20 Fun Ideas for You and Your Child on a Rainy Day

We are coming into spring here soon. And with that season comes the rain. With rain comes days when your children are stuck inside with no outlet for their bountiful energy.

It can be difficult on rainy days not to put in a few movies or let the cartoon channel run on the tv all day long to occupy the children. With a little creativity and enthusiasm from you, kids can have fun all day long. Without using the TV as a babysitter.

1. A fun thing to do is baking cookies. What is better then warm chocolate chip cookies? And children of all ages can help add ingredients or stir. As well as steal chocolate chips from the bag. Waiting in anticipation at the door of the oven and hopping around as they cool. Children adore making chocolate chip cookies and eating them too.

2. You could try having an indoor picnic. Spread out a large blanket on the floor and have sandwiches and watermelon. Eating while sitting on the floor can seem like a new concept to many children who generally eat at a table. This can be as exciting and fun as it is when you go for a picnic outside.

3. Start an age appropriate puzzle. Puzzles are inexpensive fun that you can easily stock up on. Older kids can do puzzles with over 1000 pieces, while younger ones do better with puzzles under 20 pieces. For finished masterpieces either use some puzzle glue to hold them together, or take them apart and set aside for another rainy day.

4. Board games are a fast dying tradition. When I was a child, every rainy day was spent playing "The game of Life", "Sorry" and "Monopoly". There are even versions for children as young as 3. Other games include Memory ( which can be made by the children before playing it) Uno, and CandyLand. You can even add a twist to the games by making activities related to the roll of the dice or turn of the card. For example if your roll a 6 you have to spin in a circle. Or if you land on a blue spot you have to do a jumping jack. This gets children moving as well as occupies them.

5. You can put on a puppet show. Start with making puppets. Old socks with holes, paper bags. Googly eyes, pipe cleaners and buttons. Add a bit of glue and you can have a finely decorated puppet in no time. Keep a small box or container on hand and buy various craft supplies when they are on sale, search clearance areas for bits of fabric, silk flowers and ribbons. Sequence, yarn, glitter, pompoms and bells are all great additions to your new friends. After you finish making them, make up a story, or act out one you already know.

6. Become a thespian and act out a play. Collect old costumes and dress up clothes. Adult clothes can work well. Decide on what story you want to act out and give various children different jobs, such as director, and actor. Even a narrator is good for a budding reader. Put on a play. Bonus points to set up a video recorder and save the memory for later on.

7. Dress up is another fun idea. Again, use old costumes, play clothes, and over sized outfits to encourage creative play. You be the child while your child is the adult. Enjoy that creativeness that they have when they are young, embrace and encourage it.

8. Rainy days often leave children and adults alike feeling depressed and down. Turn on lots of light, put on some fun active music and have karaoke time, or sing along with the music. Dance, get the energy flowing. Have your children put on a talent show, again recording those times on video make great memories.

9. Building a fort for play is great fun. Perhaps you are building a castle. Will there be a princess and a dragon? Or maybe you building a space ship to fly to another planet. Or maybe you are just building a fort to camp out in. Give the children some sleeping bags. Create the illusion of a fire. Make smores and tell stores around your "fire"

10. Stack up on new things, like special coloring books and new crayons that only come out on rainy days. Pick up a few coloring books when you are out without your kids, a few of their favorite characters and movies. Make them special for rainy days, always keep a few new boxes of crayons on hand to go with their new coloring books. Or get some long paper, available at many craft stores. Have them draw a huge mural. Make sure to hang it up in their room. Or make one for Grandma.

11. If you have younger and older children. You may find that the younger ones want to go to school like their older siblings. Look for some age appropriate activities online, and set up a school in your living room. Have some school type ideas for them to do. Take the time to teach them a few new letters in the alphabet, or how to write them. Maybe you can teach some general math along with it. Children love to learn. Specially when its made fun. Or maybe you can be the student while your child teaches you?

12. Having a scavenger hunt or a item hunt can be great fun. If you get up early and notices its raining. Take the time to write out a few clue cards. This is a fun and easy game. You write the first clue, it directs you to a certain area. In that area is another clue. You keep searching till you find the prize. Have a few prizes on hand. Or while getting ready for another activity have a scavenger hunt. Give each child a list of very different things to locate and bring to you. Having a prize for the participants gives added incentive to join the fun, or a special treat for finishing the list. Be sure to have a race to see who can put all the items back the fastest.

13.Create fun science projects. Make a paper mache' volcano, paint it. Then have it erupt. This can be an ongoing project over several rainy days as paper mache' can take a few days to dry fully. Vinegar and Baking soda make wonderful lava. Just don't forget to dye it red.

14.Another fun paper mache' is making a pinata. Blow up a large balloon and make a paper mache pinata out of it. Fill it with candy or prizes and let the children have at it in a safe area such as large room with all the furniture pushed back or garage.

15.A really fun twist on an old chore. Is let the children bathe the dog. Dogs are generally fine with lukewarm water but bathing them can be a chore and a pain for the owner. Have young children get in bathing suits and climb in the tub with the dog. They can take turns sudsing him up and rinsing him off with cups of water. Just make sure all the soap is washed off in the end. They will even enjoy brushing him once he is clean. Make sure you give the dog a treat for being a good sport.

16. Make home made play dough. This is Edible, though it may not taste very well, but is very fun. To make : Mix 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, 1 Tablespoon oil, food coloring and water to consistency! Its simple to make and fun to play with. Easy clean up as well. Store in a air tight container or plastic bag if desired.

17. Tie Dye some plain white tee shirts for fun. Get some buckets or containers and buy some brightly colored clothing dye. Most require you to soak the garment for a bit of time. Dissolve a different color in a bucket of warm water. Wrap rubber bands around various parts of the shirts, twisting and wrapping them up. Then put some news paper down and have the children make their own decorated clothes.

18. Redecorate a child's room. You can paint a room or make some fun decorations to put up. Take on that challenge of cleaning up the closet or area that rarely gets cleaned up, organize and get rid of things that aren't played with. Get some new things for the room to replace things you get rid of. Pick out some new bedding or other fun thing to put in the room.

19. Create an obstacle course for the children. You can create paths, and tunnels. Under chairs and over couches. Kids will love this idea as generally crawling on furniture is forbidden. You can make this into a race for children with a prize at the end for everyone who finishes. Make it as complicated as your children's ages will allow.

20. A final idea is letting your children put on raincoats, hats and boots and letting them stomp in the puddles. When its drizzling out it can feel quite dismal. But children of all ages adore stomping in puddles and making mud pies. Let them get a bit wet, let them get messy, and watch the show. This is another great time to have your camera or recorder out.

Keep a list of fun ideas and items that you can do with your children on rainy days. Sometimes a little pre advanced planning is involved and needed. But its always worth it in the end. You avoid having them spend hours watching tv, and they have hours of entertainment. More if you record some of their antics. A rainy day doesn't mean the fun and play has to stop, just that you have to plan a bit for it. Make it special and fun and you and your children will never dread rainy days again.