With the weather here in the Philadelphia area calling for rain the next week or so, this post is the perfect reference to help keep the kids engaged and focus their energy in productive ways.
We’ve pulled a go-to list of activities together for you!
- Dance Party – Ask Alexa to play some dance music! Or find some great tunes on Youtube. My go to for kiddos are Kids Bop and GoNoodle. They include dance-along moves and are easy to play on tv–a winning formula for fun!
- Cooking or Baking – Pull out a SIMPLE or long time FAVORITE recipe for either cookies or a meal and COOK or BAKE together. Cooking and Baking have awesome real life math lessons embedded, along with patience and problem-solving.
- Build a Pillow & Blanket Fort – Create a magical world in the living room, bedroom, basement, or wherever your kids can create an amazing fort to play in for the day! Word of advice–don’t build in a high traffic area or you’ll be crawling through a fort to get to and from the bathroom. Ask me how I know… 🙂
- Indoor Obstacle Course – This reminds me of when we used to play “The Floor is Lava” as a kid! Create an obstacle course by writing simple rules or activities around the house. Jumping jacks, sit ups, read a book, sing a song! These can all be parts of the obstacle course. No need to recreate American Ninja Warriors courses since simple activities can burn a lot of energy too.
- Art Space – Grab a new pack of crayons or colored pencils and a coloring book! You can print pretty much any type of coloring page these days! A simple google search of “(insert topic here) coloring page” and you are in business! Crayola.com is another great source for free coloring pages too.
- Scavenger Hunt – Create a scavenger hunt or better yet HAVE THE KIDS create a scavenger hunt for YOU to follow. I promise they will spend SO MUCH MORE TIME creating one for you than it will take them to solve yours.
- Personal Trainer – Jump on you tube and try a new exercise video together– some ideas are yoga, pilates, or HIIT.
- D.E.A.R. Time – Drop. Everything. And. Read. Turn off the screens and everyone in the house pick up a book! Find a comfy spot and just read! You could also listen to an audio book. Or check out Getepic.com for great read alouds for kids!
- Matinee – Turn your living room into a movie theatre! Pop some popcorn and watch a fun movie!
- Bust out a Board Game – Dust off those board games from the closet! Matching, Memory, or Sorry!, are a few of the favorites in our house.
- Science Experiment – Check out this great resource for science experiments using things you probably have around the house!
- Track the Rainfall- Grab a Tupperware container or a cup and have your kiddos track the rain fall. Apply measuring skills and patience to track it at the beginning & end of each day. Create a fun graph when the rain ends to compare and contrast the rainfall each day.
- Cardboard Box City – Have extra delivery boxes? (I’m looking at that stack of Amazon boxes to break down in the garage…) Before you break them down, let the kids build a CITY! My kids love when they get to decorate and create boats, cars, or buildings with the boxes.
- Visit the library – Check out your local library! Many libraries have free programs running all summer.
- Write a Letter – Send a letter to a relative or friend! I bet it would be a welcome and loved surprise to get a special note in the mail!
I hope these ideas spark some interest in your kiddos! Tag us on social media showing us which one of these recommendations you are trying out! 🙂
Be Silly. Be Honest. Be Kind. 💜
Rachel