How to Beat a Rainy Day

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By yourmamasaidwha
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What a rainy day!

Tonight I was reading through articles, checking them out to find useful information for our eHow group, Ehow Daily Read & Rate, blog post and noticed a lot of great ideas that we already have had to make use of and some that we haven't. This year, 2009, has really came in like a lion and let me tell you, I'm waiting for that lamb. The Midwest is currently being attacked by a ridiculous amount of flooding rainfall mixed with disgusting snow. Anyone feel our pain? Well, to make it through, we've compiled some ideas to beat this kind of bum day, or in our case, these kind of bum days! Hope that these work for you!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

books
comfortable place to relax and read and cuddle
boxes
coloring and cutting supplies (you're already supervising, why not let 'em get down and dirty?)
toddler/kid furniture if it's not too big for your setup
toys, stuffed animals, action figures, costumes
cooking and baking supplies and an oven
bags, plastic bags, cellophane baggies, etc.
blankets
clothes pins, super clingy clippies for hair, duck tape
camera or video cam

Step 1

If you've got infants, toddlers, or younger children, why not get out a great set of books and spend a few blocks of time spread out the day and have a super reading day? Fantastic! Not only will your kids learn a thing or two, but they'll be enjoying the time you're spending with them...indoors! If you choose a book about being outside, you can pretend the crap out of it and go with the settings brought up in their stories. What fun, huh? This is an especially great ideas for toddlers.
Step 2

Boxes. Boxes are your friends, and boxes are my friends! Not only can you save and recycle smaller food boxes or merchandise boxes like shoe boxes, but you can save larger boxes whenever you come across them and bring 'em out on days like this. What a riot! You would be surprised what children can do if you give them some boxes and supplies, age permitting to each type of supply/tool. Smaller boxes can be made in to cities and towns (buildings and homes) for your children's action figures and dolls. Shoot, you could even make accessories out of the smaller boxes. These could be used for things such as drop boxes around town and vehicles to explore the town. Now, the bigger boxes, you can turn these into toddler sized buildings, hide outs/lairs, or just your average everyday home. Grab out some stuffed animals, larger action figures, and costumes to go crazy with the kids fighting crime or wreaking havoc amongst a beautiful happy community. Does your daughter enjoy shopping! You have an instant boutique! Throw in that annoying toy cash register on a child sized art or Lego table and don't blow that cash all in one place! Doctor could be played, even a vet. One other great thing about the boxes is that when you're designing the "building" or "home," your kids will be using their skills to put these together. They're also considered interior designers at this point (an added bonus.) I forgot to mention earlier that if you already have one of those playhouses made of fabric or cloth, etc., use these too!
Step 3

Bake. Cook. Man, oh man, kids love to cook. Have your children help you prepare the days snacks, bake some tasty cookies, or anything that your kids can help you with. Younger kids love to measure and dump (otherwise known as pour when we're giving direction, lol) and retrieve things like mixing spoons or bowls. Kids older than toddlers can help with things like calculating double or triple batches. This seems to be one time I don't hear my nephew's complain about using their brains rather than watching TV. As a group, you can all decide on what to make, and even create a menu for the entire day if you'd like. Group efforts are such a great thing! You can make extra batches of snacks and treats to share with your neighbors, take home's for their friends, and additions to the next day. Use plastic bags for snacks that don't go bad easily that your children can count out servings into. Also, while you're doing all of this, you could always throw in some valuable nutrition information. Another bonus!
Step 4

Blankets. Blankets rock for making another type of lair/hide out. Use a table and some chairs for a really great and interesting looking place by placing them to fit under the amount of blankets and area you're using. Some super clingy-hair clippies work well to keep the blankets together as well as clothes pins and duck tape.
Step 5

Board games. Board games are great for families to play together. And really, it doesn't have to be just a board game. It could be a DVD game, or any other type of game you know of. Just as long as you're all together enjoying the day of fun, you're good to go.
Step 6

DVD's. If you're not feeling so well, you can always use the old stand by of visual electronic entertainment. Here and there it's really nice to just watch a movie with the kids, or if it's a more serious day, why not watch a book on DVD and read along?