Rainy day fun for kids
As the old saying goes – April showers bring May flowers. But these “showers” are likely bringing the kids in the house looking for things to do. Plan ahead now to prepare for the next soggy day outside. Whenever the rain puts a damper on your kid's mood and cabin fever is driving you all bonkers, you'll be ready to snap into action with these play-and-pretend ideas to keep your kids engaged for hours.
Put on a show with homemade puppets. Sure, we've all created puppets out of cotton socks, paper bags, markers and a handful of buttons. But why not allow your child to get really creative with a veritable grab bag of puppetry accessories that you can accumulate and store in a special Puppet Box?
As you're cleaning the house or shopping at the grocery, thrift, or dollar stores, keep an eye out for fun adornments for homemade puppets. Collect and buy: glitter, dried beans, sequins, tinsel, string, ribbons, yarn, unique buttons and appliques, macaroni and seashells (beware of small objects, though, that could pose a choking hazard for small children). Be sure to also keep your Puppet Box stocked with must-have items like glue, scissors, washable markers, Popsicle sticks, a needle and thread (when sewing, be sure to supervise young children or do sewing projects yourself). Also, keep a few small cardboard boxes – folded and flattened for easy storage – to cut out and color for some nifty background scenes and props.
Build a fort. Get out some old sheets, blankets, or comforters and drape them over the living or dining room furniture. Use ribbons from your sewing kit or ponytail holders and hair ties to secure the bottoms of the fabrics to chairs and tables. Have your child create a secret password that allows outsiders (i.e. Mom and Dad) into the private hideaway. Give your child a battery-operated camping lantern, sleeping bags, camping-themed books and flashlights for that added outdoor appeal.
Create a rainy-day dress-up chest. Keep an eye out for interesting old clothes items and accessories around the house, on discount racks and at dollar stores or thrift shops. Stock up on scarves, funky hats (cowboy hats, sombreros, team baseball caps, construction hard hats), costume jewelry, shoes (adults' and kids'), shirts (oversized white shirts for doctors' lab coats, Hawaiian shirts for a luau) dresses, skirts and jackets. Collect any piece of clothing or accessory that could lend itself to make-believe. Put all of the items in a sturdy plastic storage bin. Then pull out the dress-up chest for hours of fun.
Make thank-you gifts for the important people in your child's life: caregivers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers, babysitters, neighbors and child-care workers. Bake a few batches of cookies that your child can decorate and wrap with color plastic wrap and ribbons; or create thank-you cards on printer paper or construction paper. Glue on special adornments like family photos, ribbons, glitter and buttons (again, beware of small objects that could pose choking hazards for babies and toddlers). Help improve your child's spelling and letter identification skills by letting her type and print out her own messages in fancy fonts on the computer. Instead of doing crafts just to get through the day, this project will help your child feel like her time and efforts are being spent on a greater purpose – giving to someone she cares about.