When I was 10 years old, we had a crazy snowstorm in our neck of the woods. Drifts were piled several feet high and we were quite literally snowed in at our house for seven full days.

As a kid, it was magical. But as a parent? It was apparently a special brand of torture.

I can still remember my mom talking about how badly she was feeling cabin fever. I also distinctly remember wondering what the problem was. What could possibly be better than getting to stay home and lounge around in our pajamas eating snacks and making a mess of the house for a week straight? 

Now that I’m a parent myself, I get it. Oh boy, do I EVER get it.

Being a mom—especially a stay-at-home mom—in the middle of winter can be tough.

There’s no taking your kids outdoors to run around and spend some energy. 

There are no long walks to get fresh air and a change of scenery. 

There’s no driving places, because it’s unsafe to be out on the roads if it’s not absolutely necessary. 

There’s just sitting in a house. With kids. And noise. And mess. And pure chaos. 

FOR DAYS. 

It doesn’t take long for you to start feeling trapped, lonely, and moody, and honestly? A little bit insane.

So for the moms like me who have been feeling serious cabin fever, we’ve compiled a few of our favorite ideas for busting the winter blues and helping you survive until springtime. 

+Create Your Own Summer

This one takes a little bit of imagination but is totally doable. 

Grab some beach towels, put on your swimsuit and shades, ask Alexa to play something tropical, mix up some homemade snow cones, and have a beach party right in the middle of your living room. 

+Craft, Craft, Then Craft Some More

I cannot stress this one enough. Crafting is messy, it’s true, but it also has this inexplicable way of calming everyone. Lay garbage bags out on the kitchen table, throw some old shirts over your kids’ clothes and let them paint. Get a roll of easel paper to set out on the floor and let them color (for some reason, coloring is more fun on giant paper). Set a bunch of random whatevers out with a bottle of glue and tell them to create a robot. 

Don’t have a bunch of craft stuff lying around your house? I’m a big fan of the We Craft Box because it comes with all the materials my kids need to create something cute, which means I don’t have to plan anything. WINNING.

Get them going on their crafts, then sit back with a cup of coffee and breathe, mama.

+Story Time in a Blanket Fort

This one is a personal favorite of mine mostly because it’s a calming activity and requires minimal effort on my part. Throw a few blankets over the dining room table to make a little cave underneath, then grab snacks and listen to your kids’ favorite books on Audible from inside the fort. When we do this, sometimes I join in, and sometimes I use the time to get a few things done (or just relax) while they’re quietly entertained.

+Practice a New Skill

Learn to draw a new animal with your kids.

Try a new cookie recipe (and taste test them until the whole batch is gone. Whoops.)

Give that DIY project you’ve had your eye on a try. 

It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just think of a skill you’ve been wanting to learn (whether silly or practical) and do it. YouTube has a wealth of tutorials that will walk you through just about anything you can think of. Doing something new gets our minds working in a different way and gets us out of our routine, everyday slump. 

+Get Those Bodies Moving Indoors

If the weather is too crummy to go outside and run around, find ways to get moving indoors. It’s a win/win, as it’ll make you feel more endorphin-high and less trapped, and it’ll wear your kids out so that maybe they’ll go to bed earlier and give you some much-needed alone time. 

My kids are obsessed with taking the cushions off of the couch and running/jumping/catapulting from them like maniacs. In the summer I try to preserve those poor cushions, but once I’m all cabin-fevered out in the middle of winter, they’re fair game. It’s good exercise for the kids, and honestly kind of entertaining for me.

If we want to do something a little more structured as a family, I’ll download a free workout video from Amazon Prime (we have the Fire TV, so this is way more convenient than looking elsewhere) and we all do a workout together in the middle of the living room. Dance videos are a favorite in this family. I’m pretty sure we look ridiculous, but hey—we’re all moving and laughing, and that’s good enough for me.

+Make a Movie Theater

Get cozy on the couch, pull the blinds, turn off the lights, grab a few snacks, and call it a movie theater. Sneak a nap while your kids’ eyes are glued to the screen, or scroll through your phone a bit and unwind. The point is, just relax. Your kids brains won’t rot from an afternoon movie marathon, but your sanity might benefit an awful lot from it. 

+Read this Book

No explanation really needed here. This book is packed full of way more ideas than we could ever share in this article. Take a look! 

The winter blues are serious, mamas, but we can and will make it through. Springtime is just around the corner—hang on!

Recommendations in this post contain affiliate links. Her View From Home may receive a small commission if you choose to purchase.

So God Made a Mother book by Leslie Means

If you liked this, you'll love our book, SO GOD MADE A MOTHER available now!

Order Now

Check out our new Keepsake Companion Journal that pairs with our So God Made a Mother book!

Order Now
So God Made a Mother's Story Keepsake Journal

Her View From Home

Millions of mothers connected by love, friendship, family and faith. Join our growing community. 1,000+ writers strong. We pay too!   Find more information on how you can become a writer on Her View From Home at https://herviewfromhome.com/contact-us/write-for-her//

Instead of Counting Down the Days until My Soldier Came Home, I Counted My Blessings

In: Motherhood
Mother and two children holding "welcome home" signs next to soldier daddy, color photo

It was a relatively mild morning in October—cool even, considering we were in the middle of the Mojave Desert. We stood atop a concrete amphitheater overlooking a grass field in the middle of the small USMC installation known as Twenty-Nine Palms. All the unit’s seabags were lined up in neat rows, each one stuffed to bursting. John held our daughter Eleanor who had just woken up from a nap in her infant carrier. Blearily, she looked around and then smiled when John paused his conversation with some of his friends to coo at her. I sat with our son Sawyer...

