Banish the Rainy Day Boredom

My little Puddle Jumper

 If you’re like me and live in a state where it rains at least 75% of the year, it gets hard coming up with new ideas to keep your kiddos occupied and having fun inside. I’m hoping to give you some inspiration to come up with your own ideas to have fun while stuck indoors. Hopefully you’ll have fun too.

One of my favorite things to do if we’re stuck inside is build a fort. We use every pillow in the house along with half of the blankets to stack up and drape over to create this awesome cave where you can color, tell stories, have a picnic or do whatever you want to inside. Half the fun is creating the fort so be creative and see how tall or extravagant you can make it.  If you've got one of those indoor tents, those are just as much fun because you can pretend you're camping. The point is to have fun.

We used a salt-dough ornament recipe and made handprints

I'm a crafty lady and I'm pretty sure my son has inherited my love for everything craft-related so we will sit and draw, paint, color, play with stickers, etc. It lets your kiddos use their creativity and mind to create whatever they want to. When we fingerpaint, I strip my little guy down to his diaper and stick him in his high chair to minimize messes and avoid handprints on the wall. I’ve found a few recipes on the internet for bath paints as well so if you’re hesitant on giving your child paint, that would be a cleaner route. (I think one of the ingredients is baby shampoo). If you have a bunch of old magazines lying around, you can cut out pictures and make collages. They could have a theme if you want such as “springtime” or “flowers”, or you can just have them cut out pictures that they think are pretty or represent them. They can cut out letters to form their name or other words to describe themselves. *Note: If your kiddos are too young to use scissors themselves, have them point out what they want cut and do it for them so you don’t end up with injuries. They can always rip around the pictures they want. It gives the collage a more grunge look to it. You could also make masks and perform a play with them. You could use newspaper, construction paper, scrap paper or whatever you want to make and decorate your masks.

Playing out in the rain

We also like to play dress-up when we’re stuck indoors. From costumes to old clothes or bedsheets, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy and it gives you the opportunity to use your imagination. We pretend we’re pirates and turn the couch into our pirate ship. Whatever you come up with will be fun for the kids. I know I have a blast when we play dress up.

My son loves to have dance parties. If the music has a good beat, he’s shaking his booty. It helps get his extra energy out and if you join it it’ll burn some calories while being fun at the same time. I’m a horrible dancer but I do it anyway because it’s so much fun. If you’re being silly and letting loose, it shows your kiddos that it’s ok to be yourself and have a good time even if you look silly doing it. I find that breaking out the “running man” and the “sprinkler” always gets a laugh and I find myself laughing right along. (Which also burns more calories)

Our Movie Night Spot

Have a movie night (or day). We like to grab every pillow and blanket we have in the house and drag everything to the couch to build a gigantic comfy fort/bed to lay on while we’re watching movies. What movie night would be complete without refreshments? Pop a couple of bags of popcorn or grab a bag of chex mix or whatever you feel like snacking on during the movie. My son is very vocal during movies, so it’s nice to be able to watch a full movie without him disturbing the other movie goers. (I have gotten dirty looks from childless couples when we’ve taken him to the matinee showing of children’s movies. It’s stupid and I shouldn’t have to worry about my child bothering people during a movie made for children at a time in the day when the theaters are full of children, but it is what it is.) Another bonus of watching a movie at your house is that you can pause it to go to the restroom or if you have to get up to get more snacks.

If I ever run out of ideas, I turn to Google or Pinterest. There are so many ideas floating around on the net to keep you and your kiddos occupied during the icky weather.