Keeping Children Entertained on a Rainy Day!
It can be really good fun to pull on your wellies and head outside when it’s raining outside. However, sometimes we all just want to hunker down with a hot drink and stay inside. And this is usually when the chaos starts for us!
Here are some simple ideas to keep your children busy and entertained at home when it’s wet and miserable outside.
Baking
Our own children love to bake and of course, then eat goodies they have made. Baking shortbread and scones is simple enough for inexperienced bakers to have a go with and they taste great!
Baking bread is also surprisingly simple and you and your children can have lots of fun creating different animals out of the dough to then bake in the oven. Try baking some bread from our Nature Explorer kit or if you fancy something sweet get everything you need for baking yummy chocolate cupcakes in the Bake Off Kit or cookies from our Winter Treasures Box.
Colouring
Colouring is mess free and can be great to work on mindfulness. Print off colouring sheets or colour in and create a Pet House with our Pets box!
Read a great book together!
Reading is a quick and mess-free activity that requires no prep at all. Sharing a book has enormous educational and emotional benefits for your children. Giving your children the time and your full attention whilst reading a book provides them with comfort, and security and builds their self-esteem.
If you are feeling ambitious and the book is set in a cave or under a bridge, build a den and make some popcorn.
Small World Play
Small worlds can be created with anything. You can use playdough, rice, pasta, pulses (avoid these if your little one likes to taste their play), oats or coloured sand.
Try creating your own Mars diorama from our Mission Mars Kit or your own treasure island from our Adventure box.
Small-world play isn’t just for younger children. Older children benefit just as much from this type of play. Let them become dragonologists with our Dragon Kit.
Science
There are lots of easy science experiments that can be tried at home with household items. Science experiments are a great way to get children to start to ask questions, make predictions and understand the world around them. Try making a lava lamp with water and food colouring and oil in a jar. Add an effervescent tablet and watch what happens!
Or watch the reactions whilst making potions with our Magic Kit, create your own Mindfulness Jar or learn about forces, friction and gravity with our Adventure Kit.
Crafting
Arts and crafts do not need to be overly complicated. Often keeping it simple is far better than creating something elaborate. Try making paper boats and planes and then seeing how far they will travel.
You can make tea light holders from old jam jars and glue on pieces of tissue paper. These also make lovely presents for grandparents. Make a tissue paper rainbow from our Rainbows box, clay stars from our Dreams box or make your gaming characters from Hama Beads from our Coding Kit.
Painting
Children love to paint but if painting with your children makes you nervous, try painting with watercolour paints instead of poster paint. In comparison, watercolour paints are a mess-free alternative. Our Creativity and Prehistoric Kit include everything your child needs to create their masterpieces.
If you like the sound of these activities but are limited on time, we can send you everything you need directly to your home every month. All you need to do is make yourself tea, open the box and get ready to play with your child.