Rainy Day Play Ideas

It seems we've had our fair share of rainy and cold days lately. Keeping the kids indoors and busy seems to be a losing battle some days. So I decided to share two ideas that I had in hopes that other moms would share their indoor activities. That way we can all have angels instead of demons to play with :)

My go to activity is beans. My kids love them! Eden can sit and play for an hour. And Josiah can put them in his mouth without me flipping out that it's dirt :) He did sit and play for a good 15 minutes, which for a one year old is a long time. All you need is a flat sheet, and a big bowl of dried beans. I use red beans and black eye peas, it was what I had on hand. Any dry beans will do. Then I give them mixing spoons and measuring cups. And I let them MAKE A MESS. That's half the fun and the purpose for the sheet :) They help me put them back in the bowl when we're finished.

I try to make it a learning activity as well. We have measuring stacking cups that use the correct portions. So you can pour two #1 into #2 and it fits, so I tell them to add 1+1=2. It's basic math, but its fun and they are learning. It's always good to teach math in fun ways.

The other thing I do is save tops to our drinks. I have an old coffee canister with a lid that I keep on the cabinet and every time we finish a gallon of milk or juice I save the lids before we recycle them. If you go through drinks like we do, you'll fill you coffee can in no time. I use it for a table top activity for Josiah to play with if I need him to sit in his high chair while I'm cooking. Or Eden and I sit down and use it to practice counting and we separate colors. She's learning categories and we talk about how they are alike and different using matching and which one is different. I am often amazed at how quickly she learns and masters skills.

Any of you Moms have fun rainy day play ideas?