 |
When I was working full time, we would have days where rain would keep us inside or it was too hot to go out and we’d have to make do with just being inside. Those days it was really easy to go stir crazy. No matter how many books you read, pictures you draw, board games you play, you’re always going to have those moments where the kids are bouncing off the walls and telling your that they’re bored.
Which is why I always tried to have some easy and fun activities to do to help get through the day. Most of these use items that most houses have all the time or are pretty easy to get your hands on or require nothing extra at all. The great thing is that they can all be done inside the house and may need a small amount of set up before you can get down to playing them.
Before we get into them, just be aware that some of these may require supervision, especially with young kids.
Draw like the Great Masters
While I’m not the best artist, I do love art. I took it in High School and still love so much of what I learnt then, especially as you can use it with kids to give them a new way to look at things. Sometimes it’s as simple as showing them a famous painting like Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and getting them to do their own interpretation of it. Sometimes it is showing them Picasso and getting them to do their own picture in that style. It could be grabbing something random from around the house, like a rubber duck, and letting the kids use multimedia to create their picture. Or its taping paper to the bottom of your dining room table and getting them to draw or paint like Michelangelo. The possibilities are endless.
The Floor is Ice
The floor is lava is an age-old classic where you have to make your way around the room without touching the floor. If you touch the floor you’re out. The floor is ice works similarly only instead of burning, you turn into an ice sculpture and you’re stuck. Luckily your friends or family can save you. Like stuck in the mud, your friends or family need to tap you out and you can immediately get onto like warm land. However, if your rescuer can’t get you out by the count of 10 then they too become frozen.
I’m a Spy
Everyone loves to pretend to be a spy which is why this game is so much fun. The objective is simple, stop the villain from destroying the world by sneaking into their lair and putting a stop to the count down. Using string or ribbon set up a lazer field in the hallway, in the lounge room there is a path that you have to tread otherwise you fall into a bottomless pit, in the kitchen, there is a riddle with coloured water or weights that you have to figure out and to get to the timer you need to get past the villain’s hench pet (aka the family pet or some stuffed animals) to get to the timer. Once at the timer you may have to answer one final question (like what is the capital of Australia) or to recite a tongue twister in order to be able to stop the timer (aka the countdown on your phone). If you’re successful you save the world. If you’re not it’s game over.
Musical Interpretations
Musical comes in all shapes and sizes and one of my favourite things to do is get kids to listen to it, dance to it how it makes them feel and tell me what they think its about. In the Hall of the Mountain King is a great one as I always get a mixture of “it’s fairies dancing” or “someone’s sneaking around”. Find all kinds of music, dance away, and talk about how makes you feel.
ABC Home Scavenger Hunt
This is one I like to do on rainy days. With older kids, you can set them up with their own list and they can write down what they find. With younger kids, you may have to do a little searching around. The idea is that using only objects that you find in the house, try and find something for each letter of the alphabet. It can be a whole day project or be done all at once, it is all up to the kids and yourself.
Mr. Squiggle
Did you ever watch the show Mr. Squiggle? He was the little puppet from the moon that had a pencil for a nose. People would send in squiggles and from them, he would create artworks. That is basically what this is. You can draw the squiggles or the kids can and swap paper but they have to create an artwork using what is on the paper. It’s a lot of fun and challenges them.
Drive-in Movie Night
Being stuck at
home means that you can’t really go to the cinema at the moment, so why not
have a drive-in movie in your lounge room. I’ve done this on rainy days and it’s
been a hit. This one really depends on how much effort you want to put into it.
If you want something that’s going to give them multiple little activities to
do you can do boxes for the cars, get them to help you make snacks, etc.
However, if it’s been a big day already then you can just grab their
little push cars or trikes, bring them into the lounge room and then go really
easy for the snacks.
What are some of your favourite activities to do to break up the day?
Post a Comment