Boredom Busters:
Rainy Day/Indoor Activities for Kids

By Abbi Perets

From our provider:

Rate This Article

0 Comments

The weather outside is frightful, and the attitude inside is … even more frightful. The kids are bored, and they've taken to announcing this fact every six seconds to ensure you haven't forgotten. What to do? Here are a few ideas to get you through the day.

Start off Right
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so get everyone fed. Make it fun -- write up a menu -- or have your kids create one -- and let them order what they want. Eggs, pancakes, waffles, cereal, and fresh fruit can look completely different when they're "made to order" and served by someone in an apron and a funny hat. Bonus points if you make pancakes inside cookie cutters for cool shapes.

After breakfast, invite the kids to become the busboys and dishwashers. You'd be surprised at how many young children will get excited about washing dishes. While they splash around in the soapy water, you can swipe the counters and sweep the floor.

Morning Messes
Early in the day is the best time for art projects. Got a stack of old magazines, scissors, and glue? Have the kids cut out the letters in their names and glue them onto poster board. They can fill the rest of the space with pictures of things they like/want/admire/whatever. It's all about the glue, really.

If your kids aren't the creative types, fill some aluminum pans with different things: rice or beans, water, shaving cream, sand -- whatever you have. (Spread a shower curtain on the floor underneath for easy clean-up.) Let the kids enjoy writing and digging in the different materials.

Two other ideas for the morning hours: make your own molding dough, or give your kids some large cardboard boxes and a box of markers. Either way, they can express themselves and have fun.

Make Your Own Lunch
A fun lunchtime activity is "make your own pizzas." Use this 30-minute pizza recipe (you might need to double it depending on how many kids you have and how hungry they are) and let the kids make individual pizzas. Offer a selection of toppings, and let them choose and spread them.

While you all eat, talk about your afternoon plans. After lunch will be storytime, and then "quiet time" for 45 minutes. A little bribery never killed anyone: tell the kids that if they stay in their rooms during quiet time, they can watch TV afterwards. Kids under 4 will not notice that you've effectively bought yourself an extra 30 minutes of mommy time with this bribe.

During your downtime, don't just run around cleaning -- take at least 15 minutes to relax and recharge yourself.

Afternoon Adventures
When you're back on duty, head back to the kitchen to make cupcakes or another easy dessert to be enjoyed after dinner. Then encourage the kids to make placemats (crayons and construction paper, nothing fancy) for the evening meal. While they color, prep dinner, and leave the kitchen as clean as it can be with a houseful of kids.

Late afternoon is the time to play the board games you generally avoid playing with your kids or spend some time working on a jigsaw puzzle together. You can also have the kids dictate to you the story of what you did today. Write it up and save it -- you'll enjoy reading it one day.

Once the dinner hour arrives, turn over kid duty to your spouse, if possible. If not, consider treating yourself to either a babysitter or a kid-friendly movie till the young-uns pass out. Then congratulate yourself on a job well done.