Inspiring Ideas for a Rainy Day
There are different ways in which children can be kept engaged during their free time, 'play' and 'activities'. 'Activities' are generally adult led in some way with a fixed outcome, whereas 'play' is child led and flexible, often with no particular outcome. Children play in their own way for their own reasons. Playwork Basics - Common Threads Training Limited
Play has positive effects on children's development and important at school, clubs and at home. Below are some ideas either to do with your children or to set up for them to play on their own.
|Our Play Rangers are out in the parks come rain, shine or even snow. But here are some ideas for you to try at home if you don't fancy braving the cold.
Picture Perfect
Life Sized Pictures are a great way to encourage teamwork. First get a large piece of paper, either tape multiple pieces together or use an old roll of wallpaper. The paper must be as long and wide as the subject. Either you or your child must lie down on the paper; the other person should draw around the subject. Then colour, paint, glue and stick material and junk on to the body, they can make it into a self-portrait, a character from a book or film, whatever catches their imagination.
Junk modelling
Let your imagination run riot for this one. Encourage the children to collect old cereal boxes, egg boxes, toilet roll insides, bottles etc. and save as many as possible. Then create a big model between you. Try a dinosaur, a dog, a big robot, totem pole or you could also use more modern themes such as Toy Story, Harry Potter etc.
Messy maché
This is always a favourite, as children love getting messy. Tear the newspaper roughly into quite small pieces; get your child(ren) to help you. Mix flour and water together in a bucket until it is runny and looks like pancake batter. Put the ripped paper into a bucket where you have the paste solution ready. Get the children to mix it around, squidge it with their hands to make sure all the paper is wet and off you go. You can make models with it, put it onto balloons to make piggy banks or masks, basically be as creative as you like. Tips: Good paper maché should be damp not soaking wet! If covering a balloon add a few layers, allow to dry over night then cover with more layers. This makes the structure stronger and easier to cut. Plenty of old newspapers are needed.
Bowling's got a lot of bottle
You will need enough empty plastic water or drinks bottles (with lids on) for this activity. Give the children a piece of paper, get them to loosely wrap it around the bottle for the right length. Then get them to decorate their paper with either a character from a film, another child or parent. Then get them to wrap the paper around the bottle and secure with sticky tape. Fill the bottles with water and put the lids on. Set up the skittles in groups of ten in a triangular shape and let the children bowl at them using a tennis ball.
