Rainy Day Activities for Kids
How to Keep Young Kids Busy on a Rainy Summer Day
As any parent of active toddlers knows, having to stay inside and change plans due to weather can make for a long day. Here are some inexpensive and quick ideas for indoor entertainment purposes until the sun shines again. Some of these activities are also helpful with hand and eye coordination, creativity, and gross motor skills.
Activities that Build Hand-Eye Coordination
Tracing: Have a bunch of paper handy in all sizes and use crayons or pencils to trace anything from hands and feet to full bodies, cups, coins, shells, rocks....anything with an unique shape to it.
Cutting: Using age appropriate scissors and taking all safety precautions, have them cut paper any which way. For older kids, draw or have them draw shapes or animals and have them cut on the lines.
Painting: Watercolors are a great thing as they are so easy to clean up. Recycle large pieces of packing paper to use as your child's canvas.
Sculpting and Molding: Make your own playdough or buy it and let them sculpt it. Use cookie cutters to form some interesting shapes. Have older kids form letters or numbers with it.
Using Stickers: Kids love stickers....of anything. Save all the free stickers you receive in the mail from offers or address labels from charities. Create a collage or take some mailing envelopes and play post office and have the kids stamp the mail.
Boost Creativity with Imaginative Play
Tents: Kids love to use their imagination....toss a sheet over the couch or a few chairs and make a tent that they can crawl under. It becomes a rocket, submarine, or whatever their little minds create.
Create Music and Dance: Kids love pretending to be a part of a marching band in a parade. Create musical instruments out of items you already have on hand. Just about anything that is not easily broken or shattered can be a drum such as a small cardboard box or a plastic storage container. Use wooden spoons or unsharpened pencils as drumsticks. Empty paper towel rolls make great horns.
If you don't feel too creative in the music department, find some upbeat music CDs, pull out the inflatable guitars and move to the beat.
Make a Train. Put some chairs in a row, one behind the other, and make a train. Take turns being the conductor or riding in the caboose. Ask the kids where they are heading and you will be amazed where their journeys will take them.
Put Them Into the Driver's Seat. Kids, especially boys, love trucks, planes, and boats, ....and they love pretending that they are driving those vehicles. Have them sit sideways on the couch and use the arm as the front of the vehicle of their choice. A pillow or a paper plate work great as their steering wheel so they can drive or fly into their little worlds.
Imitate an Animal. Have your kids pick an animal to imitate. They can slither like a snake, jump like a frog, or gallop like a horse. This also helps with gross motor skills.
Even on a day when you have to stay indoors, there are a lot of activities that kids can still do while learning, discovering, and having fun. Just remember to make time to splash in the puddles when the rain stops.
