20 Rainy Day Activities for Conscious Families

Been raining much in your neighborhood?

Kids going crazy from lack of exercise? Parents going crazy from the relentless grayness of it all??

Help.

I just sent the boys outside in what has been a constant drizzle since daybreak. I don’t care how wet, muddy or shrunken they become. They just need to be out of the house. Now.

Mommy needs a break.

We’ve had rain and thunderstorms off and on for about fourteen days now. The weather gnomes are predicting more for the next ten, at least. This is the beginning of July, for heaven’s sake. Where is my beach weather??

If you are like us, suffering from an over-abundance of rainy weather and a suffocating lack of sunshine, here are some rainy day activities to keep you and your family safe, sane and busy, despite it all.

20 Rainy Day Activities for Conscious Families

1. Go outside anyway.

Forget what I said before. Your children really won’t shrink if you send them out in the rain. Go for a walk and let them wield the umbrella. If you have a swimming pool, dive in. So long as you aren’t expecting thunder and lightning, damaging hail or a flash flood, go out and enjoy nature in all its soggy glory.

2. Set an intention.

I know, I say this a lot. That’s because it applies to every situation. Conscious families live intentional lives.

What shall we say today? Perhaps something like, “My family and I are safe, happy and joyful in all types of weather.”

Or maybe you would prefer, “It is always warm and sunny, wherever I am.” You choose.

3. Go bowling.

Haven’t been bowling in years? Try it out. You might surprise yourself.

4. Go to the library.

Many public libraries have special summer reading programs. Go join up. Even if yours doesn’t, a quiet hour or two picking out some good books is a lovely way to wait out a thunderstorm.

And hanging out at the library just might convince your kids that people under the age of thirty read books too.

5. Start your own summer reading program.

If your house is anything like ours, there are already plenty of books available. The question is more, how to get the kids excited about reading them?

Start your own reading program. Make a chart with each child’s name on it and give them a sticker for every book completed. Recruit some other kids from the neighborhood and get the competition going.

6. Go to a museum.

Museums also tend to load up on family-friendly programs during the summer months. Check out your local options and up the culture factor in your family.

Hint: Your town library or recreation department might have discount or even free passes to local museums. It doesn’t hurt to ask!

7. Go to the movies.

‘Tis the season of the summer blockbuster. Harry Potter is on his way, but you don’t need to wait. Check out whatever’s available for your age-range and buy some of that extremely unhealthy popcorn.

(You will probably not be raising your culture factor on this one, but I figure everything evens out in the end.)

8. Have a home movie festival.

Pick a theme and host your own movie festival. Between you and your neighbors, you can probably come up with hours of kid-approved viewing opportunities. How about “Superheroes from A to Z?”

Anyone for a “Disney Princess” marathon?

Or, perhaps your family would enjoy watching the entire “Star Wars” saga without commercial interruption!

9. Go to a factory that gives tours to the public.

Kids love to see how things are made. Are there any businesses in your area that give tours to the public? In New England, we have the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury, VT and the Stonyfield Farm Yogurt Works and Visitors Center in Londonderry, NH.

What are your local choices?

10. Go to the crafts store.

Go to your local crafts store and browse a bit. Pick out a new craft project to try out. Would you like to make jewelry? Build a birdhouse? Paint a masterpiece (by number)? Chances are good you and the kids will find something new and exciting.

A word of caution, though. The sun will come out again, and you will want to be there for it. Evaluate carefully, before purchasing the four-foot-tall dollhouse kit with unassembled stair railings and individual roof shingles.

11. Make some crafts.

Forget the craft store. Chances are good that you’ve got plenty of stuff already available in your home for hours of crafty fun. Pull out the paints, fabric scraps, cardboard boxes and glue gun.

Ready, set, go: Build a robot!

12. Go to the supermarket or health food store.

True, you may indeed go to the supermarket regularly, regardless of weather. That doesn’t mean you can’t mix things up a bit. Give each of your children twenty dollars and a shopping basket and tell them they’re in charge of dinner tonight.

Or, give them each a list of things you really want to buy, and see who can find all their items first.

13. Bake cookies. Or bread. Or lasagna. Or a Thanksgiving turkey.

Take whatever you bought at the market and give your kids an old-fashioned cooking lesson. Relax on the mess factor a bit and enjoy yourselves.

14. Break out the Wii Fit you got for Christmas.

If you are one of the families lucky enough to find a Wii Fit under the Christmas tree last year, now is the time to dust it off. Design your own decathlon. Parents, you get to play too.

15. Write a letter.

Have your children ever actually written a letter to someone? On paper? Mailed in an envelope, with a stamp and everything?

Now might be the time to try it out. Their grandparents would be absolutely thrilled to hear from them.

16. Write a story.

Kids love a great story. Now encourage them to create their own. Volunteer to be the typist, if their keyboarding skills aren’t quite ready for this. The point is to get their creative juices flowing and to have some fun.

Take turns... switch authors every page or paragraph. The crazier, grosser and more outrageous the better.

Note: If suitable for public consumption, print out a copy to enclose in your letter to the grandparents.

17. Clean out the basement.

Take advantage of the less-than-appealing conditions outdoors and head to the basement. Who can fill up the most big green garbage bags with junk for the garbage man? Who can build the biggest pile of stuff to donate to charity?

18. Redecorate the kids’ bedrooms.

Has your child outgrown his Jimmy Neutron wallpaper, or her Barbie bed covers? This could be the perfect time to redecorate.

Or, have fun just rearranging the furniture. Don’t worry about it being a “good use of space.” Make it silly and unexpected. Put the bed in front of the door and the dresser back-to-back with the bookshelves.

You can always change it back tomorrow.

19. Give thanks.

Trust that there is a reason for everything. It’s all good, even when we don’t understand why it’s good. Give thanks. “Thank you for this rain. Thank you for the clouds and the thunder and my umbrella. Thank you thank you thank you.”

20. Get your hands on the soundtrack to ANNIE.

“The sun’ll come out, tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there’ll be sun.”

If you were struggling to get into the whole spirit of the thing, you can always sing your intentions. And if your kids haven’t seen the movie version of this adorable musical, well... maybe the next rainy day?

Related Posts:

For one more rainy day activity, see Me and My Mandalas.

If you are raising sons and want to get them interested in some summer reading, try All Things Stinky and Gross: More on the Joys of Reading with Boys.