Rainy Day Boredom Busters
by Kimberly Lund
It’s rainy and the kids are bored. Even with a bedroom full of toys, they still claim “there’s nothing to do.” Boredom isn’t so bad, but if you’re looking for something to do that will stimulate your child’s mind and creative spirit, read on. You don’t need to spend money to provide hours of entertainment for your children. Turn off the TV and video games—the following educational activities are kid approved and will bring harmony to a rainy day household.
Mom’s Quick and Easy Play Dough
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1⁄2 cup water
2 tbsp oil
a few drops of food colouring
Kids love to help with measuring and mixing. Add craft sparkles for extra interest. Provide your child with utensils, muffin tins, cookies cutters, rolling pins, small plastic animals and cars. Show them how to roll and shape the dough to make snakes and snowmen. This play dough will last for weeks if put in a container with a lid and stored in the fridge. You’ll find it hard to resist playing, too!
Beading
Great for coordination, these creations can be proudly worn by people and stuffed animals alike.
Let your child colour dry macaroni with markers, and then string them like beads to make necklaces and bracelets. A shoelace makes a perfect string for this activity. Cheerios also make useful (and tasty) beads. Pipe cleaners double as great “string” for beading and can be purchased inexpensively at a dollar store.
Blanket Fort
Never underestimate the appeal of blankets draped over chairs, tables or couches. These structures instantly become castles, houses and caves. Chairs lined up are transformed into cars, buses, trains or airplanes. With a little imagination, a bed or two couches pushed together become a boat or pirate ship. Supply comfy pillows and books, and children will curl up for a rest without knowing it!
Play Store
Save empty food packages, boxes and containers to make a play store. Make play money from strips of craft paper and coins from aluminum foil. An egg carton is a perfect cash register.
Puppets
Remember making paper bag or sock puppets as a child? Kids today still love to decorate paper bags and put on puppet shows. A blanket draped over two chairs that hides the puppeteers makes a perfect theatre. Use old socks and sew on a face with buttons and thread. Use yarn or fabric for hair and embellishments. If you’re not much of a seamstress, use a glue gun or permanent markers for the face. You will likely be pleasantly surprised at how much these crazy friends delight your child. Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the show.
Rain Pictures
Have your child draw a colorful design on white paper with water-based markers. Lie the picture outside in the rain. After a couple of minutes, bring the picture inside and blot it dry with a rag or paper towel. When the picture dries you will have a cool work of art!
Turn On The Tunes
Music has the amazing capacity to calm children while they play and it lends a certain positivity to a rainy day. Put on something with a good beat, move the furniture out of the way and give your child room to dance. Dance along, too. Supply a scarf, leaf or feather to wave while they dance and twirl. For more structure, encourage them to slither like a snake, float like a butterfly, hop like a frog or stomp like a dinosaur. Give kids a pot with a wooden spoon for a drum, pot lids as cymbals, or dry macaroni in a lidded plastic container as a shaker. These make perfect instruments to keep the beat. Music is freedom and the physical activity will help burn off restless energy.
Obstacle Course
Set up an obstacle course in your living room. Go around chairs, crawl under the table, make a line on the floor with painters or masking tape that acts as a “balancing beam,” end with a fun bounce on couch cushions.
Indoor Sandbox
Fill a plastic tub with rice, cornmeal, beans, pasta, or oatmeal. Provide sand toys, measuring cups, spoons, dinosaurs, toy cars. Or make a “waterbox” by adding water to a plastic bin. Add a couple of drops of food coloring or dish soap bubbles. Give the kids bath tub toys, boats, baby dolls or doll clothes to wash. Place a sheet or plastic table cloth under the bin for easy clean up.
Memory Game
Grab a tray or large plate. Find random small objects around the house such as a marker, ball, toy, feather, pinecone, fridge magnet,etc and place on the tray. Let children study the contents for a few minutes. Cover with a towel or dishcloth. Slide out an object in your hand and hide it behind your back. Remove the towel and have the children quess what’s missing. A variation of this game is to have children feel under the cloth and try to guess what’s there by using their sense of touch.
Fun Roadway
Make roads for cars and trucks using masking or painter’s tape on the floor.
Tea Time
Whether you get out your lace table cloth and fancy dishes or use play dishes, kids will be thrilled. Don’t forget to wear your fancy clothes. The tea party could be a birthday party for a favorite teddy bear or doll. If you have left over party decorations, get them out. Wrap up “gifts” for teddy and don’t forget to sing the birthday song!
Kitchen Fun
You can find endless great recipes to make with children on the internet. Kids love to help in the kitchen by making sandwiches and baking cookies. A fun and easy recipe is for sugar cookies. There are no fancy ingredients and kids love to roll out the dough and use cookies cutters to make shapes. They are fun to decorate with sprinkles, sugar, or icing.
Sugar Cookies
350˚F for 10-15 mins
2 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1⁄4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
Mix, chill dough, roll and cut in shapes.
Cardboard Tube Pizzazz
Using toilet tissue rolls and paper towel rolls, you’re recycling and being creative. These tubes have many great uses, but here are a few favorites: Tie a long piece of string to one, and then string the rest to create a pull-toy snake. Children can decorate the snake and add a friendly face. Cut a forked tongue out of coloured paper or fabric. Glue in place. Milk cartons can be used in a similar way—on a string to become a train or as a puppy with a leash.
Crazy Caterpillars
Using scissors, cut an egg carton in half lengthwise. Now you have two caterpillars! Use pipe cleaners to make antennae, add a face and glue on some embellishments or glitter. The cardboard cartons are easier to decorate than the Styrofoam.
Mosaics
Pieces of paper from magazines, newspapers, flyers, or any other paper from your recycle box can become beautiful mosaics. Have your child draw a picture of a flower or geometric design. Then glue the pieces of paper onto the picture to fill in the design. You may want to separate the colors into piles. Have a damp washcloth handy for sticky fingers.
Kimberly Lund is an Early Childhood Educator with a five-year-old daughter.
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