The past few days have been dreary. As much fun as it was dancing in the rain, it’s not an activity that is going to last ALL day. If you don’t want to go completely out of your mind because of your children’s boredom there are a number of things you can do. Hit up Google and you’re going to find lists and lists of fun things you can do to keep those munchkins from bouncing off the walls. Although, I think you’d need to make a shopping list and have a multitude of items on hand for just this situation in order to do most of the things they mention. And not everyone feels like dragging their kids out and about when it’s raining either. So here are a few things I’ve done, with items I’ve had around the house, as a non Pinterest mom. This is just a short list with some items I’ve tried and some that are on my radar. You will definitely find more extensive lists on your internet search.
- Paint with fruit/nature
It’s super easy to cut an apple or orange in half and slap some paint on it to use as stamps. We’ve also done flowers and leaves for this project. You will end up with paint on your table despite your attempts to have the kids be neat.
- Build a fort
This is not the greatest idea if you are a perfectionist or want your fort to stay a fort. The kids love it and destroy it in a matter of minutes and will ask you a million times to rebuild the damn thing.
- Color
This is probably the easiest thing you can do. Throw some paper and some crayons out and let the kids go wild. Easy peazy.
- Dance party
This is one of our staple activities at my house when we get stuck inside. I turn on the kids music station on my Echo and throw some bubbles in my bubble machine and let the kids go nuts. They love it. Plus, they get a ton of energy out. Win, win.
- Make crayons
This is a great activity if you have a silicone baking pan for muffins. Throw your broken crayons inside the muffin spots and bake em till they melt. Perfection. There’s a tutorial here.
- Milk Art
I just found this awesome project for milk art at SayYes.com. The nice thing about this project is that the kids think that getting the colors mixed up is fun in itself… so even if you don’t have water color paper, you still have a fun little science experiment.
- Bake
Let’s be honest. This could get messy and you could probably end up frustrated at some point. But it’s something to do for a bit to keep those crazy kids occupied.
- Make your own playdough
Pretty sure we’ve all done this at some point. Easy to do and keeps the kids hands busy for long periods of time. Theres a great tutorial at NewYoungMum.com
Movie Time
- Do a movie marathon. Make some popcorn and pretend you’re at the theater.
- Make slime
If you aren’t a neat freak this activity can keep your kiddos busy for long periods of time as well.
You can also:
- Make homemade ice cream
- Create sand art
- Pretend swim in the tub
- Paint the tub
- Create a racetrack out of masking tape on the floor
- Make crayon art
- Have an indoor picnic
- Dress up
- Clean (that’s right, the kids won’t be much help, but it’s something)
- Play boardgames
- Camp in the living room
- Have a tea party
- Make shadow puppets
- Play hide and seek
The things I usually do during rainy days:
- send the kids to the playroom
- turn on a workout video and chase the kids around the couch in between exercises
- sit them at the table with coloring sheets and crayons
- art projects with whatever I have lying around
- build a fort that they promptly destroy
- give them old lunch boxes and have them fill them with toys and then dump them out
- put on a movie that they haven’t seen yet
- bubble dance parties
- lots and lots of snacks
If we’re being honest, there are a million and one things you could do to keep the kids busy. It’s all a matter of finding the right materials and going for it. Today we’ve already built a fort and played dress up as super heroes. There are more things to come because otherwise I might pull my hair out. #momtruth
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