How to Relax

Rainy Day Activities for Kids

Just because it’s raining outside doesn’t mean your kids have to stop the fun. Sure, rain isn’t what we think of when we think of summer vacation, but you would be surprised at how entertained children can be when they use their own imagination and creativity for some of the following rainy day activities. Some of these activities require you to participate in the creativity, making them great bonding experiences to remember.

Here are some of my favorite rainy day activities for kids:

Child With Polka Dots Umbrella Wearing Red Rain BootsTreasure Hunt: First, choose a prize and hide it in the house. Next, create your clues. You can use funny rhymes for readers or interesting pictures clipped from magazines for pre-readers. Try including directions on how to travel to the next clue (ie. hopping, crawling, etc.).

You can now have fun hiding your clues in interesting places. Remember to make both clues and their hiding places age appropriate. Lastly, give your kids the first clue and let the fun begin!

This game can create a lot of energy in the room so don’t be afraid to create ground rules to match your parenting style and needs. For instance, no pushing others to get to clues.

Put on a play: Putting on a play is a great way to encourage open-ended play. Children who are allowed to engage in open-ended play tend to be better at language, better at problem solving and have better memory than those who don’t.

Have your kids come up with a theme for a play. They can choose the roles and select who will play each part. Let them use household objects as props and costumes. For instance, a kitchen mop can become a horse or an old sheet can become a cape.

Give them a time frame by calling ‘show time’ for a particular hour. This will certainly keep them busy for a good amount of time with all the preparations including the scenes, lines and plot. Encourage them to incorporate song and dance into the performance.

I promise, they will surprise you with their creativity.

Bake: Kids love to bake – and it’s wonderful for their motor skills and sensory needs. The best part is that they get to eat their creation. Try baking bread, cookies or even play dough. Take pictures of what they created and save it to show them on a different rainy day.

Create a Photo Book: Create a story line with your children for a book. Take pictures of different scenes in the book. For instance, if recreating the three little bears, you can take pictures of their stuffed bears at the table eating supper or in bed lying down.

Use a scrapbook or a computer to create each page. You can usually develop your photos in an hour at local pharmacies. You can use stickers, glitter, markers and crayons to decorate the pages and to write the story line.

What I love about this activity is that you can then use this as a bedtime story. It will make their bed time routine especially enjoyable (include bed time link) and make the time you spent together particularly memorable.

Indoor Scuba Diving: If your kids were hoping to go swimming at a pool or at the beach but the weather did not cooperate, this activity is a sure way to put a smile back on their faces.

Let them put on their bathing suits and snorkeling gear if they have. Fill up the tub with water and bubbles if you have. Bring in any water proof toys they have and let them enjoy the day at the pool, in their very own tub!

Hope you enjoy these activities. Please feel free to contact us if you have any other great rainy day activities you’d like to share with Thrive Occupational Therapy.

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