Active Play on a Rainy Day

Sitting in the house playing board games and watching TV sounds perfectly acceptable to me on a rainy day, however with two rambunctious little boys to keep entertained, that’s a recipe for wall climbing more often than not. We have to find things to do that will keep them busy, both physically and mentally.

Here are a few of our favorite things to do to keep moving, indoors:

Dance Party!! – My boys take after their mama and they just love to dance. Sometimes I’ll turn on one of the digital music stations on the TV, pick something fun on Pandora, or I might just play DJ on Blip.fm . We crank up the tunes and dance till we collapse!

Bowling – We finally got a Wii this Christmas, so we love to use the bowling game there, but there are loads of other ways to bowl inside. Even if you don’t have an actual indoor bowling game, all it takes is a little creativity to come up with your own. Use any ball that has a bit of weight to it and create pins out of bottles, cups or even stuffed animals. This can be hours of fun, especially for little ones.

Hide and Go Seek – We have a small house, so playing a traditional game of hide and seek is nearly impossible. Instead of letting the kids hide, I take favorite toys and hide them around the house. Currently, we spend our time searching for Woody and Buzz. The boys have a great time figuring out where their buddies are hiding, and even like to get in on the act and hide things for each other.

Swimming Pool – In the summer, I’ve been known to create a swimming pool in the bathtub. I fill up my big corner tub, put the boys in their swimsuits and let them go to town. Once in awhile, I’ll even blow up the water wings to make it even more authentic. One cautionary note – make sure you have plenty of towels on hand. Pool splashes are a bit more overzealous than regular tub splashes.

What kinds of physical games and activities do you and your children do when the weather isn’t the best?