We still have a few days of the Christmas school holidays left and for many people, the UK weather has been particularly harsh. We hope that you are warm and cosy wherever you are, and that you can enjoy some of our rainy day ideas with your children.1. Raindrop races: I think I first came across this in a Winnie the Pooh book but I can’t be sure. Each person chooses a raindrop as it lands on the window pane and bets a chocolate coin on which one will fall to the bottom first. 2. Topsy Turvy land: Do everything with your non-dominant hand for a day (although we’ve only ever made it to about half-an-hour in our house). It works best if you make a pretend sling for your dominant arm and practice writing and drawing with the wrong hand! 3. Cook: Rainy days are a perfect time to cook and bake with the kids – you don’t have to make real recipes – you can let the children run riot with flour and water and create their own potions! 4. Home science: Set up a kitchen science lab with the help of the Internet, some lemons, baking soda and vinegar. Kids love doing basic home experiments and learning about their world. 5. Origami hour: You Tube is loaded with great origami tutorials aimed at different ages and age groups. Older children can quickly learn the Japanese art of paper folding and little ones can help. 6. Home cinema: Choose a DVD and create a home cinema with tickets, popcorn and the lights out.
____________________7. Obstacle course: Create an indoor obstacle course with cushions, chairs and other furniture. 8. Write letters and thank you cards: Rainy days are the perfect time to remind your kids of the simple art of letter and card writing; an ideal opportunity to write thank you cards after Christmas. Let them play post office with stamps and stickers on the envelopes. 9. Make collages: Older children will love creating collages by cutting up old magazines, newspapers and left-over Christmas wrapping paper. Give them a theme to help them formulate their ideas and get creative with materials; you can use dried foods, glitter, paint; whatever is to hand to create multi-textured pieces. 10. Make a kitchen band: Your home is filled with potential instruments such as lentils or dried peas in cups for shakers, saucepan lids for cymbals, elastic bands on old shoeboxes for guitars; get creative and make some noise!