars
  19. Magnet toys like the Animal Mash Up, Melissa and Doug Animal Magnets, or Alphabet
  20. Animals– plastic, magnetic, stuffed
  21. Sensory Bins (only if you have already made them)
  22. Lift-the-Flap Books (no reading necessary!)
  23. Window Gel Clings
  24. Pipe Cleaners
  25. Sensory play with Fabric
  26. Build a fort by draping a sheet or blanket over a table or overturned rocking chair
  27. Tissue Paper tearing
  28. iPad games*
  29. Watch TV shows together and snuggle*

*You are sick after all.. give yourself a break!

So, I have survived my sick day home alone with Sweet Pea so far. She is now ‘pretending’ to take a nap but at least I am getting a little respite. We have already burned through many of the items on this list… but that is ok. They are fun (and low-key) activities to burn through! So, the next time you need to be low-energy while attending to the needs of your high energy kiddo, pull out this list or make your own! Whatever you do though, I hope you are able to get some rest so you can kick your sickness to the curb!

Thanks for reading!
Sara

For more ideas for non-TV indoor activities, check out these links!
http://www.powerfulmothering.com/16-no-preparation-activities-to-keep-toddlers-busy/
http://hodgepodgecraft.com/how-to-craft-with-kids-without-destroying-your-house-top-10-low-and-no-mess-craft-ideas-for-kids/
http://www.simplefunforkids.com/animal-imprints-play-dough.html/
https://napacenter.org/fine-motor-activities/http://lemonlimeadventures.com/15-games-for-toddlers-that-encourage-creative-thinking/#_a5y_p=2713002

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