Naturally Healthy Parenting The parent's guide to a healthy family
When the weather’s nice, nothing beats heading out to the park with your kids to romp around in the grass, soar high on the swings, and enjoy a nice picnic lunch before heading back home for a nap. But when the weather’s not favorable, it can seem like a real struggle to find ways to keep your kids occupied and entertained while being cooped up in the house all day. So when you find yourself and your kids confined inside your home due to foul weather, here are three fun things you can do to help pass the time.
Creativity in the Kitchen
Rainy days are the perfect days to spend time in the kitchen with your kids. From healthy snacks to something a little more fun like homemade pretzels, creating works of culinary genius can be tasty for you and exhilarating for your children. Melissa Harrison, a staff writer for Buzzfeed, shares with parents some fun ideas for making food with their kids. Some of these ideas include french bread pizzas, Jello ice pops, peanut butter and banana quesadillas and so much more. While this may be a test for your patience when it comes time to clean up, you won’t regret the fun memories made in the kitchen with your little ones.
Arts and Crafts Extravaganza
Trying your hand at interesting and beautiful arts and crafts is another great idea when you’re forced to spend time indoors. And while basic coloring and painting can be fun, doing arts and crafts that are a little more outside the box can make your rainy day even more exciting for you kids.
Contributors to Instructables.com give parents great ideas for fun crafts that are guaranteed to keep your kids busy for a while. Some of these crafts include making a marshmallow shooter, crafting simple jewelry, tie dying basic articles of clothing and lots of other simple yet fun crafts that your kids will enjoy making just as much as they will enjoy playing when they’re done.
Playing Pretend
When all else fails, the best thing you can encourage your kids to do for fun is to use their imaginations. Playing pretend is a great way for your kids to spend hours broadening their minds and enhancing their creativity. However, some kids find it difficult to know where to start when pretending. That’s why Learning4Kids.net offers a list of playing pretend prompts meant to give children a starting point for their imaginings to grow. This list features prompts like vet hospital, planting a garden, bakery, car wash, camping and more. By giving your children one of these prompts for playing pretend in the home, you can watch as their minds create another world in which they can learn and grow.
Bad weather doesn’t have to equate to a bad day. Use the tips mentioned above to turn your time cooped up in the house into time creating memories that will last a lifetime.
