Some Fun for a Rainy Summer Day!

How's the weather in your neighborhood? In my neck of the woods, Summer is off to a rainy start! Rainy weather may catch you off guard, but with a little creativity, fun can be had without mom doing all the work. Even though the weather has been mild and wet, creativity is running wild at our house. Here are some of the activities we've done with friends in our neighborhood to keep summer boredom at bay on rainy days.

Indoor Drive-In Movie - Our kids had so much fun with this idea!

Prep Time: 6 Minutes

Activity Time: 2 hours (that includes watching the movie & cleanup)

This idea can take as much time or as little time as you and your kids want it to. We spent 30 minutes making our box cars (some of the kids took 3 minutes and some took 30 minutes) and 90 minutes eating and watching our movie. The snacks were things we just had laying around.

Gather boxes of all sizes (5 minutes). Then assign each box to a child that can sit inside it. If you have lots of small boxes and several big kids, you may need to use more than one box and tape them together.

Grab your Box of Rainy Day Tricks (30 seconds) and take out crayons, markers, construction paper, glue, packing tape, scissors and punches. We also found that those extra scrap-booking scraps worked great for this activity.

Let the kids go to town decorating their own box car for the drive-in movie! Our kids made windshields, rear-view mirrors, head and tail lights, grills, license plates and even wheels for their cars and glued/taped them on their boxes (30 minutes).

After everyone helps clean up, have each child "park their car" in rows just like you would at a drive-in.

Let each child collect snacks from the "concession stand" to eat while they watch the movie. Make sure you choose snacks that won't stain! We chose crackers, chips, veggies, apples, peanut butter dip, and cheese sticks for our crew.

Then, On with the Show! We watched a movie most of the kids had not seen and was appropriate for all ages. (While the kids watched the movie, mom's got to sit and chat...that was fun!)

Remember, it's not about what the finished product looks like. It's about kids having fun, being creative, and spending time with you.

Indoor Picnic - Get Cookin' with your Kids!

Prep Time: 3 Minutes (finding the recipe)

Activity Time: 30 Minutes (including cleanup)

Start by making a fun lunch recipe that is different than the typical PB&J. We love to make things in muffin tins like these delicious Chili Bites Popovers. Kids love to help with these and they are easy to make. Check out the recipe here!

Help everyone dish up their plates.

Spread out a blanket and enjoy a fun conversation and tasty meal with your kiddos!

Board Game Shenanigans - Getting Silly gets the Wiggles out!

Prep Time: 5 Minutes (pick the game)

Activity Time: 30-60 Minutes

One of our favorite things to do on rainy days is play board games. Twister is a really fun game to play with a group and it also helps everyone get their wiggles out.

1. Explain the rules to all the players.

2. Play a practice round so everyone gets a chance to test the rules. Then, play for real.

3. After we have played a few rounds, we like to make up additional rules that make the game sillier or harder. This is when the real fun begins! With Twister, my friend's little girl decided that we should be 4 players at a time to make things trickier. My 5-year-old suggested playing backwards so that your body faces the ceiling instead of the mat.

I've found that mom can bow out once the kids get into making up their own rules. I step in to referee every once in awhile, but most of the time with a little nudging, I find they can solve most things themselves.

Hope you found some fun ideas to help you survive the rainy days of summer! Post your questions or comments below!

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Some Fun for a Rainy Summer Day!