Top 10 Rainy Day Things to do with Kids

Forget TV on rainy days, get active and doing something fun and memorable and just a little bit different.

1. Bake something tasty. Our favourite is cheesy scones. Rub 25g of butter into 225g of plain (all-purpose) flour, ¼ tsp salt, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, 1 tsp dried herbs. Stir in 50g of grated cheese and 150ml milk. Roll this dough into ½ inch thickness, cut into circles with a cutter around 2 inch diameter. Brush with milk, leave to rise in a warm place for 10 mins and bake at 220C for 12-15 minutes. YUM!
2. Do some painting, all of you- a massive bird picture out of hands or finger drops or stripes and take it out in the rain to drip if you like. Mess means fun!
3. Make a den. Out of chairs or a clothes horse, a blanket or sheet, or anything you’ve got.
4. Build something- whether it is bricks, tin cans, boxes, newspaper and sellotape. You can have a competition with it, build it up and knock it down
5. Dust off some totally well-loved books you haven’t read together in ages. Make sure you do all the funny voices for the characters. Or why not change your favourite hero into a sheep and baaa out the lines or into a creepy old man and read them in the style of Vincent Price!
6. Don your waterproofs and welly boots and go and jump like mad in a huge muddy puddle. Most importantly of all, don’t care how wet and muddy you get- it squashes up the fun!
7. Have a tea party. Make a party buffet, some paper bunting and dust off the summer crockery set. You can even make your own smoothies or fruit punch. Something to add a bit of civility to the proceedings!
8. Make a geyser (and watch in indoors). Get a 2l bottle of fizzy drink, add some Mentos mints and quickly stand well back as it shoots up into the air. I’m serious though, do not do this inside- the mess would be completely horrendous, but it’s fun to see it happening outside.
9. Download a quiz from the internet and get quizzy. Make sure there are questions for everyone taking part and some kind of prize for the winner and a miniature forfeit for the loser.
10. Learn a new skill- learn a bit of Portuguese, make some scented candles, write in calligraphy, make a one-minute movie using your mobile phone. There are all kinds of how-to clips on Youtube that are fun and useful and get you doing something new and a bit different. You’ll be amazed at what you can do.