It’s Raining…Again. Ideas for Cold, Wet Days.

Everyone loves a summer romp in the rain, but what do you do when it’s the fifth rainy day this week in the dead of winter? Let’s face it. We’re in the southeast and chances are the wet conditions aren’t giving us any snow days. Your kids are over it, you’re over it, and it feels like the gray has sucked all of your creativity. Here are a few ideas to keep your kids engaged even when it’s an inside-kind-of-day:

1. Flashlights! The perk to these gray days is that it makes for some fun shadowy-flashlight play. Grab a couple of flashlights and have a shadow dance party. If you’ve got a little bit of open space, try taking turns holding the flashlight while the other person tries to “catch” the light. Flashlights are especially exciting for the younger kiddos. Try filtering through colored lenses or prisms for some fun, colorful effects! You can even make a vocabulary lesson out of it–focusing on opposites (light, dark, translucent, opaque) and colors.
2. For the older kids, get a campfire story going! You can work together to put some nouns, verbs, and phrases on strips of paper. Put the pieces in the middle and take turns drawing. The first person to draw will set the scene and kick off the story building off of the phrase they drew from the pile. Once they’ve finished, discard the paper to the side and the next person draws. Picking up where the story was left off, the next person adds to the story using the phrase they drew. It continues this way until you’ve run out of pieces in the middle. The idea is collaboration, memory, and creativity. You’ll be surprised what kind of wacky stories you and your kiddos may come up with!
3. Rainy day pizza party complete with Italian music! Grab your favorite pizza dough recipe, apron, chef’s hat, and get mixing! Once the dough is ready, each person gets a ball to shape, work, and explore. Get creative with it! Make a heart, star, triangle.. dare we say… a raindrop?! Not all pizzas have to be round! Once you’ve made the shape of your dreams, time to top with your favorites. Make a smiley face of pepperonis, rainbow (bell peppers, eggplant rainbow, anyone?), or the classic cheese.
4. Maybe you made pizza dough yesterday. Try your hand at making playdough or slime today. A sensory science project that has something for everyone. Older kids will enjoy measuring and being a part of seeing the slime come to life, while the littles will just be thrilled to squish their hands in goo. Either way, it makes for a really fun way to experiment indoors.
5. Sensory bins for the little ones. Try tapioca balls and finger “painting” with yogurt mixed with food coloring! Granted, these are a little on the messy side, but they’re guaranteed to keep your little one occupied for at least a little while. Follow this activity with an extended bubble bath and water play.
6. Library book trip! Use the weather as an excuse to hit the library. Pick out as many as you like. Take some time to read them there and enjoy their cozy spaces. Take the ones you didn’t get to read, along with your favorites from the bunch, back home with you for some diversity in your home story time.
7. Forts and cardboard kingdoms. Use the never-ending cardboard boxes coming in the mail (or is that just us?) as your next source of fun. Work together to make your very own kingdom. Have a drawstring front door, towers to peek out of, multiple rooms, and windows to keep guard against dragons. Older kids will enjoy working their engineering magic to figure out ways to make their kingdom invincible, while younger kids will love getting to color, paint, and decorate their space.

We hope these ideas help keep things a little brighter for you and the kids as we patiently await the spring! Kristin Sarmiento, 2022