Summer may have officially started on Monday, but you would never know by looking at the massive puddles sitting on our street. It may be summer, but that doesn’t mean Mother Nature is taking three months off from watering the world.
When summer storms come barreling through and you are bombarded with bored preschoolers suffering from cabin fever, you need to be prepared.
Here are some rainy day ideas:
Cook: Instead of chasing preschoolers out of the kitchen, invite them in and put them to work. Get out your recipe books and have the kids pick a few dishes they want to help put together. Not only will it keep them busy, but then learn the art of teamwork and you get a meal out of it in the process.
Clean: Your might be tempted to have your preschooler spend the day in front of the television when they can’t play outside, but instead of wasting time in front of the boob tube, sit with them and go through your family’s video library and create pile of media that doesn’t get viewed anymore. When the weather clears up you can donate the DVDs and tapes to a women’s shelter, the Salvation Army or a church.
Crafts: There’s no time like the present to get cracking on your holiday greeting cards. Round up the kids and your buckets of craft materials and have your children design homemade greeting cards (birthday, anniversary, thank-you cards, etc.) for friends and loved ones.
Another great art project is the photo placemat. They are a great rainy day project that helps accomplish two goals: keeping your kids busy and using leftover photos. Have your children choose a handful of favorite photos. Then, have them arrange the images on either a thin plastic placemat or a sturdy piece of cardboard. You might want to help them with a collage type design or simply place the pictures end to end. Next, have them adhere the photos to the mat with glue or double stick tape. Finally, you can either take the unfinished mat to an office supply store to have it laminated or you can use clear contact paper to cover the front and back of the mat. Just remember to carefully measure each piece before adhering it to the pictures.
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