Wednesday, 20 May 2009
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Thinking Ahead....
I'm trying to start a file of Things To Do With a Grandchild On a Rainy Day. ( No, no grandchildren on the way, just accumulating ideas!) I'd appreciate ideas in several different categories, and book titles are also welcome. In each of these, don't forget teens and toddlers, and let's limit it to fun-- teens should be able to do something that isn't generally thought of as work sometimes.
The Indoor Activity- It has to be free or cost under $10. It has to be an indoor activity that can be done in a kitchen and fairly easy to clean up. It has to last more than an hour. It has to be creative and absorbing. It has to be something that the child can show the parent. Please indicate appropriate age. I'm thinking stuff like sugar-cube castles.
The Garage Activity- It has to be free or cost under $20. This one has to be a game that can be played with one grownup and a child inside a swept garage space cleared of one or two cars. It should involve exercise.
The Outside-in-the-Rain Activity- This one should involve a willingness to get wet in the rain on a warm summer day, with the goal of making being outside in the rain fun. Try to think of some for city-dwellers too. Parks can be involved, rain gear optional. Adult should not have to also get wet.
The Sickbed Activity- This one should be for those days when one has to stay in bed, but is still passing some time when not sleeping.Thanks in advance!
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Comments (7)
Duct tape them to a wall and have a race to see which one can get free first!
@kyriosity - Ummm, that would damage my walls.
What, no car ride activities? This one costs money, but not much. Robin (my niece) thought of it when Ethan was small. She'd give him a roll of masking tape and let him have at it. He'd tape everything he could reach. He'd be good for at least an hour. She even did it after Rachel came - she'd just get two rolls of tape.
Sickbed activities: The bed is a ship and the sick child is the captain of all he surveys. Since it's probably all his stuff anyway, this one's easy. And there are almost endless variations. The bed is an island. The bed is an army tank. The bed is a ... you get the idea.
Books: One of the all time favorites for any kid in my world is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. And they tend to love it long after they learn to read. The Boxcar Children series is great for bedtime reading, and for sickbed reading. One night when Jason was having a hard time breathing, I read an entire book aloud. We were up most of the night. I had no voice the next day but he was feelin' fine. Richard Scary's book, "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go," with Goldbug hiding on every page was a great favorite. We went through a few copies.
Outside in the Rain: Any age, btw. Build dams from mud and gravel and float leaf-boats in them. Race them! The street I grew up on (and also the one where we live now) is paved, but has no sidewalks - the pavement just ends in gravel. And the road leads up a slight grade to the four-lane road. Not a lot of traffic, either. Our house is not on a slight grade - this is called a hill. Our rivers get rather rough, but all the more fun in a good hard summer rain! :)
Also, there's nothing like just plain mudpuddle jumping. All ages, too.
Cheap kitchen activity: salt dough. You probably already have the recipe. If not it's easy to find on the web. Make salt dough baskets using an oiled bowl for a mold, or use cookie cutters to make a Noah's Ark collection of animals. You can even use the bowl/basket as the ark. Again, variations on this are endless.
Oh - using toothpicks and a couple of bag of mini-marshmallows, build a structure - bridge, house, etc. Each of you have to build one, and then you test for strength with some unbreakable object. For smaller kids you can do this together and they'll love "testing" the bridge.
Garage activity: Build an obstacle course - hit up an appliance store for large boxes and buy a couple of rolls of duct tape and have at it. Again, there are variations to be had - lemonade stands, or a pretend store, or boats or "cars" to slide down a grassy hill. (Oh, and sliding down said grassy hill in the rain is a BLAST!)
How's that?
me<><
Indoor activity - my grandsons' favorite is granny rasslin'. It's painful for me, but they love it.
In the rain? - Never done that one. I think even kids don't like to be out in the rain much.
Kitchen - you can never go wrong with making something sweet to eat.
Garage - Sorry, haven't done this one either.
