Winter Faves with Baby

We're going on our third year of being in Nebraska, and I am still not able to embrace the cold winter months. Being cold just hurts my bones... I'm a true Cali girl who thinks anything below 70 calls for a sweater (borderline blanket!). Being at home with a LO because it's too cold outside to enjoy the park or mother nature can take cabin fever to another level. I just have to get ourselves out and about a few times a week, even if it means bundling up the both of us just to walk from the car to an entrance!

I thought I would share a few things the LO and I enjoy doing to escape our household throughout the week. If you have a baby at home in the winter months, I highly recommend checking out your local community for some of these hits:

// Indoor Gym or Play Area [MyGym is FAB!]
This is probably one of our faves to do during the week. MyGym is an amazing opportunity for kiddos to explore with various gym equipment and with other kids their age surrounding them. Once a week they have a structured class for one hour, where the instructor leads songs, specific activities to practice and a bit of separation time from the parents! They also host so many other events such as Free Play, where kids can play on their own time with parent supervision. Another event I love to take advantage of is Drop and Dash, where you can leave your child for up to 2 hours with the best of the best staff who keep them busy and active (oh, and best part is no appointment necessary!). Find an indoor play area that allows interactive play with others and that also can help strengthen the kiddos and explore new limits with their little bodies!

// Library Story Times [or Barnes and Noble Story Time]
Our local libraries offer various story times for infants, toddlers and older kiddos. They usually last about a half hour, and are extremely interactive. At our library, they have a sheet with all the songs they sing so you and the LO can follow along. Typically, they read a book, sing a song, read another book, sing a few more songs. They incorporate puppets, cars, colorful scarves, and of course books! It's a great opportunity to incorporate some song and dance into literature.

// Children's Museum
I've seen and heard of other cities having their own children's museum. We found one in our neck of the woods, and the LO loves it! This museum has 3 different floors, each having a variety of activities for kiddos to explore and partake in. One floor has all the local shops and destinations as you would see in Lincoln (from the post office to the local grocery store and even to the Husker football games!). Another floor has a huge play gym, a water playing area, sensory rooms, and a stage for theatre with costumes, wigs and spotlights! The third floor has all things arts and crafts, trains, airplanes and more. There is so much ground to cover here, that when we go and visit, my LO finds something new to fascinate over each time.

These are just a few ideas of things we enjoy doing, particularly in the cold winter months. I challenge you to bundle up and get out there so you can hurry up and get inside a heated area that your LO and you can enjoy!

What things do you and the kiddos enjoy doing that take place inside?