When the weather’s not great and the days feel shorter, it’s always wise to have a few ideas up your sleeve to keep the kids happy. You may have packed away the snorkels, buckets and spades, but there are plenty of activities that don’t involve sea and surf.

We’ve put together 10 of the best, so get cracking and work your way through the ideas you need that’ll keep the winter lively and entertaining.

1. Have Your Very Own Bake-Off

There’s been a worrying decline in the number of kids who can recognise common fruits and vegetables or have ever visited a farm. Getting into the kitchen and baking up a storm is a good opportunity to combine fun and a little education.

Knowing how to make a simple sponge cake is one of those basics everyone should have under their belt.

Once you have mastered this recipe, you can adapt it by adding extra ingredients like vanilla essence, chocolate powder, instant coffee granules or dried fruits and nuts. It can even become a birthday cake, a competition prize or a gift for a grandparent. Here’s what you’re going to need:

• 200g each of soft butter, self-raising flour and sugar
• I teaspoon of baking powder
• 3 beaten eggs and 2-3 tablespoons of milk

Mix all the ingredients together and divide the mixture into 2 round, well-greased or non-stick baking tins, smoothing with the back of a spoon. Bake at 190C or 170C fan for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.

You’ll need a filling to go between and on top of the 2 sponges. Here are some ideas:

• Fresh fruit and whipped cream or yoghurt
• Jam in between and a dusting of icing sugar on top
• Coffee icing: 100g butter, 140g icing sugar and 2 teaspoons of instant coffee

2. Make Your Own Indoor Scavenger Hunt

Give the kids a list of all the items they need to find and the problems they have to solve. Put a time limit on the event.

Here are some ideas of objects you can ask them to collect:

• A bar of soap
• A pair of socks
• A teaspoon
• A napkin
• A pack of cards
• A toy
• A pillowcase
• An empty plastic bottle
• A sheet of kitchen roll
• A teabag

You could hide these by leaving clues. You can add to the game by giving them some brain teasers to solve. Here are a few to get you started:

1. It weighs practically nothing, but even a very strong person can’t hold it for more than several minutes. What is it?
2. The more there is, the less you see. What is it?
3. What gets wetter while it dries?
4. A young woman rode into a town on Friday. She stayed in the town for 3 days and rode off on Friday. How is this possible?
5. It’s at the centre of gravity. You’ll find it in Venus, but not Mars. What is it?

Answers: a. Breath b. Fog. c. A towel d. The horse’s name is Friday e. The letter V

3. Make Some Dancing Stars

When the weather makes it impossible to get outside, dancing is a great option that combines fun and exercise.

If you have 4 kids or more in the house, try out the spotlight dance. Get one child to hold a torch (a bike light will do). They need to keep shining it from one child to another while the music’s playing. When you stop the music, the child who the torch is shining on is out of the game. The game continues until there’s only one child left.

Here are a few more dancing ideas:

• Teach the kids how to hula hoop or zumba.
• Get the kids to dance while keeping a balloon aloft. The balloons mustn’t hit the floor so the winner is the child who can keep their balloon from hitting the ground for the longest.
• Draw some facial expression emojis on large cards. Hand them out and get the kids to dance in the style of the emoji on their card.

4. Take a Virtual Tour

Who says you need to get on a plane for an overseas experience? Get the kids to pick a city or landmark they’d like to learn more about. Take them on a virtual online tour. There are plenty on offer from the famous Louvre museum in Paris to Disney World and San Diego Zoo.

5. Get Creative With Leaves

Dry out a collection of fallen leaves in the microwave. Do this by arranging them flat on a piece of kitchen paper with another sheet on top. Microwave on low-medium power for no longer than 30 seconds. **Do NOT microwave fall longer as the leaves could catch fire.

Glue the leaves onto some card and create collages, sprinkle with glitter and paint them with vibrant colours.

6. Make Your Own Playdough

Mix 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup water, ½ cup cooking salt, and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar. Heat the mixture in a pan until it becomes thick. Allow it to cool and then add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil.

Knead well and form into balls adding different food colourings to each. Change the texture of the dough by adding rice, macaroni, sand or pebbles.

7. Cut Out Potato Stamps

Halve a potato lengthways for longer stamps or across the middle for smaller ones. Pat the cut ends dry with a sheet of kitchen paper.

Use a biscuit cutter to create an outline on the flat skinless side of the potato. Carefully use the knife around the cutter to cut into the potato in order to create a stamp.

Cover a table with sheets of newspaper and squeeze some paints into shallow pots. The kids can either use a paintbrush to cover the stamps with paint or tap them into the pots on sheets of paper or card.

8. Make a Ladybird Rock and Create a Herb Garden

Get the kids to wash a smallish flat stone or rock from the garden. They should then paint it all white and allow it to dry before painting it completely red. Let the stone dry again before giving it a second coat of red paint.

Use black paint at one end of the stone for the head as well as a line along the middle as the wings. They should paint small black dots on the body to make ladybird spots. Let the paint dry before finishing off by adding on a funny face.

The kids can use their ladybird rock to decorate an indoor or outdoor herb garden. Tough perennials like thyme, rosemary, sage and oregano grow well in the cooler months.

Here are some tops tips for creating a herb garden:

• Grow mint in a separate pot as it can smother other plants
• Do not overwater. Basil, in particular, doesn’t like too much water
• Sow seeds of annual herbs every few weeks so there’s always a continuous crop
• Rosemary and oregano are popular with bees
• Get the kids to label the herbs so they get to know which is which
• Reuse empty yoghurt pots to plant your herbs

Choose outdoor spots with care. Too much sun causes herbs like coriander and parsley to seed and that stops them from producing leaves. Mint and oregano prefer more sun, on the other hand.

9. Take a Ski Trip

Like learning a language, skiing adds a string to the kids’ bows that comes with an array of hidden benefits. For starters, it builds confidence, improves mood and is great exercise.

Skiing requires coordination and balance. Young skiers need to use their core and leg muscles to stay upright and coordinate their movements. All this helps them to become more aware of their bodies and improve their posture.

Group lessons are a great way for them to make new friends and develop social skills. It also gets them out into the great outdoors for plenty of fresh air and provides an opportunity to become mindful of the stunning scenery.

Check out one of NSW’s best ski resorts here and the cream of Victoria’s here. In New Zealand, the North Island season begins and ends a little later than the South Island which starts in late June and ends in October.

2 of the country’s biggest commercial ski resorts are Mount Ruapehu and Queenstown which both offer slopes for beginners, advanced skiers and snowboarders.

10. Check Out Free Local Attractions Where You Live

Every city has them. Many local libraries, museums, art galleries, botanic gardens, animal reserves, dirt bike tracks and even bus routes tend to offer free timeslots for kids on certain days of the week.

We’re fortunate enough to live in a corner of the world-renowned for its areas of outstanding beauty. So, check the weather forecast, get outdoors and tackle the local bush walks and cycle trails. 

Get Your Nanny Payroll Sorted!

First things first: you can only start to relax and plan activities for the kids over the winter once you’ve sorted your nanny payroll. That’s where can help. We’ll keep you compliant with all the rules and regulations around paying your nanny.

Contact us today and get your nanny payroll sorted.