Keep Reading

I Am an Adult with Autism

In: Living, Motherhood
Mother and three children in wildflowers, color photo

Thirty years. That’s how long it took for me to get the right diagnoses. Thirty years. Of struggles. Of shame. Of depression and anxiety. Of bullying. All without knowing the true causes and what was really going on. I never would have believed you if you told me a few years ago that I was autistic. It wasn’t until all three of my children were diagnosed with autism that I started to see the similarities and begin to question. At first, I thought there was no way. Wouldn’t I have known by now? It just can’t be. So I threw...

Keep Reading

I Hope My Daughter Loves Her Future Mother-in-Law

In: Motherhood
Bride holding mother's hands

I’m a proud boy mom. I catch bugs, I catch balls (in the house), and I try my best to catch my boys’ every fall. I love it. I love being a boy mom. There is one part I don’t like: everyone telling me they will leave as soon as they meet “the one,” and their wife’s family will push my husband and I out of the picture. “A boy is yours ‘til he finds a wife, a daughter’s your daughter all her life.” I’d heard it too many times from older moms who chuckle as if the rhyming covers...

Keep Reading

Adoptive Parents-To-Be Deserve to Be Celebrated Too

In: Motherhood
Couple making heart with hands

My husband and I are on a very exciting journey—we are in the process of adopting our first child! Wow, we are stoked beyond words. Albeit we are on the front end of the journey at this point (as in just now about to complete our home study). Yet we are knee-deep and in the thick of it all. After struggling with infertility for about two years and many doctors’ appointments later, it became clear that natural conception is not how we will become parents. We never thought we would encounter infertility. Infertility has been hard and a grieving process...

Keep Reading

I’m Thankful for the Community We’ve Found

In: Friendship, Living, Motherhood
Community on street having a picnic

It was the end of the school holidays, and the return to school after Christmas was looming. The children had had two weeks at home. The general sense of routine was lost for the boys, with late nights and relaxing days watching YouTube while playing their Switch. I was eager for routine to make a reappearance through school. As we headed into the weekend before the start of school, Josh had a cough and then a fever, and it became clear this would not be the week I had envisioned. By Monday morning the boys appeared more lethargic than usual,...

Keep Reading

Our Kids Need Us as Much as We Need Them

In: Kids, Motherhood
Little boy sitting on bench with dog nearby, color photo

During a moment of sadness last week, my lively and joyful toddler voluntarily sat with me on the couch, holding hands and snuggling for a good hour. This brought comfort and happiness to the situation. At that moment, I realized sometimes our kids need us, sometimes we need them, and sometimes we need each other at the same time. Kids need us. From the moment they enter the world, infants express their needs through tiny (or loud) cries. Toddlers need lots of cuddling as their brains try to comprehend black, white, and all the colors of the expanding world around...

Keep Reading

Your Kids Don’t Need More Things, They Need More You

In: Faith, Kids, Motherhood
Mother and young girl smiling together at home

He reached for my hand and then looked up. His sweet smile and lingering gaze flooded my weary heart with much-needed peace. “Thank you for taking me to the library, Mommy! It’s like we’re on a date! I like it when it’s just the two of us.” We entered the library, hand in hand, and headed toward the LEGO table. As I began gathering books nearby, I was surprised to feel my son’s arms around me. He gave me a quick squeeze and a kiss with an “I love you, Mommy” before returning to his LEGO—three separate times. My typically...

Keep Reading

Take it from a Mom Who’s Been There: It Gets Easier

In: Motherhood
Mother with teen daughter embracing and smiling outside

My view from home is changing as my oldest is now married and my youngest is wrapping up his college career. But dear mom of little ones and even those not-so-little ones, I want you to know that I remember. I remember the side-eyes and the judging glances from older moms as I juggled toddlers doing their toddler thing. All these years later, I still feel the harshness of their stings. I remember the gloom and doom declarations of “Just wait until they turn three, or ten, or thirteen . . .” Those almost gleefully delivered little quips that made...

Keep Reading

This is How to Support Miscarriage Moms

In: Grief, Loss, Motherhood
Woman with arm around another woman sitting in field

When you hear the term miscarriage, what do you think? My initial thought was the loss of an unborn child, but have you ever really wondered what truly happens when you are having a miscarriage? Our first miscarriage occurred immediately after our wedding in 2019, we had a chemical pregnancy after conceiving while on our honeymoon. This means we had a positive pregnancy test, but by the time we got to our OB/GYN, I had the heaviest period of my life, resulting in a negative serum pregnancy test. That was hard enough to go through but was nothing compared to...

Keep Reading

Mom, Will You Pray With Me?

In: Faith, Motherhood
Little girl praying, profile shot

“Will you pray with me?” This is a question I hear daily from my 9-year-old. Her worried heart at times grips her, making it difficult for her to fall asleep or nervous to try something new. Her first instinct is to pray with Mom. Perhaps this is because of how many times her Dad and I have told her that God is with her, that she is never alone, and that she can always come to Him in prayer and He will answer. Perhaps it is because she has seen her Dad and I lean on the Lord in times...

Keep Reading