Rainy Day Activities

By Elizabeth Shaffer

When the weather turns wet and cold, days can seem endless as you try to entertain your young child. Here are some ideas to have fun together regardless of the weather outside.

Take an Indoor Vacation:

Venture to some far off place or time and pretend that you are on an exotic vacation. If the weather is cold you can travel to a tropical paradise or take your small astronaut on a lunar adventure to the moon. Wherever you decide to travel to, use your imagination. Dress up, pack a suitcase, take a boat, plane or spaceship, or create passports and visit various countries. You can make this an all day adventure with breakfast in France, lunch in South America and dinner in Africa, or plan an after school adventure.

Put on a Play, Puppet or Magic Show:

You and your child can create masks and costumes together or make puppets from household items and old clothes. Write and perform a play or puppet show of your own, or put on a performance of a favourite story. Plan and perform a magic show. There are books of simple magic tricks especially for children. Check your local library or bookstore.

Fun in the Kitchen:

When the weather outside is uninviting, the kitchen is often a wonderful place to be. Many children love to create in the kitchen and a rainy day is just the time. Bake up a batch of your favourite muffins or cookies. There are numerous cookbooks available for children that contain easy to follow recipes.

Arts and Crafts:

Rainy days are the perfect time to encourage your child’s creativity through arts and crafts. Save household odds and ends such as toilet/paper towel roles, corks, seashells, etc. Have art supplies on hand such as paper, paints, crayons, pastels, glue, tape and scissors, and make them readily available to your child. Whether you work on a seasonal project together or follow their lead and experiment, encouraging children to participate in art helps to build their creativity and confidence.

Reading:

Read to your child. Be a good example by reading for pleasure yourself. Taking regular trips to your local library and bookstore are great rainy day ideas.

Indoor Games:

Rainy days are a great time to pull out some of those board games you have packed away. There are many games available for children of all ages and many enhance valuable skills such as counting, colour and shape recognition, basic math skills, as well as creativity and strategic thinking.

Rainy Day Outings:

If you and your child are beginning to feel like the walls are closing in, a rainy day outing may be what is needed. The lower mainland has countless indoor venues that are perfect for children to explore. Indoor play places offer the opportunity for hours of active fun. Young children can burn off excess energy in ball pits, tunnels, and more. Trips to museums and art galleries are also fun and can be made into a real adventure if you take the skytrain or seabus. Try planning a mystery destination and surprise your child once you arrive.

Enjoy the Rain:

There are many opportunities for getting out of the rain, however, it is often just as much fun, if not more, to be in the rain. Put on those rain boots, pull out the umbrella and go splashing in the puddles. Playing in rain puddles is tremendous fun when you are a child, whether you are splashing around or trying to jump over them. Bring along some corks and collect some pebbles, grass and twigs. See what sinks and what floats, or race cork boats, or just go for a walk after the rain and look for the creatures that are in abundance.