Rainy Day Ready: Rainy Day Activities for You and Your Little One

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By Rachel Derry
Staff Writer LIFamilies

Between hurricanes and typical, wet fall/winter weather, the rain may be starting to get you and your little one feeling the rainy-day blues. You've played all of the board games, can only spend so much time at the library, and make too many purchases when you walk around the stores for the heck of it. How about a couple of fun, rainy day activities that you can do at home? No money spending/gas burning required!

Make your own multicolored crayons! Pick through the boxes of used crayons that I’m sure you have accumulated. Peel off the papers for the broken halves and pieces that you want to melt down. Oil a cupcake tin and drop your crayon pieces in! Pop your tin into a preheated oven and bake the crayons just long enough that they melt. Take it out, let it cool, and then pop out your new, multicolored pinwheel crayon. Let your little one go to town with their new, circular crayon.

Let your little one get a little messy! You may be stuck inside, but you can still get a little dirty. Bust out all of those brightly colored (MESSY) bath crayon, bath bubbles, and shaving cream, and let your little one go to town! They never realize that they’re really getting clean is disguise. If you want a little more finger painting fun, without too much mess, break out large sections of paper and pudding cups. With little, pudding covered fingers, you can rest assured that all spills and smudges will wash off, as well as keeping any chemicals and toxins away from your child (especially if they have a habit of putting their hands in their mouths).

Never neglect the oldie but goodies! It’s a rainy day, so why not build a fort. Remember the times when you were little and would turn whole rooms into secret forts and caves: relive those days with your little ones! Bust out as many blankets as you have, bring the kitchen chairs into play, and don’t forget the books to weigh the blankets down! Choose the biggest room in your house to have the most room to build then snuggle safely. Once your exclusive clubhouse is built, pile on the pillows, left over blankets, story books and flashlights; take this as an extra opportunity to get your child into reading books instead of watching TV.

Lastly, another oldie but goody, never underestimate the awesomeness that is an old-fashioned game of hide and go seek! Open up the doors to your bedrooms, put away any dangerous or breakable items, and then let your little hiders go to town! A good game of hide-and-go-seek can keep your little ones giggling for hours, as long as you promise not to cheat and really hide when it’s your turn! Also, the more people the better, so this is a great evening game or play date game, when there can be more adults and children in the mix!

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