Rainy Days getting you down?
It’s true- after a few days of rainy weather, the kids are just bored and full of energy, and you feel worn out trying to keep them occupied.
Here’s a few ideas to spark some new interest and add a little fun to these otherwise gloomy days.
All these ideas cost very little, or nothing at all, and they can all be done from the comforts of home.
I have included some activities for all ages- preschool, elementary age, and even teens. (plus it always amazes me what little ones can do if they see the older ones doing it.)
We’ve used so many of these ideas in our own home over the years!
You might even see your kids all excited when a rainy day comes!!
1. Bubble stuff– let them don raincoats and step out to blow bubbles in the rain
2. Play dough
Here’s a less crumbly type of play dough you can make, and the kids will enjoy helping to make it and choose their favorite color to distinguish theirs from everyone else.
- 1 c. flour
- 2 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1 c. water
- 1/2 c. salt
- few drops liquid food coloring
- 3 Tbsp. cooking oil
Mix and cook in saucepan on medium heat until mixture coagulates into a ball. Cool. Store in air tight container.
3. Outlining– gather a bunch of objects- jar lids, combs, Popsicle sticks, cookie cutters, bottle tops, containers, etc. and let the kids place them on a sheet of paper and trace around their outlines.
4. Gluing shapes– cut a bunch of rectangles, circles, squares, triangles, and so on from construction paper and use glue sticks to glue them down in creative arrangements. If you have older kids, they can cut the shapes out for you.
5. Count M&M’s. Then eat them or make Monster Cookies.
- 6 eggs
- 2 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 c. margarine
- 2 c. white sugar
- 4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. Karo syrup (optional)
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 3 c. crunchy peanut butter
- 7 c. rolled oats
- 2 c. flour
- 8 oz. chocolate chips
- 1/2 lb. M&M’s
Mix eggs, sugars, margarine, soda, corn syrup, vanilla, and peanut butter with mixer. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.
6. Make paper chains and decorate their room.
7. Make a fort from blankets
8. Make a town out of assorted boxes to be used as different buildings, bank/ car wash/grocery store/ hospital etc. Make roads to connect the buildings and use matchbox cars in the town.
9. Wash doll clothes by hand. It really is fun!
10. Wash toys
11. Sticker fun
12. Floor puzzles– let the kids “race” themselves, trying to break their record of how quickly they can assemble the puzzles.
13. Country game- Use a world map. Say “Find Indonesia, find Norway” and so on, and let kids see who can be the first to find the country.
14. Listen to audio books and learn history or Scripture while doing so. One of our customers said she loved that her son learns history while playing Legos.
15. Write a letter of gratefulness to a pastor, grandparent, neighbor, elderly person, or the person who cleans the church week after week (our granddaughter did this on her own)
16. Make a picture for an elderly person
17. Historical role playing– Our kids and grandkids love to play “Washington Crossing the Delaware” or “The Battle of Stony Creek” Don’t know history? Uncle Rick can inspire your child with countless stories from history that will give your kids all sorts of new ideas to imagine.
18. Make a batch of popcorn and string it. Hang it out for the birds to eat when you finish.
19.Our kids loved to play with magnetic dolls. (here’s some for boys, too!)
20. Draw with chalk on sandpaper- really fun
21. Lightly wet a piece of manilla drawing paper and draw on it with colored chalk
22. Make a boat from a walnut shell filled with soap and make a little sail to stick into the soap. Float in the bathtub. You can make a whole fleet.
23. Make a scrapbook. My kids used to love this. Make one of babies or pets or farm animals. Give it to a little brother or sister or child at church when done
24. Write “Things I Like About__________” (Daddy, Grandpa, pastor, neighbor, friend) and give it to them and make their day.
25. Make Muddy Buddies –
Rick’s mom made this when she was here one time. The kids absolutely loved it and asked Grannie for the recipe, and have enjoyed making it since then.
- 1/4 c. (1/2 stick) margarine
- 1 c. chocolate chips
- 1/2 c. peanut butter
- 9 c. flavor Chex cereal
- 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Pour cereal into large bowl; set aside. In a 1-quart microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and margarine. Microwave on HIGH 1 to 11/2 minutes or until smooth, stirring after 1 minute. Stir in vanilla. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal, stirring until all pieces are evenly coated. Pour cereal mixture into a large resealable bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal securely and shale until all pieces are well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. YIELD: 9 cups.
26. Write a story and illustrate it. You can even have it made into a book. We did this with our kiddos.
27 Historical coloring books– lots of fun titles available such as: Heroes and Heroines of the Revolution and Story of the Civil War…
28. Color by Number– lots of cute ones,
29. Paint with water books– no mess!
30. Apple prints. Cut an apple in half and let kids dip it in washable poster paint and make prints on paper. Fun. Can even use as wrapping paper.
31. Make a volcano– Here’s a link that shows how
32. Play with magnets– get a nice strong magnet and let kids experiment to see what is metal and what is not
33. Magnetic letters to use on refrigerator- good for kids learning to spell words
34. Soap carving– Ivory brand soap is great because it floats. When they carve their animal or whatever, they can use it at bathtime and see it float in the tub.
35. Popsicle stick creations– My kids made some pretty impressive buildings/forts with popsicle sticks and a glue gun.
36. Design a home– My boys helped their Dad on drywall jobs, so they saw lots of new construction. They loved coming home and designing homes on paper.
37. Make snack mix – a great, hearty snack. Kids love to make it!
Mix 1 cup each chocolate chips, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and raisins. Store in airtight container.
38. Make Popsicles. Try these fruit yogurt pops. Or find more popsicle recipes in my cookbook, Homemade with Love
39. Make fruit smoothies– make up your own creation
40. “Special” toys– I used to keep some toys up in the attic and pull them down for “special” times. That way, they actually were more special!
41. Plan and cook a meal– my kids loved doing this. Depending on the age, they may need your supervision:)
42. Make recipe cards– My girls LOVED to do this. They’d look through cookbooks for interesting recipes, and then write out those recipes on cards, and keep them for future use.
43. Plan a surprise for Dad, a sibling or a friend
44. Look through their baby pictures and when they were little. They LOVE to hear stories of when they were little and the photos will jar your memory.
45. Read “special” books. I save certain books to read for “special times” .
46. Dolly Dressing sticker books– the grandkids LOVE them- (and don’t let the “dolly” name fool you. There’s lots of variety with something for both boys and girls)
Here’s a few:
47. Take pictures– get an inexpensive digital camera and let your kids learn how to take good pictures
48. Call an elderly person and tell them something you like about them
49. Label toy containers. Let kids draw pictures of what should be in the container- kitchen food, matchbox cars, doll house people, etc. and attach to the containers to make clean up time more efficient. If kids invest in helping make the pictures, you’ll find they care more when it comes to picking up time too.
50.Have fun using Stencils to create neat pictures
What a fun list with many hours of creative play, thoughtful projects, and even learning to choose from.
Next time it rains, pull out this list and surprise your kids with something new to do. Or, show your kids the list, and let them pick for themselves!
What about you? Do you have any favorite rainy day activities?
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