Rainy Day Activities

[Guest]

It has been raining here for days (and days, and days) with little relief in sight. Now that we've gotten a taste of going outside twice a day (we've had a warm couple of months), the toddlers are extra antsy from being inside. I am running out of ideas to keep them busy, nothing keeps their attention. We played with shaving cream today, and they were done after maybe 10 minutes.

I need some fresh ideas for rainy days. Help please!

[Brooksie]

Girl, I'm in the same boat! We generally go out at LEAST 2x a day but haven't been able to most of the week. All the extra fun things I think of doing last 10 min tops. Then they're back to "do else?". I'm going crazy... tgif!!!

[Sereetta]

Same here

Check out pinterest I got some great ideas there!!! I think the best was making wind chimes!

[Sunshine74]

Girl, I'm in the same boat! We generally go out at LEAST 2x a day but haven't been able to most of the week. All the extra fun things I think of doing last 10 min tops. Then they're back to "do else?". I'm going crazy... tgif!!!

I feel like every fun thing and all the usual tricks I have tried, fails. Sensory table- nope; play dough-no; we even pulled out the big parachute- lasted about 10, maybe 15 minutes. And that is on top of the usual things we always play with, but with all this inside time, they just keep saying we want to "play something" which is usually code for they are bored and want to do something different. Thank goodness we got a break today and it didn't rain like it was supposed to!

[Josiegirl]

Last week we froze dinosaurs, seashells and those flat glass marbles in a large block of ice. We used a dish tub. It took a couple days as I froze it in layers. Then I turned it out into my sensory tub, and gave the kids some cups with lids filled with hot water, a salt shaker, some spoons and told them to start digging. After about 15 minutes they got sick of that so we talked about how else we could excavate the dinosaurs. I gave them screwdrivers and a small hammer and very carefully supervised them(I held the screwdriver)while they hammered. It worked much faster. But they played at that off and on for a good 4 hours that day.

Something we've done with shaving cream that held their interest was pretend it was mortar and we used wooden blocks to build walls.

When we need a spur of the moment activity, I find my go-to collage bag, and let them have at it.
We played Going on a Picnic the other day and the kids really liked that. Telephone is another fun game(if your kids are old enough?).
My kids consider it a huge treat if I hand out flashlights. They can think of a million things to do with those.

I think I'm going to make a list of activities to do when my mind goes blank so I'll always have something at hand.

[MamaBearCanada]

Pop up tents or blanket forts - pretend camping
Indoor obstacle courses - use large beanbags, cushions, tunnels, anything to crawl under/over/through
Pretend cushions or boxes are stepping stones and make a path through room kids cannot touch the floor
Pop up tunnels
Build with large cardboard boxes - I get them to decorate them before or after
Toddler slide
Toddler play Climber (if you have room inside)
Use large boxes or tote boxes to be boats/trains, lids can be rafts
Indoor treasure hunt
Small beanbag toss into baskets or a hula hoop on ground
Ballpit