Sick - Reading or video games are the best. People are down on video games, but kids love them and I don't think they are bad, within limits.
Our grandparent times have been so full of un-organized activity that we've never had time for organized ones.
Going to science museums is about as organized as we've been.
sickbed day: read and write poetry...
The Land of Counterpane
When I was sick and lay a-bed,by Robert Louis Stevenson
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay,
To keep me happy all the day.
And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;
And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.
I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.
garage activity: "let's play clean up!" hahahaha! (but also, have an ice cream maker somewhere, and spell each other: whoever isn't grinding the handle of the ice cream maker, is helping stack shelves or sweep stuff or scrub oil marks off cement with hydrochloric acid...oh, not that last one.) Make the whole clean up thing an imaginary story: You are a princess who doesn't know her birthright, and a mean ogre has you as a servant in his den. It is your job to clean out his filth, and the...what? hobbits? brownies?...woodland creatures? hahaha...all help, too. Imagination!
when you're done cleaning/organizing the garage, you eat the ice cream that has been making all the while.
Indoor activity: play dress up. If you have girl grandchildren, play with your make-up, jewelry, pumps, etc. Paint fingernails, do a "day spa" with hand massages and facials (this last would be good for teen years, eh?) Ooh! Let them dress you up! and you can't see a mirror until they are done!
Another fun indoor activity that is free and suitable for all ages is camping in the front room. If you have one, get out your tent and pitch it (assuming it's that kind with spring-y "ribs"...you set it up and set it on the floor.) For food, barbecue outside, but bring it in and eat on the floor.
ha! Make a fort in the front room, out of all the blankets, heavy books, tabletops, couches, cushions, etc that you have! and THEN hide inside and eat cookies, drink milk, and tell stories. with a flashlight shining up from under your chin!
Ooh, just remembered a most favored game in our house (this is for just a bit older kids, say 6 and up through adults.) It's called "Jump Out and Scare Ya" and it is a HOOT. Here's how to play: This must be played at night, in the dark and the more, the better. One person goes into a separate room and everyone else hides everywhere throughout the space, and the lights are turned off. When everyone is ready, the "It" comes in and tries to find people. And...you jump out and scare the "it"! hahaha. It is so dang funny, because the really clever "its" actually jump out and scare those hiding! I'm telling you, everyone ends up laughing their heads off, and there are plenty of screams, grabs, bonks, and much hilarity. WAAAAY fun game. Include any dogs you may have around, and guaranteed fun times will be had by all. We played it in the basement on Thanksgiving but I could see this in a garage.
Gee, not a lot of quiet ideas here.
Quieter things could be sock puppets, button sorting (I'm telling you, that was always something I loved doing as a kid), rubber band shooting contests (not at each other, but across the room at a target of some sort-not-the-cat), what about painting? finger paints are lots of fun for little kids and I bet there are finger paint recipes online. A bit of prep and quite a bit of cleanup, but mucho fun-o. Markers and big paper are usually a hit with little kids. Those pre-printed designs that look like stained glass patterns are fun to color, or better yet a big ole poster that everyone works on together. Stress relief, too. Origami is fun, and snowflake cutting-out. It's fun for little kids to play in suds in the kitchen sink. Fill a dishpan with warm sudsy water and throw in some plastic stuff and a sponge or rag. My kids always loved that. It's fun to squirt food colors over the suds.
Sick bed: have a "hold still contest" or staring contest or holding your breath or making your eyes roll. Whistling contests are fun.
and I can't think of anything in a rain storm. Jason put on a cape made of an old bed spread and "flew" around the deck in a rainstorm one time. I have pictures of that. Him and his dog Chester both wearing bright red capes and romping around until it turned to hail. hahaha!
My kids love playing in the rain -- I don't have to come up with an activity, just let them go out in it.
My grandmother kept lots of puzzles and always had one going on the coffee table -- I mean the 500 piece puzzles for grownups that took the entire visit to finish.
Card games -- rummy, that sort of thing.