31 Days of Family Fun: Rainy Days

Just like I had a “get well box” on hand, I always had a rainy day box around too.  I even made one to keep in my classroom when I was teaching so that when we had indoor recesses due to rain, there was something there I could pull out and use to give the kids something to brighten up a gloomy day.

Flickr, mxgirl85

For the rainy day box, I included some items that were only to be used on rainy days – that made them all the more special and made the kids look forward to rainy days instead of dread them.  At home we had a GeoSafari – I don’t even know if they make these anymore but it was a favourite of ours.  It was a computerized educational game – started with only geography related games but then you could buy refill cards that would give you a huge variety of topics.  You could put some board games, DVDs, and books that are only brought out when it rains.  I liked to do things that were “rainy weather themed” – movies like Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  We also kept the play dough in the rainy day box.  My daughter always made a MESS with it and I disliked having it out all the time and having to clean up after it (little bits of play dough ground into the carpet or that one where it pressed the dough through tiny holes to make things and then I had to clean out each hole with a toothpick– sigh) – so it became a rainy day treat!

Flickr, sektordua

In the box, I also had a small notebook filled with some ideas for special rainy day activities that we could do.  These activities included:

~ Raindrop racing:  Sit at the window and each person picks a raindrop, starting at the same place and traces it down the window.  The first drop to hit the bottom of the window wins!

~ Let the kids decorate the windows with this easy, washable paint:  mix 1 part tempera paint powder with 2 parts clear dishwashing liquid.  Often, the dry paint can be removed easily from the windows simply with a paper towel!

~ No thunder and lightning?  Surprise your kids and let them put on their bathing suits (or raincoats and boots if it’s cooler out) and go outside to dance and splash and jump in mud puddles!

~  Have your child draw a tree trunk on a paper plate (you need a paper plate so that it’s sturdy enough to get wet) using crayons.  Then using washable markers, make squiggles of colour at the top of the tree trunk.  Hold the plate outside in the rain and watch the colours blend and form into “leaves”.

~ Make music in the rain.  Take out an assortment of pots and pans, foil containers like pie plates, or even items covered with foil and listen to the rain make music as it lands on them.

~ Watercolour chalk paintings are fun.  Your kids can draw a picture using coloured chalk.  I like using heavy construction paper, watercolour paper, or cardboard as the canvas for this art.  Take it outside and watch the rain blend and blur it into an impressionist type picture (you can even do a quick little lesson on what this means).  OR take large sidewalk chalk out and create pictures on the driveway – working as the rain helps them along!

This blog post is part of a month long series.  It’s a blog hop of sorts – many different bloggers are taking part, presenting a variety of topics in a 31 day series.

To check out the other participants in this, go here:

http://www.thenester.com/2011/09/31-days-participants.html

To catch up on the previous posts in my series, 31 Days of Family Fun, go here:

http://cynchronicity.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/31-days-of-family-fun-the-basics/

While you’re here, if you like what you see, I’d love for you to become a follower/subscriber of my blog!