Indoor Toddler Fun

I need help, mommas of the world!

I live in Wisconsin which means it's getting really frigid outside and will likely remain this way until about May. All of my go-to outdoor activities to do with Truman are dwindling fast as the temperatures drop and I'm struggling to find fun, CHEAP things to do indoors. I mean, I can easily take up an entire morning by hopping from the grocery store, to Target, to Walgreens, etc with mister man and he does love a little retail therapy. But really, there has to be a better way to keep him entertained, out of the house a bit, and keep our budget in check.

Let me start by what we already do for activities and then I'm hoping you ladies can help me build my toolbox, so to speak.

-loves puzzles, a few of his actual toys may hold interest for about 5 minutes
-of course there are Elmo DVDs, truck videos on the computer and educational stuff on TV. But I really try to limit the amount of time we are vegging out in front of electronics if possible.
-playing at the kitchen sink, pouring wa-wa all over the place
-helping me cook (this lasts about 2 minutes before he just eats raw cookie dough or whatever we are making)
-dance parties (turning up the iPod as loud as possible and JAMMING out to techno music--a fave for sure)
-helping me with laundry (ie up and down stairs a million times)
-the library (found an AWESOME story time for babies to 3 year olds that is free on Thursday mornings. Love that time of the week)
-swimming lessons (Tues nights---his favorite activity of the week by far)
-the zoo (have a free zoo pass, but as the weather changes it's harder to keep to the indoor exhibits)
-books (but this is usually our favorite before bed activity so he's not too into them during the day, too)

Ideas I've had but cannot quite execute:
-playdough (went well for about a week then he started ingesting it by the handful)
-markers/colors (so messy!!---is there anything out there that isn't so scary? Like those 'clear' markers that actually show up in color?)
-finger paints (again, so scary! Is there a clean alternative?)

So I guess that sounds like a lot of things but it's really not enough. Being home all day Tuesday, Thursday, and the weekends means I have a lot of hours to fill and I like having things planned to help the day go as smoothly as possible. Also, evenings after work are tough---not a ton of time to play and do things, but definitely enough to do SOMETHING other than cook and eat dinner and do bedtime stuff. Any local Milwaukee ladies know of fun indoor activities that aren't too expensive? Or non-locals---what do you do with your kids inside, while maintaining your sanity? I feel like there should be huge websites devoted to this type of thing but I haven't found anything yet.

And because I might as well spice up this post with something more fun, I finally uploaded our videos from August, September, October, and the beginning of this month to Flickr. It was quite the overwhelming project, let me tell you, but it's been bugging me for awhile now. My next project is to finally begin Truman's 2nd year album---another thing on my 'list' for months now, but since I accidentally deleted all of my digital scrapbooking supplies I've sorta been dragging my feet to start from scratch. But no more, my friends! I am doing this thing soon!

Oh yes, the videos. I will just show one or two because I'm sure you don't really care about them but my child is really entertaining, in my opinion. :)

For instance, what in the heck is this 'bird dance' that his daddy taught him?? Weird!



And this one goes to show you that the kid understands SO many words, and can say a lot of them too, but just with his own 'twist' on the original. So stinking cute, if you ask me.


Okay, now please give a sister some ideas for toddler entertainment indoors! Ready? Go!