while you’re having rainy day inside activities(which we would LOVE to have down here in drought stricken Texas) we have the too hot to want to do anything outside 103 degree heat inside activities! The choice as of late with our six is gathering any and all toys, dress-up clothes, blocks, cans, etc. to make a store for shopping, destroying the living room. Then of course you have them taking on the various roles while going shopping. Seller, mom, dad and the babies, and even a puppy in there( don’t know when puppies were allowed in stores—maybe in California with the stars, but it’s being able to put your little brother on a leash thats the draw I guess
Interesting to listen to their conversations while role playing—some I’ll claim, others…well, hmmmm, I’ll take the 5th!
My favorites ” We’ll have to see darlin, I don’t know if we have enough money to buy that” or ” you need to behave or we won’t get any cookies” and “let’s try that on to see how it looks and if your boobies are covered”:-)
Rainy Day Fun
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Family on Monday, June 29, 2009 12:00 PM
On the East Coast we’re experiencing the rainiest June I can recall.
Just days and days that can’t be spent poolside or riding bikes.
There are always movies and computer games of course, but besides the questionable influences involved, I simply don’t think it’s brain-healthy to spend much time in front of the glowing screens.
It certainly doesn’t make for good moods—have you ever noticed how crotchety kids get (kids, heck, I get) when plopped in front of a screen for very long?
Three of our four kids are inveterate readers, but even the reading-est kid can’t read all the time. So what do your kids do when presented with a string of rainy days?
“Knights & Legos” (meaning Playmobil figures in toy brick landscapes) is a perennial favorite for us, and the kids have started to get into more interesting card games (almost out of the Go Fish stage at our house). But what delights me are the kids’ individual hobbies.
Our Rachel can entertain herself for hours making dresses for homemade paper dolls. She stores the dolls and dresses in a three-ring binder with transparent sleeves. Her taste runs to ballroom gowns as you can see, but there are a fair number of chic pantsuits, sundresses, and business ensembles as well—complete with accessories.
Joseph is king of the blocks, constructing endless iterations of castles or churches when sports aren’t available to him.
John-Paul makes funny newsletters full of pre-teen witticisms (largely at his parents’ expense).
Our youngest plays “cute pets,” which involves concocting adventures for about a dozen beanie babies. I can always tell where he’s been, because there will be a pile of the tiny stuffed toys, at least one of which is riding some elaborate Lego contraption, with a handful of Lego mini-figs hitching a ride on someone’s back. I’m not sure that game has a name yet, but it can occupy a lone 5-yr-old for hours.
What are your kids’ rainy day pastimes?
Comments
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Rebecca, Your children are so creative!
Legoes and blocks are a big hit on any day at our house. My 3 year old is getting into trains, and we have fun making different tracks through the family room with the Geo Tracks or Thomas sets we have.
Playdough is also a hit. I make my own playdough and it lasts for months in a ziploc baggie.
My kids also like to put on shows for me. The other day they created their own band out of different musical instruments (some homemade) and put on a “concert” for me. My older son and daughter even cut out decorations out of paper and hung them on the wall to decorate their “concert hall” , and gave out “tickets” at the door.
My daughter loves to put on music and dance.
They also make “houses” for their favorite stuffed animals and play all kinds of games with their stuffed animals.
For my toddler, if he is stir crazy or cranky, I fill up the tub and let him have some water play time.I’ll sit by the tub and play too, or use the time to clean the bathroom
. Sometimes his siblings put on their suits and join him. I don’t do this during thunderstorms of course!
Janelle- I love the store idea!
My son likes to take on a role of whatever he is watching on tv. The other day he was mike rowe from dirty jobs. He was taking down floats from the rose bowl parade. Our badminton poles were the scrap metal, the couch became a truck and I was the secretary at the scrap yard (since I was on the computer). He has dressed up as Indiana Jones, Yoda, etc by just using things around the house.
How cute. I love the blocks and the paper dolls…it makes me wish my kids were little again! We have had indor “campouts” and “picnics”. The kids would make tents in the family room with their blankets and we would light the fireplace, roast marshmallows, eat on the floor, play board games or rent a movie. Sometimes anything out of the ordinary can be fun.
We too are in the heat here in NC. I hopefully ask my husband each day if we are going to get rain anytime soon (he loves learning about and studying and just looking at the weather ‘net pages). Nada. But, we do school right now anyway. We took our break in the nice spring (Eastertide) weather and now while it is hot and yucky, we do school.
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