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mary moe
Jul 26th, 2006, 06:13 PM
hello

I was wondering if anyone had some ideas on how to keep kids busy on rainy days. It has been a great summer here and when my boyfriends kids come on the weekends we spend most of the time outside. They are almost 2 and almost 3, both girls. When they are with their mom they just stay in the house and watch TV and play with the toys. I would rather keep them away from the TV when they are with us. So does anyone have and ideas for crafts or games or something??? thanks for all the help.

fiamma
Jul 26th, 2006, 06:20 PM
What about that polymer clay that you can buy which you can then bake and it sets hard? In the UK it's called Fimo (http://www.fimozone.com/), maybe there are other brands. I don't know how animal friendly it is; as an alternative you could use salt dough. Or papier mache, mask making, finger painting... I'd love to be a kid again (sometimes!). All the best :)

Cherry
Jul 26th, 2006, 06:34 PM
I *love* fimo Fiamma :) I make all my earrings/bits to stick on cards out of it. It's not suitable for children under 8 though, so wouldn't be suitable. It's also pretty expensive.

My mum used to make play dough for me when I was little using baby oil. I loved it. Here's a similar looking recipe I just found. (http://www.allthedaze.com/art4.html)

Read them a story? (My little nephew gets great themed book bags from the library, which have a story or two, with a relevant toy, jigsaw or something. Seems like a fab idea.)

Dress up?

Put on wellies and waterproofs and splash in the puddles? :D

Make fruit kebabs?

mary moe
Jul 26th, 2006, 06:50 PM
I read to them all the time but the youngest wont sit long enough. We tryed playdough once and it was a mess but it was also outside...maybe inside would be better where there is no glass and dirt! lol thanks for the ideas.

Cherry
Jul 26th, 2006, 07:32 PM
Yes, if she's only 2 I can imagine :D I think that's why the bags my nephew getrs from the library are so cool, as the stories are short and there are relevant things for them to fiddle with while they listen. Or while you read the story to yourself, as the case may be :D

In my experience (no kids but Auntie of 5) they just love attention, and be active, and to be talked to, and do what you're doing! Hope it goes well.

cedarblue
Jul 26th, 2006, 07:41 PM
what about tea parties?

painting, drawing, water play, letting them get some weird ingredients out of the cupboards and pretend make a soup in a bowl, buy some cookies and make up some icing and let them ice cookies then eat them?

dressing up? really basic chunky jigsaws? make a den under a table? make a puppet show with some soft toys from behind a sofa?

Tigerlily
Jul 26th, 2006, 07:46 PM
I don't know, kids are pretty imaginative on their own. When I was a kid, I hated playing games that adults set up. But give me a chest of old clothing, some dolls, and I would be all set for hours.

Cherry
Jul 26th, 2006, 07:48 PM
Tea parties - fab idea Cedarblue :D We got my niece a tea set when she was 2 and loved it. We were all given a cup, as were the teddies :) She's now 13 :rolleyes:

mary moe
Jul 26th, 2006, 10:14 PM
thanks everyone! It is supposed to thunderstorm all weekend so i think i will try some of these ideas. I think they will like the tea party and we have a much of dishes for they play with in teh sand box. Thanks again

Sheila
Jul 30th, 2006, 05:20 PM
Mary Moe,
My daughter loved to play kitchen! Lots of plastic containers, spoons, etc. We would pretend to make cakes and cookies and eat them at the tea party we held after we had worked so hard in the kitchen.
Best of luck,
Sheila

zastoi
Jul 30th, 2006, 05:36 PM
.

Wildflower
Jul 30th, 2006, 07:44 PM
My mom was the queen of indoor activites! She had all these books and we did things out of them all the time.

some things i remember were...

potato stamping! cut a potato (do this for them, obviously) and then cut some pattern into it, let the kids go wild using paint and stamping it onto the paper.

finger painting

water color painting, coloring, stickering, etc.

tie dying/batiking - my mom did this with me when i was really little with some hankercheifs and little cups of colored water. she tied the rubber bands on for me and all i did was dip and let her dry it.

signing, dancing, reading, playing dressup, beauty shop, painting tonails, etc.

baking cookies, making paste, paper mache, playdough, popsicles, etc.

games like duck duck goose (do you guys have that over there?) and ring around the rosies

inside camping with ghost stories

building forts with chairs and blankets

just playing with blocks, logs, legos, etc.

Wildflower
Jul 30th, 2006, 07:48 PM
i think i remember in college a friend of mine (who was an education major) saying kids that age learn through touch, so she did a lesson with cups of sand, water, beads, feathers, etc that kids stuck their hands in. i think the lesson was on the 5 senses, so you could teach them that and have smelly things, noisy things, tasty things, sparkly things as well as things they can feel.

mary moe
Jul 31st, 2006, 03:36 AM
games like duck duck goose (do you guys have that over there?)
yeah we have duck duck goose!
potato stamping! that was so much fun when i was a kid! These are things that i used to do when i was a kid i just forgot about them.
We had a great weekend with the Girls... no rain and we got the oldest in the pool for the first time. (she hated the pool up until today) Thanks again I am going to try these things next weekend!!!:D