Saturday, August 13, 2011

Rainy Day Fun

Here in East Tennessee, it has been one heck of a year for weather! We've had tornadoes, hail the size of baseballs, flooding, and lately, temps above 95 every day. And because of this, my kiddos have been cooped up in the house more than any of us would like. My kids love TV, but I don't want them to rot their brains! So I've had to be rather creative when it comes to keeping them occupied.  So I just wanted to share some of the fun ways to keep the kids entertained when the weather doesn't want to cooperate.

1.) Play dress-up! I don't think you ever get too old to enjoy dressing up in fun costumes and pretending to be someone else. I keep a bunch of old hats, scarves, vests, etc. around just for such occasions. My kids love it! They aren't quite old enough yet to act out little scenes or anything, but they love it when I go get "the box of goods".

2.) Play-doh! Ian could play with play-doh for HOURS. It is one of his favorite things to do. I enjoy watching him use his imagination to create new things. Evan is not yet old enough to play with out wanting to eat the stuff, so I am looking for edible alternatives to the commercial stuff.

3.) Puppets! The boys love puppets. Ian even has his own little "puppet voice" that he uses when we play with them. I don't own any store-bought puppets, but instead, I have converted old socks into cute little playmates for the kiddos. We also made a really cute paper puppet in Bible School that Ian has loved playing with lately. I found instructions on the Family Fun website

4.) Play Fort! I found a kids' tent set that included two tents and three tunnels at an overstock shop for $12.50! Normally, these run about $40, so I was thrilled to find it. I set it up in the living room and the kids go to town! They love crawling through the tunnels and playing in the tents. And because it's so big, I don't get it out too often. So when I do, the kids get really excited.


2 comments:

  1. Girl, love this post!! It makes me so excited for Benson to get older so we can play like this. How old is Evan?

    Also, even if it rains, it would still be super fun to set up a tent in the backyard and go camping in the rain...and play games in there.

    These are some great ideas! Can't wait to use them with Benson..

    Is the weather improving?

    Muah!

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  2. I just now noticed this. Sorry! Evan is 18 months. And it is really fun, I have to be honest. I am having a blast with the boys. They are so "rough and tumble". The weather has been slowly getting better. I long for cooler temps though. I am a cold-lover. You will rarely hear me complain about the cold. I also long for Fall. It's my favorite time of year because Tennessee is so beautiful in the Fall. I imagine CO is as well.

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