Rainy days are no fun for most kids who would rather be outside running and playing. However, you can make rainy days fantastically fun with just a little creativity and some crafting items you probably already have around the house. Keeping the kids busy on rainy days has never been easier. Before you know it, the rainy day will be over, but the memories you create by playing and doing fun crafts with your kids will last forever. Here are three creative rainy day crafts. Stock up on the needed supplies and squirrel them away until the next rainy day.
Box Town
Start collecting some large cardboard boxes from various stores. You can even break them down and use packing tape to reconstruct them later. If you know a source to get large appliance boxes and have a place to store them, even better. On the next rainy day, bring out the boxes, construction paper, scrap fabric, markers, glitter and glue with whatever other crafty items you may have stored away. Let the kids draw a door and some windows on their house. Then supervise and assist (do it for younger kids) as you cut out the door and windows. Decorate the house with construction paper designs and scrap fabric curtains. Use the marker to further define their space. Make an entire box town if you have enough boxes. Let the kids put down a throw blanket for carpet and pillows for chairs and sofas. They will play for hours decorating and living in their box town.
Family Match Game
Purchase an inexpensive deck of standard playing cards. Print and trim 15 – 20 family and individual pictures. You will need two prints of each picture. Trim them to fit the playing cards. Using a glue stick, attach each picture to a card. After the cards are dry, shuffle them and lay them out face side down. Each player gets to turn over two cards. If they match, the player gets to keep the card. If they don’t match, the cards are turned back over. The player who ends up with the most matched pairs wins. This family match game is a modern twist on an old favorite is a great rainy day craft and game. You can even use pictures of out of town relatives that your kids don’t see as often to help them recognize far away family!
Foamy Paint
This original twist on traditional finger paint will have the kids squealing with delight! Purchase some old fashioned white foam shaving cream at your local dollar store. Cut up a cardboard box into large squares for a sturdy canvas. Squeeze out several small mounds of shaving cream on each square of cardboard. Drop two or three drops of food coloring on each mound. With a little swish from little hands the color starts swirling for amazing designs and lots of rainy day fun! You can also use this creative foamy paint for bath time!
