Rainy Day
Activities for Rainy Day.
A rainy day is not one problem but two: nobody has burned off any energy, and the usual indoor things have already been done. So this section has both — activities that use a child up physically, and longer projects that fill a proper stretch of time.
A few of them go outside on purpose. Puddle jumping, rain painting and listening to the rain from a doorway all count, and a child in wellies is often a happier child than one being kept dry.
If you only try one thing on a wet day, make it the one that moves furniture. An indoor obstacle course does more for the mood of a house than anything quieter.
Activities
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Weave a Spider Web
Snip notches round a paper plate, wind wool across it, and you have a web. Good threading practice hiding inside a Halloween craft.
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Spooky Shadow Puppets
Cut a bat and a cat from card, tape them to straws, and put on a show against the wall with a torch.
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The Shape of a Rainy Day
A whole day indoors needs a shape, not a list. Energy first, then absorbing, then quiet, then food — repeated.
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The Red Boots
A story for a child who is starting to read some of it themselves. Short words, short lines, and a puddle.
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A Masking Tape Obstacle Course
One roll of tape turns a hallway into a course to balance, jump and crawl along. Works in a flat, upstairs, in the rain.
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Turning a Box Into a Shop
A delivery box, a marker and whatever is in the cupboard. Then step back, because the play runs itself.
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Getting the Energy Out in a Small Room
Four ways to wear a child out indoors without breaking anything or annoying the neighbours downstairs.
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A Shape Hunt Round the House
Circles, squares and triangles are already everywhere. Give them a list and let them find them.
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Winter Play When It Is Too Cold to Go Out
Ice, torches, dens and paper snowflakes. The four things that reliably fill a dark afternoon.
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Paper Plate Animal Masks
One paper plate, some paint and a lolly stick. Twenty minutes of making and an afternoon of being a tiger.
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Alphabet Hunt Around the House
Hide letters around one room and send your child to find them. No preparation beyond writing on some paper, and it teaches letter recognition better than a worksheet.
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Cardboard Box Marble Run
Cut a delivery box into ramps and tape them inside the lid. It never works first time, and that is the entire point of it.