Indoor badminton is another activity sure to elicit laughs while burning energy. "Balloons are magical and can be used for many ideas for fun, especially on a dreary cold, indoors type of day," Feldscher says. "For example, tie a rope or a long string to two chairs that are placed opposite each other on both sides of a room for use as a badminton net. Then use cardboard storybooks as paddles. Stand on each side and hit a balloon back and forth using the books."

Trying to entertain a toddler in the kitchen? A favorite in Laura Lowell's house, the editor of 42 Rules for Working Moms: Practical, Funny Advice for Achieving Work-Life Balance (Super Star Press, 2008), is fun with food coloring. "Ask the kids what they want for dinner," Lowell says. "Use food coloring to dye the food different colors and let the kids help. It's super fun ... though sometimes the colors are totally gross, but toddlers will get a kick out of it. The purple hamburgers my husband made with his father 40 years ago started this and were a complete hit. It's a favorite family story."

The same idea works if you're saddled with making cupcakes for a school or church function. Have little ones mix food coloring into icing and let the color creations begin. What happens when you mix yellow and green? Blue and red? Not only do you succeed in fulfilling an obligation, your toddlers get to learn all about colors.

Making a fort is entertaining for kids of all ages and can be a perfect way to pass a cold, miserable day. "Pull out all the sheets and let the kids make a 'fort' in one of the rooms," Lowell says. "I usually pick their bedrooms, as they are pretty safe and trashed anyway by mid-winter. My kids pull the sheets over the beds and chairs and make a house for their bears, or drive trucks on roads made of paper that we've drawn road lines on. It's so much fun and not too big of a mess."

But even for the most resourceful parent, sometimes cabin fever gets to be too much. When everyone's climbing the walls – and not in a good way – bundle the crew up, brave the elements and give everyone a much-needed change of scenery.

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