This weeks blog comes to you from a guest blogger, Jenny Wise. Jenny is a mother to four wonderful children and a special home educator. We have all been there when the weather is not ideal and we are stranded indoors. Jenny has written an educational, but fun piece with activities and lessons for your family to use to help occupy their free time when the forecast calls for rain and clouds this summer. Click Here to learn more about Jenny and additional resources she has to offer.
Photo by Pixabay
When the weather turns nasty, both children and adults can come down with a pretty severe case of cabin fever. When your kids are full of excitement, getting them outdoors gives them an outlet for their energy. However, when rain keeps them indoors, parents have to come up with even more creative ways to help kids vent their energy indoors while also stimulating their minds.
When you’re considering creating indoor activities to help your kids make it through those dreary rainy days, you’ll want to be sure that your ideas tap into your children’s interests and abilities, while also being mindful of your time and budget. Here are four ways you can celebrate and survive the bad weather from the comfort of the great indoors.
Get Active
If your kids are used to playing outside after school and on weekends, there’s nothing worse than a rainy day. Fortunately, there are hundreds of high-energy exercise videos designed just to get kids moving and laughing. You can follow children exercise channels on YouTube or purchase a few videos that encourage dancing, jumping, and playing that you can even join in on.
Learn Through Play
Creating simple, colorful, and fun activities that encourage experimentation and education is especially helpful in gripping your little ones’ attention. You can connect these activities to the weather outside, while stimulating their creativity, while also providing a sensory experience that helps them achieve developmental milestones.
Learning through play will give your children a way to explore the world from the kitchen table. Giving them colorful, tactile sensations to manipulate will help them with fine-motor and critical-thinking skills.
Imagine Online
While it’s best to limit screen time for kids of different ages, harnessing the power of the internet may be your best tool for creating engaging and empowering indoor activities. If your children have a mighty creative spark, you can sign them up for online drawing courses—some are even free—to help them develop their talents. You can motivate them to stick with it by purchasing new art materials for them to explore and giving them an art space, whether it’s a room or a corner, where they can go to be inspired and create.
Build Skills for School
If your child needs a little extra push academically, rainy days can be the key to getting them to focus on skill building, while also having fun. For older children, relating academic activities to their interests and lives is the best way to get them engaged and the strongest way to make a lasting connection. For instance, you can get them interested in math by applying math concepts to the real world. Check out these lesson plans from HomeAdvisor for some great ideas.
While your kids may miss playing outside during bad weather, your family can take advantage of the downtime to build new skills and explore new interests. The most important thing to remember is to make sure you plan activities that excite your kids and their curiosity.
%20(200%20x%2080%20px)%20(300%20x%2080%20px)%20(1).png)