Activities For a Rainy Day with Small Children

by Deirdre Ryan - BlackbirdsCloset

i love rainy days. add thunder and lightening and some wind and i'm ecstatic! of course this does add some challenges when you have a 2 year active little girl/boy. having my mom being a retired para professional with kindergartners helps. here are some activities that we do:

go to michael's or ac moore and find the super marked down pre-cut wooden flat shapes. we found some that were .29 cents and .15 cents each. then small bottles of tempura paints in different colours. we found a 6 pack that was perfect and cost $4.99. the paint we then squirt out in little cups or this little crayola fingerpaint thing that we have been re-using. the great thing about tempura paint is that its washable!

we also use my paper shape punchers that i have for my business and use construction paper to cut out shapes with. then using non-toxic glue sticks with you can get super cheap at the dollar store, she can glue the shapes onto each other and larger pieces of paper. we also use the colourful circulars from the sunday papers for her to glue with too. then talk about the colour, sizes of shapes and what the cut out items are as you glue them.

make sure though that you use a newspaper on the table surface to protect things with ;) and although tempura paint is non-toxic and washable, make sure to have the little ones wear a painting smock or apron :)

reading books from the library, playing "put things away" by shape and colour and dress up. that works with boys too. i have items from my "before years" that we can play with.

then as a treat for good behavior, i let her watch some noggin :D

for the seasoned moms out there, i'm sure this is all nothing new. but perhaps someone else can use some new ideas ;)

please share and post a comment on what you do with the little ones during rainy days!