Rainy Day ideas

It’s the middle of the summer holidays, the kids are driving us mad and so of course the weather has turned and it’s raining pretty much non-stop!!!

As much as a bit of rain never spoilt a day out – it’s all about bad clothes, not bad weather!

However sometimes you just want to stay indoors rather than getting like a drowned rat! But you don’t want the kids on their screens all day. So if you are having a rainy day at home here are some ideas of imaginative fun and play ideas to keep you and your children entertained whilst getting them off their screens!

Here are 10 ideas to get you busy and having some rainy day fun!

1/ Face painting

Often face painting is associated with being at a family attraction, however you can pick up a face painting kit fairly cheaply and bring up some fairly simple designs on the internet and the kids love having their face painted! If you are feeling especially brave or chilled you could also let them paint your face!! The kids LOVE it!!!

2/ Play board games

Board games don’t have to be saved for Christmas and don’t have to mean monopoly or Cluedo. There are lots of board games that can involve all ages and even be non – competitive, like Escape Board game. And there are some interesting ones that are great for helping children with strategy, maths, reading and help them with their learning whilst having fun! Some of our favourites are Carcassonne, Settlers, and Ticket to Ride.

3/  Make up a quiz

Give the kids a time limit, decide on a top / theme or series of topics (maybe give a different topic to each child) and they have to go away and create a quiz / game to host for everyone.

A great online quiz tool is Kahoot. and is brilliant for creating bespoke quizzes and games for the family which you can all do live!

4/ Do some baking

Depending on the age of your kids you can simply decorate some rich tea biscuits (simple icing, some sprinkles and smarties and they will be busy for hours!! ) or you can do cupcakes, easy no bake tray cakes, or go all out with some bread or a cake! It’s a great way to teach them passion about food and what we put in our bodies as well as fun to do together (plus if you are clever about what you make you can have tea covered off!)

5/ Make a volcano

This is a super easy science experiment, with very little materials needed and maximum fun and impact for the kids!

Easy instructions here –

1. Pour warm water into the volcano until it is 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full.
2. Add several drops of food coloring.
3. Add a squirt of detergent. …
4. Add a couple of spoonfuls of baking soda.
5. When you are ready to start the eruption, pour vinegar into yourvolcano.
6. You can recharge thevolcano with more baking soda and vinegar.

6/ Make messy play from cheap food items

Obviously messy play isn’t everyone’s cup of tea at home because of the mess, but if you contain it in an area and in containers and give the children rules about where they keep it, it can keep them busy for ages! And for little one especially, sensory play is so beneficial.

Our favourites are dried rice, divided and coloured into different colours; shaving foam coloured with gel colour (this is great in the bath!) spaghetti or pasta shapes.

7/ Do an indoor scavenger hunt

Create a list like below and give it to the children to find each one of the items. If they are too young to read go with them and read it out to them or create it as a picture or colour list.

Try a list like –

find something red

find something fuzzy

find something round

find something with wheels

find something with eyes

find something with 4 legs

find something mutli- coloured

find something that roars

Obviously this can be tailored to the ages of your kids

Or you can do a pre-prepared indoor treasure hunt like here

8/Make slime

What kid doesn’t like making slime?! Here is a great recipe and method on the video by Daisy Days here – don’t forget to subscribe to her channel for more fun and creative ideas….

9/ Make Sand Foam

Make sand foam- super easy, simply mix sand with shaving foam and you won’t believe the amazing texture it creates! It isn’t even that messy once it has been combined and the kids LOVE it!!

10/ Make ice cream playdough

This is a super easy version of making your own playdough, is edible and smells amazing; what’s not to like!!

You need –

Pre made frosting mixture – any flavours you like

3 cups Icing mixture/sugar

Step 1

Pour your frosting flavour into a mixer

Step 2

Slowly add 3 cups of the icing mixture to the frosting on a slow speed

Step 3

Once combined pour out onto grease proof paper and let the kids have some fun!

11/ Make traditional play dough

This is by far the best recipe I have come across for playdough.

You will need –

• Cups of Flour

2 Tbsp of Oil (any oil will do, coconut oil, vegetable oil, even olive oil)

1/2 Cup of Salt

2 Tbsp Cream of Tartar

1 1/2 Cup Boiling Water

How to make playdough

1. Pour 2 cups of  flour into a bowl.
2. Add 1/2 cup of salt.
3. Mix in 2 tbsp Cream of Tartar. (You can find this in the spice section of just about any grocery store.)
4. Add 2 tbsp of oil. For this recipe I used vegetable oil, but you can use any oil, and as long as it’s a kitchen oil, your playdough will be non-toxic and safe if a little one takes a tiny taste.  The sodium level is very high, so we don’t encourage this to double as a snack.
5. Pour in the boiling water. Be VERY careful because this makes the dough HOT!
6. Mix all the ingredients together until they form the dough. At this point, if you don’t want to add any food dye to your playdough, you’re finished!
7. After it’s cooled, to make several different colors of playdough, separate the dough into equal parts and roll it up into balls.
8. Now, punch out the middle of the ball to leave a little bowl for you to pour your gel food dye into.
9. Drip your gel dye into the bowls. This is a great time to mix dye colors if you want to make another color.

