5 Rainy Day Activities

It’s going to be another rainy week here in the Bay Area which means moms and dads everywhere need to come up with creative and fun ideas to do with their kids indoors without going stir crazy, am I right?

And if I’m being honest, I feel so guilty having the kids sit in front of the television all day and not engaging with them. I sometimes catch myself doing this where I’ll turn on the TV or give my son the iPAD and hours will go by! Mind you, I am not opposed to giving my kids electronics, by any means. In my opinion, it’s become part of all our daily lives and there are actually a lot of educational apps that you can download on the iPAD that will engage your kids while you get things done. (That’s another blog post in itself). But sometimes, my son is not on an educational app. He is on YouTube watching that kid Ryan open up a bunch of toys and then he asks every two seconds for said toy. Not helpful!

To keep the kids busy and keep you sane, I present…

5 Rainy Day Activities

1. Bake Cookies

Okay, just to forewarn you, baking with kids takes a lot of patience…like A LOT! Expect the process to take 10 times longer than if you were doing this yourself and (this is important) don’t expect your kitchen to be clean during and after! (Maybe take a Xanax beforehand. Kidding!!) Your kitchen will be a hot mess once you’re done but hey, it’ll be fun and your kids will find joy in making something together. After all, its about making memories that matters the most. You can try and get them to help you clean but I’ve never been successful at that. Let me know if you can do this!

2. Make it a movie day/night

Netflix and Chill! But not “chill chill”, just chill.  Pop some popcorn, pick your favorite family movie (our favorite lately is Zootopia and Finding Dory, which are both available on Netflix) and relaaaax. Rainy days are a great excuse to do this. Feeling bad that the garage is not getting cleared out and organized? Don’t! It’s raining! Feeling guilty that your dry cleaning hasn’t been picked up in weeks? It’s raining! How could you possibly go and do that in the rain?!

See?

3. Play board games

Invest in good old fashioned board games! There are a slew of them available on Amazon. Since my kids are little, we don’t do any hard core board games like Clue or Monopoly. We’re more of a Pie in the Face or Let’s Go Fishin’ kind of family. Oh FYI, if you have a sensitive kid like mine, Pie in the Face may end up in tears. Mama gets a little too competitive. Oops!

4. Put puzzles together

Honestly, I’m not really a put stuff together kind of gal. This is more of my husbands area. He has the patience and the brain power to sit there and play legos with my son for hours or put a 50,000 piece puzzle together.

I’ll be over here taking a nap.

5. Make chicken noodle soup

Rainy days and chicken noodle soup go together like sushi and soy sauce. You cannot have one without the other. It’s just wrong. This is a great meal to get your kids involved in making too. I usually have Gabriel shred the chicken for me with his little hands. Again, be patient. He loves helping me in the kitchen though and once it’s all done, he likes to tell everyone that he made it! I mean, how adorable!

What are some activities you like to do with your kids on a rainy day? Leave me a comment below! I’m always looking for new ideas.