It's playtime...

Whether you're sizzling in the summer heatwave in Melbourne this week or escaping the cold in NYC, here are a few of our favourite activities to keep the little munckins entertained indoors. I'd love to hear some of yours...

Make a photo album. Cut out pictures of family and friends and stick them in a scrap book. Let the littlies decorate it with crayons, marker pens or craft bits, or make their own family portraits. They love looking at pictures, and it'll give you hours of the “who's that” game.

Decorate a space for the littlies. Let the kids decorate a wall or window with all their favourite things. Let them blu tack their favourite photos, doggy pictures, feathers, paintings and other things they love, and make a sign saying whose wall it is. This can be an ongoing bad weather project.

Make a band. Cut out musical instruments from cardboard, cover with tin foil and detail with marker pen, then make some noise! Shake dry pasta in plastic bottles and upturn some pots and pans, and make like the Wiggles!

Build a cubby, a tent, a boat or a train. Use blankets, cushions, cardboard boxes... anything. Let their imagination run wild, and invite teddies and dollies to join the fun.

Have an indoor picnic. Get out a rug, picnic basket and tea set, and eat tiny sandwiches and drink imaginary tea. Invite dollies and teddies along, play a game of boule or balloon catch, or admire the passing imaginary wildlife.

Go shopping. Give the littlies shopping bags, purses and paper monies, and invite them to your shop. Set up tins, tubs, empty jars and boxes, and play shopkeeper, or send them on a scavenger hunt to find items on your picture list.

Entertainment value - assured.

Smiles rating – high to giggling.

Hours killed - all day, and the next.

Incredible memories guaranteed.