• Knead the dough until the dye is thoroughly mixed. This is VERY messy! If you don’t want to stain your hands, use gloves, and make sure to put something down so you don’t stain your counter (like I did).

12/  Make a magazine collage

A great way to use up old magazines and newspapers – give the children a theme and get them to make a picture made out of what they can find in the magazines!

13/ Listen to an audio book

You might want the children to take a break from screens and I bet they don’t actually spend that much time purely listening to a story unless you are reading it to them, as they are usually watching something on the television or device. Getting them to sit and listen to an audio story has an amazing calming effect on a lot of children and they love the ability to sit and let their imagination run along with the story as they hear it.

Download and listen to the Wondersldie World audio book for FREE here 

14/ Make a music video

Again another way to use their devices in a creative and alternative way. Get the children to choose a music track and ask them to plan out creating a music video. Encourage them to do the planning before they actually pick up the device to do the filming. They should draw out storyboards and create a visual script; who should be doing what and where. They can costumes and visuals.  Once they have filmed it they can use a free editing tool like imovie to edit it and share it with the family at your own premiere!

15/ Play hide and seek

The most simple game is often still the most asked for in our house!!

16/  Paint rocks

and when it stops raining you can take them outside to hide them! See a video here on rock painting…

 

 

17/ Sumo Wrestling

Get dads short out, stuff it will pillows or cushions, put a soft surface down and have some fun. Obviously this needs to be supervised as can get a bit excitable!

18/ Build a road

A roll of masking tape is perfect for creating streets, roads and motorways all over the home and then cars and vehicles can have a real adventure! Did you know that vehicles are the most popular interest in pre school children? This is a great way to get them using their vehicles in a new way!

19/ Give them a big pile of cupboard boxes!

Kids have the most fun with a pile of random cardboard boxes – plus some strong tape, felt tips and scissors – they can do what they want with.

Space rockets, boats, bridges, trains, teddy hospitals, castles, smugglers’ caves, bomb shelters….chances are you will be impressed with what they come up with!

Have you seen this amazing video of the cardboard arcade games boy? Its well worth a watch…..

20/ The final one is our favourite…. LOVE BOMB YOUR KIDS!!

What is a love bomb?

Basically it involves spending a nice chunk of one-on-one time with your kid, showering them with love and affection—and most importantly, letting your child call all the shots. So on a rainy day ask them what they want to do, switch off your phone, your laptop, the radio, the lot. For an hour. Solid. And cuddle them. Listen to them. Read to them. Play any game they want. Basically give them undivided attention for that hour.

Then leave them alone.

Now of course they’ll come back for top-up attention, but this is one of the best things you can do to teach them to entertain themselves, as counterintuitive as it sounds, giving them the undivided attention, re-sets them and allows them to go and entertain themselves afterward!

Hopefully some of these activities help you to stay sane in the rain (while inside anyway!!)

And if all else fails, get them suited and booted and go out puddle splashing!!!

 

 

You might also like 15 ideas for awesome childrens summer holiday activities/

Read 5 imaginative outdoor activities to do with children

11 ways to encourage creative play in your child

Brilliant ideas for an Easter Egg Hunt….

 

An great Easter Egg hunt can be simply hiding a load of eggs for the children to here are some ideas to make your Easter egg hunt even more fun, creative or give a new twist on your egg hunt! Here are some ideas to help you create the best Easter egg hunt….

The Eggs –  

 Of course chocolate eggs are the obvious choice but you could choose to not use chocolate. You can use plastic eggs which are filled with small toys, chicks or sweets  or with clues that correspond to bigger prizes such as stuffed toys. Easter books, chocolate bunnies or certificates.

 Or you could hard boil real eggs and decorate them or even better get the kids to decorate them before Easter day comes!

Here are 11 brilliant ideas for how to run your best fun egg hunt!!

1/ Easter Egg Treasure Hunt: 

This can be done either indoors or outdoors or a combination. Simply write out clues with each hidden location leading them to the next. It’s a good idea to number the clues so they don’t skip one! At the end, have an Easter basket filled with eggs and treats waiting for them!

 

2/ The Golden Easter Egg:

Paint an egg gold or get a gold egg and put some money or a main prize in it. This can make the hunt even more exciting and who will find the golden Easter egg first?

3/ Bowling with Eggs:

Hard boil a load of eggs and then paint them different colours. Have one egg which is white. Roll the white egg into the centre of a room and take it in turns to see who can roll their coloured egg closest to the white egg.

 4/ Activity Easter egg hunt

Set up different activity posts around the garden or park. At each post, the children will need to complete a physical challenge before they start searching for more eggs. You can have an adult at each post setting the activity and judging that they have done it appropriately. They can be given an egg for their efforts each time. They could also receive an egg sticker! Activities could include running up and down a path or doing a silly dance, star jumps, and egg and spoon race, skipping with a rope, throwing a ball into a hoop or a mini obstacle course.

