Tuesday, February 15, 2011

rainy day ideas #3

more indoor fun for your rainy days!

1. make your own obstacle course~ who wouldn't want to take the cushions off the couch, drape a couple blankets over some chairs, and make a home-made obstacle course? it can be confined to the living room or a bedroom, or it can even lead from room to room down hallways and up and down stiars. it's also a great way to work on spacial vocabulary such as over, under, around, and through. the only catch is that there's some clean-up involved afterward :).

2. categorizing~ this isn't something that will thrill an older child, but it'll be a hoot for the littles. my 5 year-old is still enjoying this concept. anything can be categorized and in various different ways. colors, shapes, sizes, similarities, what letter does it start with, does it rhyme, you get the idea. grab some colored beads of various sizes or a deck of cards. or be extra productive and have your child put clean utensils in the proper kitchen drawers or sort socks while you're folding laundry.


3. word games~ play 'i spy' or '20 questions.' make up animal riddles like 'what animal can swim in the water and say quack quack?' or 'the wool from your sweater comes from this animal.' this is such simple stuff, but the more i play these games with my daughter the more often she wants to. she's even wanting to make up her own riddles for me to figure out!

4. magnet fishing~ sprinkle some safety pins or paper clips on the floor. tie a refridgerator magnet to some string or yarn and let your child go fishing!


5. good old-fashioned indoor picnic~ spread out a blanket, order some pizza or make some delicious pb & j sandwiches, pop in a family movie, and let that rain outside (or snow) do its thing. and for extra outdoor-fun indoors, set up a tent in the living room or build a fort with a blanket and have an indoor campout.


check out our previous rainy day ideas here and here.

1 comment:

Jaime said...

I LOVE these ideas! can't wait until Lucy's old enough to try them...and Rachel's hair is getting sooo long!