Guest Author - Susan Thompson

Rainy days can wreak havoc on any household with kids. Here are some ideas to conquer rainy day boredom. The best part is most of these can be done even if the power goes out.

Shaving cream fun – Let them play with shaving cream. On the kitchen table, squirt big piles of shaving cream. The kids can mold and shape it. They can flatten it out and write in it. Shaving cream is cheap and provides hours of fun. Clean up is a breeze and if your table is Formica topped like mine, shaving cream leaves it clean and shiny. (I would not try this on wood surfaces.)

Movie day –You can use play money to sell tickets to the movie and refreshments. Pop in a movie and you have your own movie theater.

Indoor beach party – Let the kids put on swimsuits. Lay beach towels on the living room floor. Pack them a lunch. Play some summer music like the Beach Boys. Let them play with a beach ball and read on their towels, as if they are really at the beach. Take lampshades off the lamps to give the room a brighter appearance.

Indoor camping – Turn your family room into a mini campground. Put up a tent or make one out of blankets. Give them flashlights, make the room dark, and make animal shapes using you hand and the flashlight Tell the kids stories about when you were little, or if you prefer you can tell ghost stories. Make S’mores in the microwave.
Directions for Microwave S’mores:
Place a marshmallow on a graham cracker square
Microwave 10 seconds or until marshmallow starts to grow.
Carefully remove from microwave, top with chocolate square and
another graham cracker square. Enjoy. Remember to have plenty of ingredients on hand. They are called S’mores because you always want to have some more.

Board Game Day – This is self-explanatory. We used to try to play every board game in the closet.

Hide and seek – You can either play hide and seek the traditional way, or you can play with a stuffed animal. Take a stuffed animal and pick someone to be the hider. The hider hides the stuffed animal. Everyone else tries to find it. The hider can give hot and cold clues. The person who finds it is now the hider.

Color car game – This is a good game if you live on a busy street. Everyone picks a color. The players look out the window to watch the cars go by and when their color comes, they get a point.

Hope this helps cure their next rainy day boredom!