5/ Pirate treasure hunt

Why not mix things up a bit with some different themes. A pirate treasure hunt means you can make a treasure map which the children have to follow to search out their chocolate eggs, with the final ‘X’ marking the spot……

6/  Dinosaur treasure hunt

Another theme which is great at Easter is hiding dino eggs. You can teach children to be dino rangers, give them binocolors, toy compasses and teach them to walk like dinosaurs. To do an awesome dinosaur themed treasure hunt, see The Dino Ranger Treasure Hunt here which includes Ron the Ranger leading the chillden in their ranger hunting skills and even teaching them The Dino Rap song! 

 

7/ Fancy dress Easter egg hunt

Place different dressing up items around the garden for the children to find and put on. They don’t need to be expensive, home-made bunny ears, a selection of hats, cotton wool tails, glasses, bags and gloves are all easy to make and great fun. 

At the end, each bunny wins a treat for their efforts.

8/ Easter egg hunt with a colour code

Assign each child a different colour. Wrap the eggs in different coloured tissue paper (or use foiled wrapped chocolate eggs in different colours) and hide around the space. The children must only collect eggs of their colour. This is great for younger children who can’t read yet but know their colours! 

9/ Easter egg hunt with bunny vouchers

Instead of chocolate treats, put little slips of paper inside plastic eggs which contain vouchers for activities for the child to claim over the coming weeks. These tokens can be for activities such as ‘watch a movie together with popcorn’, ‘have a teddy bear picnic’, ‘go to the park’ or ‘go out for cake with mummy’.

10/ Follow the Easter rope

Have a very long length of string or rope and at various points along it tie an Easter egg. The drape it around the space you are using (indoors or out) this may include putting through windows, through bushes and across fences.  The children have to use the strong to help them follow to the next egg! Each child then gets the end of one of the pieces of string and they have to follow it to find their egg.

11/ Easter bingo

Give each child a ‘bingo sheet’ marked with things you find at Easter, for example, spring flowers like daffodils, toy chicks or lambs, hot cross buns or religious items. Hide these items around the hunt space (garden, house or park). Challenge the children to find as many as they can and mark them off on their sheet when they have found them.The first to get a ‘full house’ wins.

Some great Easter Egg Hunt tips…..

Creating an egg hunt in a space away from the home:

Woodland areas make great hunt ground. Chhose a small area of woodland and place eggs under a landmark such as a bench or a bush or tuck them into the hollow of a tree. Don’t forget to keep a list of the places where you’ve hidden your eggs!

 

A local park is also a great place to create a hunt. If you have more than one adult involved one of you can go away and set up the hunt (and guard it until your children arrive1) and the other one can bring the children along in a bit. You can even be extra kind and generous and invite other children at the park to join in! 

Large groups of children:

If you have a larger group of children, they can work in teams. Each team can have a colour, with an equal number of eggs to match. Teams hide their own clutch of eggs and then have a race to find each other’s. You could use small chocolate Easter eggs wrapped in paper to match the team’s colour. Alternatively, make your own coloured eggs using food colouring.

(Hard boil the eggs and then mix colour solutions using water, vinegar and food colouring and soaks the eggs in the colour mixtures, watching them change colour!)

You can also designate a base and ask each child to return to it once they have collected five eggs to save the same (older or faster!)  children collecting them all!They should stay there until all the children have returned before setting out again. That way you can ensure they all get the same amount of eggs.

Estimate about a dozen eggs per guest so everyone has a chance to find and collect a good amount of eggs. Have a few extra baskets on hand in case guests forget to bring their own. You could also pair the younger ones up with the older ones. Small children can be overwhelmed by older ones so it works better if they can work in teams.

 

 

 

If you are hosting the hunt for children who are a mixture of ages:

You could divide the space into two zones; one for younger kids and one for older kids.  For the younger children you can make the eggs easier to find and for the older kids they can be harder or have word based clues.

If you’re hosting a hunt for toddlers, try hanging balloons instead of eggs for easy searching!

If toddlers are in attendance make sure any toys being used and especially chicks don’t contain chocking hazards.

 

Chocolate egg alternatives –

Obviously you want the children to get a prize in return for the egg-cellent hunting! However if you don’t want to give chocolate you can give a colouring book, reading book, a toy or a treat such as a picnic?

Another good idea is to give children certificates of achievement afterward. You can print out your own or buy some.

Chocolate egg consumption rules….

Unless you want a garden/house full of hyper children it’s a good idea to put rues in place to start with about when they can eat the eggs and how many, so they have a clear understanding of how much they can eat (and children’s activities work so much better when kids know the rules) A few eggs once the hunt has finished is perfectly acceptable and the rest can be taken home for them to eat over the Easter holidays.

Remember,the hunt doesn’t end until the last egg is found, so keep a count of how many eggs you hide!

Happy hunting!!

If you want to see how to make jelly eggs go here

If you want to buy a ready made amazing dinosaur themed treasure hunt with video clues, puzzle pieces and clues Buy the Dino Ranger Treasure hunt go here