entertaining kids on boring rainy days

Just out of curiosity, what fun ideas do u come up with when your young children complain "there's nothing to do"?

Beetle
Ages 5 to 8

Ages: 5 and up

Number of participants: Two to six

Length of time: Fifteen minutes

What players will need: A pencil and paper for each player, and one die

Rules of the game: Beetle is the original pencil-and-paper way to assemble your own bug. Though it lacks the appeal of using brightly colored plastic pieces to make a three-dimensional insect (as in the game Cootie), it offers all the fun!

To start, each child rolls the die, and the one with the highest number goes first. He rolls the die and tries to get a one. If he does, he gets to draw the beetle's body (a large oval). If he doesn't, he has to pass the die to the next player. Each kid gets one roll per turn.

To create their bug, the children must roll the numbers in order. After all, players can't draw the eyes until the bug has a head. Once the player rolls a one and draws the body, he must roll a two to draw a head (a circle attached to the body). A three means he gets to draw three legs on one side of the body; then he must get another three so he can draw the other three legs on the other side. Next, he must roll a four so the bug can have one antenna. A second four gives the bug two antennae. Finally, a five gives the bug one eye. With the second five comes the second eye and a finished bug. The first child to put her whole bug together is the winner.

 

I remeber Beetle. we had plastic Beetle but it was great.

some other ideas...

* We (me, my little sister and our little brother) also used to turn the table upside down, Dad would tie a sheet to a broom and make us hats and telescopes out of newspaper and we'd play pirates

* Making and playing with playdough was fun too (only watch the hot dough on little fingers). Here's a recipe - adding food colouring is the funnest part

we used to use this recipe:
1 cup water
1 cup salt
1/2 cup flour
food coloring

1)boil together on low heat until mixture thickens, then remove and put in a safe place to cool.
2) Play.

but there's a few more recipes here - some of which are edible


* Some simple cooking can be fun - helping mum or dad in the kitchen (this is of course dependant on how old the kid is)

* And finally, you can never go wrong with a good fort. I'm 21 and am still partial to the occasional fort in the living room.

 

I have no kids but I know what kids like, lol. And the answer is ... (dun dun dun dun dun...) ... boxes. Yes, boxes!

I once heard a 4-H leader tell someone how when he was younger, her son would open up gifts at Christmas, only later to spend more time playing with the boxes than he did the toys....... lol. and its true, kids can have so much fun with boxes! When I was little I'd get a bunch of the large plain cardboard boxes and tape them together to form "tunnels" .... Id cut windows in them, and use crayons to color them and decorate..........

I have babysat my niece and done this ..... and she is a very uncreative little thing, who is accustomed to sitting in front of a tv (and my place had no tv, lol... so she was driving me crazy) ............. I gave her some boxes and crayons, cut out some windows for her ..... she had HOURS OF FUN!! hiding in the box .....

Its like a little playhouse or something. It sparks creativity, and its FREE, and the boxes can easily be disposed of and replaced when they get ripped apart lol...

Or... let the kids make "houses" for pets (cats LOVE them) by doing the same thing....

 

When I was little, my parents used to do that thing where you put a blanket over two chairs and my friend Stephanie and I would pretend we were camping. I’m semi-sure they stole the idea from a corny family sitcom, but it actually was fun.