My husband and I meant to take the kids to the little park my daughter loves on Saturday. It rained. No problem; we’ll just go Sunday, we thought. Nope. It rained. Fast-forward to today, and we still haven’t made it because of the weather. What’s the parent of a cooped-up kid to do?

We’ve gotten creative with rainy days around here. I haven’t tried all of these ideas (and some aren’t necessarily age-appropriate for my kids yet), but here’s my list of Rainy Day Blues Busters:

* Crafts — anything goes! Do like the kid in the commercial for certain markers does, and make your own mosaic of pictures of sun and fun to hang over the rainy-day windows. Fingerpaint, glitter — the sky (and your tolerance for messes) is the limit!
* Cooking — baking with the kids can be a very satisfying way to spend a few hours inside. Even small kids can help stir or dump ingredients (that you’ve already measured) into a bowl. You might have to resort to a DVD or other activity while your creation bakes, but kids will get a kick out of eating something they helped make. Decorate cupcakes together, and you get kitchen time and craft time all in one.
* Indoor scavenger hunt (mostly for older kids, though little ones can help search too) — the kid who finds the most hidden treasures wins a prize.
* Make up and illustrate your own adventure story. Making a book is fun and easy, and then you have something you can bring out on other days to look back over.
* Make a fort or a tent in the living room, and camp out with s’mores and ghost (or just plain silly) stories.
* Have a costume parade with old dress-up clothes.

If you get super-stuck, you can always do a pajama party movie afternoon complete with fuzzy slippers and popcorn!

What are some of your favorite ways to spend a rainy day with the kids?

Posted by Sunshine.