[LuckySmyle]

Help, it's that time of year that by the time I get home from work it is too dark and cold to do anything outside with my 3 year old son. I take him swimming and I have daycare at my gym, but mostly I'm looking for low cost activities for me and my son as I hardly get to see him during the week as it is because of work.

Any ideas? Ideas for the weekend outside stuff would be good to, I can't wait for the snow/ice so we can participate in outside activities again.

[GONNABE165]

I think there is alot od things you could do - turn on some music and dance around the house. On good weather days go for a walk pushing your son in his stroller. I sometimes get out with my 3year old cosuin & we run mini races in the yard - you would be surprise what lil games we played as kids can now make for good activitys for our kids and our health. Good luck!

[horsey]

Is there a play area at a local mall? Take you boy to play and then walk circles around him, and play with him some too in the winter months. Go for long walks with your boy, put him in a stroller, or let him ride his bike/trike. Kids don't care if it's cold, just bundle him up, and yourself too. There's a few good dvds, Yoga for Families is one my boy and I can do together, it's the Gaiam series with Rodney Y. and his kids/wife. My boy can do a downward dog quite well at three years old! There's a few other dvds as well for kids. If it's not too cold, go to a soccer field and kick around a soccer ball. While he's running around do tricep dips on a bench, sprints between trees, pushups and light jogging. Buy your boy some one lb hand weights and let him feel important lifting his while you do your own handweights at home. Take him to your health club and leave him in daycare a part of the time, then take him to the gym and let him play with a basketball while you do sprints up and down the gym, jumping jacks, etc. Just some ideas, I have a three year old too...

[LuckySmyle]

I wish my mall had a play center, the only free play center around here is in McDonalds. While I know they now have some healthier options, if I go to McDonalds I want chicken nuggets and fries so I just try to avoid going.

Any other ideas for dark cold evenings? I try to get my son dancing around with me and stuff, but I'm really looking for ideas outside the house because I have a very limited amount of room inside to do too much.

[almostheaven]

When I do yard work, I usually engage my 2 yo to help out. If I'm hauling rocks, I give him smaller ones to carry. I have him pick up leaves when I'm raking and put them in his bucket and dump them in the pile. Plus we take walks in the stroller, or I jog with him in the stroller.

[horsey]

Are there any playgroups in your area through churches or other organizations? Here there's a mom's group I found on meetup.com, they get their kids together to do things 1-2x per week although I haven't gone. A lot of times they go to parks, the zoo, little hikes, etc.

[cmonamonamona]

We play with the sofa cushions. We make playgrounds so they slide down the cushions or play see-saw. They have a game where they pretend the floor is water and I'm the alligator in the water that will bite them if they put their feet in the water so climb around on the furniture instead. Of course, you can make the classic fort.

If you have the money a Wii system is great. We just got one and my 5 year old can now beat me at bowling. I play tennis on it with my husband. We're not exactly sweating but I would get warmed up and take off my sweater. My 4 year old likes Dance Dance Revolution too.

[aphil]

Instead of taking him for a walk outside when it is cold, why not walk the mall with him in the stroller? It is warm, and he gets to see the people, and holiday sights.

Saber (my 15 month old) and I dance together as well.

[shelby897]

I also used to walk the mall with my kids in the winter, sometimes I would bring a little wagon we have, just more interesting for the kids than a stroller sometimes. When it's warm enough out we play flashlight tag in the backyard in the fall/winter -- or pulling them around in a sled when there is snow is great exercise, especially if I let my 8 year old ride too!!

[horsey]

I ordered another exercise dvd for kids and my boy loves it. He's three years old. I bought him a little yoga mat and he can do a perfect downward dog. There's another yoga dvd for families that we do together, it has a family of kids showing the moves and is quite fun. We also have a few Mommy and Me dvds that have games on them that we do together. I'm sure there's more if you looked on amazon or somewhere. Winter's are hard with kids, it gets dark so early. My boy would tear down the walls if he didn't go to preschool a few days a week I think.